A Shade of Vampire 80 A Veil of Dark - Bella Forrest Page 0,58

for me to find my strength in someone like you, especially in such dark times.”

I moved away from the window, hovering around the fireplace instead. Standing so close to Kalon had all kinds of effects on my body and soul, and I didn’t know what to make of it. Part of me wanted to enjoy every second I had with him. But the fighter in me warned me of danger, much like Kalon had earlier. What a weird contradiction, since I was so determined to trust him.

“You’ll have to get something out of Ansel, though,” I reminded Kalon.

“I know. We’ll spend the night here. The Darklings are probably still out there looking for us. You should get some rest, and I’ll keep watch,” he replied, not budging from the window.

An evening with Kalon was something I had pictured before, just not in these circumstances. Not with Darklings out to cut our heads off. Not with his brother tied up in a room, a traitor to his family and the empire. And certainly not with Zoltan Shatal still loose and willing to kill anyone that stood in his way.

Nevertheless, an evening with Kalon was something I was now going to get, circumstances be damned.

Esme

I couldn’t sleep much, even though the bed in my allocated room was practically perfect. Simmon had put cotton sheets on every bed in the house, and I certainly reveled in their soft feel against my skin. But my eyes refused to shut, my mind wandering all over the place.

Next door, Ansel was quiet, tied to a chair and left to stew in his own juices. I wondered what his thoughts were about all this. Kalon was mad at him, and for good reason. But did Ansel feel any regret for what he’d done? Was he aware of what the Darklings were planning? For Pete’s sake, his “colleagues” were determined to kill Valaine. From what Kalon had told me, Ansel had had nothing but love and affection for Lady Crimson. It just didn’t make sense.

Downstairs, Kalon was alone. I thought about him a lot. About his hand on my face. His skin on mine. His eyes peering into my very soul whenever he looked at me. With all our back-and-forths, I still didn’t know where we stood with one another. Maybe that was the only thing that kept me from falling asleep. This idea of him finding his place in my life. Of me finding my place in his. We were linked on a deeper level, yet neither of us dared to explore that connection.

Blowing out a deep breath, I got out of bed and slipped into a fluffy robe hung on the door. It felt so nice to be out of my combat gear for a few hours. Leaving my room, I treaded carefully along the hallway. Stopping outside Ansel’s room, I turned the key and went in. Kalon had locked it from the outside, so Ansel wouldn’t try to get out. Ansel sat in his chair, hands still bound behind his back with steel-like cuffs, looking out the window.

There wasn’t much happening outside, other than the sky reflecting its shimmer onto the lake, and the woods rustling, brushed by the nightly winds. Everything else was silent and dark, with only a moonbeam cutting through Ansel’s room, drawing his shadow on the floor.

“I’d say I’m sorry things turned out this way,” I said. “But you brought this on yourself, Ansel.”

He looked at me but said nothing.

“Your brother doesn’t deserve this. And I’m certain he would give his own life to protect you. You should cooperate and tell us everything you know before it’s too late. There is only so much Kalon will forgive.”

A smile tucked at the corner of his mouth. “You speak as though you know my brother.”

“I do. Well enough to understand what he’s going through.”

“You know nothing,” Ansel replied. “Get out.”

Maybe Kalon would make him talk, eventually. I was just a stranger, a friend of his brother’s, a foreigner who’d come to Visio without understanding what Visio was all about. I couldn’t exactly blame the boy for not wanting to talk to me.

I left Ansel behind and went downstairs. I found Kalon resting on a wide sofa. He’d made a fire, having blown all the other lights out. Moonlight flooded the lounge, casting its milky glow over the floor and the furniture, while darkness reigned supreme everywhere else. The windows were open, the breeze sweeping through and fanning the fireplace flames once in a