Eyelids leaded with exhaustion, she grinned wildly to herself as the fire before them danced in rhythmic approval.
Never in a million years did she think lending herself wholly and completely to the dark would feel quite like this.
21
A frantic whisper tickled Lilac’s ear, impeding her much-needed slumber. Two hands gripped her shoulders, jostling her awake. “Lilac. Lilac.”
Garin shifted beside her, his pants and shoes already on. He pressed a bundle of now-dry dresses and undergarments to her chest, then shimmied into his black tunic.
She groaned into the crook of her arm and shielded her eyes from the firelight. “What time is it?”
“Dusk hasn’t fallen yet, though the sun is setting.”
Brushing him away, she cradled her bundle of clothes and curled her toes up, further into the warmth of the sheets. “And? What of it? We’ll wait an hour more for dark.”
“No,” Garin fumed. “I’ve been trying to tell you. A guard is here. A castle sentry, it sounds like. One of your father’s.”
As his words registered, sickening wakefulness gripped her. Eyes bulging, she stifled a gasp and tripped over herself leaping out of bed. The clothes padded her fall, and she looked up at a scowling Garin from her hands and knees.
“Have they found us? Sable and Jean, they must’ve realized who we are—”
Garin shushed her. “No, I don’t think so. Not yet, anyway.” He cocked his head to listen. “He just arrived, and it seems he’s here for town rounds. This would be just our luck.”
Lilac strained her own ears but heard nothing. She scrambled to her feet and tiptoed to the door, pressing her ear against it. The conversation was audible, but much too muffled to make out. “How many?” she mouthed.
But he was staring at her then. Blushing, she belatedly realized there wasn’t a speck of clothing on her body. Hastily, she shifted to show Garin her side instead—though she wasn’t sure why, since he’d seen it all the night before.
Garin rolled his eyes at her bashfulness. “Only one, from the sound of it. Now, would you get dressed?” He slipped the baldric belt over his shoulder, then removed her dagger from it and turned to place it into the slip of her own belt hanging on the chair.
With his back to her, Lilac leapt back to her clothes and rifled through them, extracting and donning undergarments before pulling on the white-and-red shift. Despite the fear thrumming through her veins, she smiled. It was the dress she’d originally left the castle in.
She’d return in the same shift, though a changed woman.
After gathering the rest of her things into her sack and sliding it onto her shoulders, she fastened her belt onto her waist. Garin watched her with a mixture of adoration and annoyance, as if he’d feared she was being too boisterous.
“May I?” she mouthed, swinging a hand toward the door.
“If you absolutely must.”
As she passed him, he snaked an arm around the small of her waist. “If you reveal our whereabouts prematurely and the guard discovers us, I’ll have no choice but to kill them all.”
The warning murmured against her temple made her shudder, but his words rang true.
“I won’t,” she whispered hazily as he pressed his nose into her hair.
The vampire grinned before releasing her. “It’s my duty to protect the precious cargo. I wouldn’t test it.”
Careful not to make a sound, Lilac twisted the knob and left the door ajar, just enough to hear. Voices floated up from below.
“—put the kettle on?” Jeanare was asking. His voice was strained, as if spoken through a taught smile.
Sable, on the other hand, sounded far less determined to make their guest feel welcome. “Well I don’t think the gentleman plans on making himself at home, dear. Do you, sir?” The first two words to her question were harder.
A new, gruffer voice grunted condescendingly. “That won’t be necessary.”
“Suit yourself,” Jeanare replied lightly. “And if not, I could do for some tea myself.”
Lilac couldn’t help but grin. She imagined Sable’s imperturbable husband jostling in the kitchen while Sable leered them both down.
Heavy footsteps plodded below, breaking Lilac’s levity and freezing her. The steps passed beneath them as the guard moved to the gathering room or kitchen; she wasn’t sure which was directly below the attic bedroom.
“As you know, we’ve been scouring the towns and surrounding farmland since the princess was discovered missing,” continued the guard. “She was last spotted with a vampire.”
“A vampire?” Jeanare’s voice cracked. “We haven’t seen them in these parts for a good five years or