A Shade of Vampire 79 A Game of Death - Bella Forrest Page 0,5

it leads you.”

The intensity of his stare made my skin tingle. There was kindness in his half-smile. Compassion. Emotions I had yet to observe in him. “Whatever the truth may reveal, I will accept it. I’m not looking to be reckless or to stir some kind of conflict with your people. That’s not what this is about,” I said. “I simply believe, with all my heart, that Nethissis was murdered. For what? I’m not sure. But I do know she was out exploring, in snake form. She did that when she didn’t want to draw any attention.”

I embellished the truth a little bit. Kalon didn’t need to know exactly what Nethissis had been up to when she’d gotten attacked. He didn’t need to know we’d been sneaking around, invisible, trying to see if they were all keeping secrets from us.

“You think she saw something she shouldn’t have?” Kalon asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

“I cannot exclude that possibility.”

Tristan walked up to us, joined by Valaine. “Derek and Sofia have given us full authority to investigate,” he said.

“And my father has authorized me to assist you with whatever resources we can spare,” Valaine added. “Whatever happened to your friend, we’ll figure it out.”

“Oh, you bet your ass we will,” I muttered, then exhaled sharply. Every breath was painful, my whole body still reacting to this loss. “I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to turn this whole bloody place upside down.”

“We’ll get to the bottom of it, Esme,” Kalon said, in a bid to reassure me. “But we will have to be cautious, too. As you might’ve noticed, our upper echelon doesn’t like the idea of murder on the palace grounds, especially when the victim is a foreigner.”

“I doubt Esme cares about upsetting our leaders, Kalon,” Valaine interjected. “This is her friend we’re talking about. I would do the same if something happened to you, and you’d do much worse if something happened to me.” She paused to look at me. “We’re with you, Esme, all the way. No matter where it leads.”

I couldn’t help but smile. For some reason, her and Kalon’s support mattered immensely. We were pretty much on our own in this world. Nethissis’s killer had to be one or more of their people. This was bound to explode in someone’s face eventually. It was nice to know that we had Kalon and Valaine making sure we weren’t the ones who wound up with gum in our hair by the end of this journey.

Nethissis and I had not been close, but she was our colleague, our friend. She deserved justice.

And I was more than willing to oblige and deliver, with the wrath of a thousand storms, if needed. Whoever had hurt her needed to learn a valuable lesson. If you come after one of us, all of us will come for you.

Nethissis

I hadn’t been able to move away from the cell. Not that I didn’t want to. I was dying to learn what they had done with my body, and how they thought they might get away with my murder. But being close to Seeley had held me down. I never would’ve forgiven myself if something happened to him.

After all, he’d jumped in to stop the ghouls from eating me.

The hours had passed, and I’d almost dozed off, crouched against the cold wall. The two black guards had remained inside, making it impossible for Seeley to talk to me without letting them know that I was out here. The last thing I needed was for them to take the ghouls they had in there and bring them out to chase me down—the guards couldn’t see me, but the fiendish creatures definitely could.

I’d never felt so lonely and helpless before. It was a hard pill to swallow, especially when it came on top of the fact that I’d been killed. My mind still had trouble processing this very basic fact. It had come so unexpectedly that there were moments when I felt like I still had a body. Phantom limbs tingled. A missing heart beat frantically, signaling fear and turmoil.

The ghouls, now chained back to the wall, occasionally chirped and growled, sending shivers down my spine. I dared not go in again, though I could’ve. The cell was warded to keep the ghouls and Seeley in—not to keep a spirit like me out. But my presence would have stirred the creatures. All I could do was sit and hope the guards would soon leave. At least then they wouldn’t