a couple of days ago. You paid him an exceptional sum of money.”
Ben lowered his head. “Aye. I did.”
“No!” yelled his wife.
“Shut up, Sandy!” the man bellowed back, then he looked at Will. “It was all me. She didn’t know nothin’ about it.” More noise came from the back of the house, and after a moment one of the backdoor watchmen dragged a teenager into the room.
“Dad?” The young man looked to be in the midst of puberty, and his features were a picture of confusion. “What’s going on?”
Will and Selene looked at each other and then Will spoke to the watchman. “Take him outside.”
“Don’t hurt him!” cried the woman, who Will assumed was probably the boy’s mother. “He’s all we have left.” Something about the way she said the words seemed to stab at Will, as though she thought they would mean something to him.
“What does that mean?” Will demanded.
Before Sandy could reply, her husband roared, “Shut up, Sandra!”
“I don’t care!” she yelled back. “You shouldn’t have taken that money! They’re going to kill us all now. The bastard should at least know who it is that wants him dead!” Her eyes fixed on Will with venomous hatred. The glare was so spiteful that Will took an involuntary step back, and Selene stepped forward protectively, as though she would shield him from the woman’s stare.
Sandy blanched when she realized it was the princess standing before her, but she didn’t wilt. She looked up at Selene and boldly told her, “You shouldn’t have married that one, Your Highness. I’m a loyal subject of your father’s, but that man doesn’t deserve to live. You may have me hanged for sayin’ it, but I’ll speak my mind anyway.”
Will’s mind was working furiously to understand her vitriol. He had initially thought the family’s last name sounded familiar for some reason, but he hadn’t been able to place it. Now, at last, a faint idea percolated through is mind. “Did you have an older son, or daughter?” he asked.
“He doesn’t even know which it is!” spat Sandy.
“A son,” said Ben quietly.
“Simon,” said Will. “You’re Simon’s parents.” Selene looked at him in confusion, wondering what he was referring to, so Will spelled it out for her. “I accidentally killed him and a girl, Lyndsey, during the vampire catastrophe.” His heart felt numb, empty. During the ritual that had wiped out most of the vampires plaguing the city, Will had lost his head during the euphoria that accompanied the ritual. Vampires had rushed them, and he had killed several of them while continuing the ritual, but he had also missed and hit two students who were in danger. He hadn’t discovered it until after the dust settled and the ritual was over.
“They would have been getting married next year,” said Sandy sourly. “And you laughed as you did it! They told us everything!”
“That isn’t true,” said Selene.
“Beggin’ your pardon, Your Majesty, but you weren’t there,” said the dead student’s mother.
“She’s right,” said Will, his face blank. He had suffered a considerable amount of guilt over his mistake that night, but he had also managed to forgive himself. His eyes met the woman’s. “But I wasn’t laughing because of that. I didn’t even know I had killed them until after everything was over. I was trying to protect them. My laughter was a result of the magic I performed.”
“You were drunk with power,” accused Sandy.
Will nodded. “That’s a good description, but I never meant to kill your son. If I had done nothing, he would have died. I tried to save him and killed him by mistake.”
The woman lowered her gaze and began to cry. Then her husband chided her, “You should have kept your mouth shut, Sandy. Now we’re both dead.” He looked at Selene and asked, “What will happen to our son?”
Selene glanced at Will, then responded, “Where did you get the money?”
Chapter 15
That evening, Selene was sitting up in bed as Will crawled under the covers. They hadn’t fully discussed what had happened at the Doster home, but he could tell she wasn’t going to sleep until they had. He lay down and closed his eyes to see how she would react.
She said nothing for a while, opting merely to sigh loudly. He waited another full minute, and after her third sigh he spoke, though he kept his eyes closed. “Go ahead and say it.”
“Do you think we did the right thing?”
“You’re the princess. Didn’t they teach you how to make these kinds of