A Shade of Vampire 81 A Bringer of Night - Bella Forrest Page 0,52

me, what’s going on?” He sounded so clear in my head, I held on to him even from afar. “Esme!”

“Yes. No, I’m here, I’m here,” I replied, trying to gather my thoughts. “I… Something’s off, Tristan. I should’ve told you sooner, but I’ve been working on figuring it out for myself, only now it’s gotten worse. I think I’m either paranoid or in some deep trouble.”

“What do you mean? Where are you?”

“I’m in the Visentis mansion. Kalon and I brought Ansel home,” I said. “Where are you?”

“Not far from the city, actually. We’re racing back, trying to get there before midnight,” Tristan replied. “What’s got you so anxious? Are you hurt? Did someone try to harm you?”

“No, no, no! It’s not that, it’s…” I paused and inhaled deeply, my knees shaking and my tears flowing freely. “I should’ve told you sooner. I overheard Ansel and Kalon talking the other night, Tristan. Kalon knew more about the Darklings than he let on. He wasn’t as shocked as we originally thought after that first attack on Valaine.”

Tristan didn’t immediately respond.

“From what I understood, Ansel despises Kalon for turning the Darklings down. He answered their call, instead,” I continued. “Eavesdropping is bad, I know, but… Tristan, Kalon knew about the Darklings. Most importantly, I remembered some things from that night in the basement. I think he killed one of the Darklings. The ginger chick. I told you about her.”

“He killed her? Why?” Tristan asked.

“I… I don’t know. I’ve been meaning to confront him about it, but now that I’m here with the whole Visentis family, I’m starting to get this feeling that Kalon isn’t the only one who knows more than he’s telling. His other brothers—Petra, too—I don’t know, their reactions are off,” I blurted. “Upon hearing about ghouls and death magic, they’re nowhere near as scared as they should be. Am I making sense, or am I just being paranoid?”

Tristan exhaled sharply, and I could almost feel his frustration piling up on top of mine. “Considering Kalon’s deceit? I don’t think you’re being paranoid, but it’s… ugh, you need to be careful. You should get out of the house as soon as possible. Meet us at the palace later, perhaps.”

“I should, shouldn’t I?” I murmured, my lower lip trembling.

“If you don’t feel safe, yeah. Get out. You’re still recovering from your wounds. I don’t know what to tell you about Petra, let alone her other sons, but if Kalon lied to you, Esme… it’s not looking good.”

I nodded, though I knew he couldn’t see me. “Here’s the thing, though… they’ve got Ansel here. If I leave him now, what will happen to him? How will we get any intel out of the kid? Petra might make him disappear or something. I doubt she wants to see her own son beheaded, and if I’m not around, there isn’t much stopping her, is there? I’m an official witness, after all.”

“She could claim he snuck out or something… right.” Tristan cursed under his breath. “We’ve got Darklings captured. Maybe Ansel isn’t our best lead, anyway.”

“A Visentis? Not a good lead? Think about it.”

He cursed again. “Ugh… you’re right.”

“Ansel has good intel that might get lost if I’m not around to hear it. Especially if my suspicions about Kalon and his whole family are true.”

“If your suspicions about Kalon and his whole family are true, then you’d be in terrible danger, Esme.”

“Kalon wouldn’t… I mean, all he’s done is protect me. He’s had plenty of opportunities to kill me and make it look like a Darkling incident, if that was his plan,” I replied. “I’m worried Kalon is keeping secrets for other members of his family, Ansel included, not for himself. He might tell me more if I could just get him to talk to me.”

Who was I kidding? I’d been tiptoeing around Kalon since I’d first overheard him and Ansel talking.

“I want the truth, more than anything. No one has threatened me. No one has even hinted that I might be in any kind of trouble,” I added. “It’s just this feeling… this suspicion that the Visentis dynasty is holding a lot of intel back while pretending to be astonished by these troubling developments, at least as far as the Darklings are concerned. Am I making any sense here, or am I losing my mind?”

“Esme, you have feelings for Kalon. That much is obvious,” Tristan said, and my tongue suddenly froze. “I suppose it’s not an easy thing to admit, but maybe it’s clouding your