“Yeah, and you allow way too much of it, Your Majesty,” Blade said. “As a human being, you deserve the respect and confidence of your friends and family but, as a queen, you must command it.”

“Command it?” I said.

“Yes. It happens one situation at a time,” he explained. “You stand tall and clearly warn the culprit to rephrase their statement, this time with a little respect. Do that once or twice, Majesty, and people will catch on that you believe you deserve better than to be spoken to like you’re a seventeen-year-old spoiled brat.”

“Is that what people think of me?”

“Not so much anymore. But there’s just a few who haven’t woken up to smell the coffee. And you’ve been so busy being sad over David not being here, followed by news of his impending death, that you haven’t really noticed just how bad your people treat you.”

I brushed my thumb down Emily’s, focusing only on that so I wouldn’t cry.

“I think she has, Blade,” Emily said. “She’s not as tough as she looks.”

Blade’s face appeared under my lowered gaze, his black eyes peering up at me softly. “My Queen, you don’t even realise how much your people actually love you. Those who don’t are in the minority.”

“It doesn’t feel that way.”

“I know. But, hey, get this—” He grinned at Emily. “Ems and I took a stroll through Lamia Village the other day to see how it was thriving now, and when we got to the great water fountain in Town Square, there was this group of little human girls sitting on the steps.”

“They were making garlands of blue paper roses to hang around their necks, Ara,” Emily said.

“And I overheard one of the girls call herself Princess Amara,” Blade finished.

My heart melted. “Really?”

“Yeah. Honest to God.” Blade tapped his heart. “You and David aren’t just the king and queen, struggling to rule and be in love. You’re figures in history; stories parents tell their children.”

“That’s pretty cool.”

“Yeah.” Blade laughed, standing up again. “So don’t feel so alone, okay, Ara? You’re not. Your people love you, and respect you. But you need to realise that you’re the queen, not a girl fresh out of high school with no relevance or training.”

“And, Ara,” Emily added. “If you think about it, you know more about the laws, systems, and history than almost any of us.”

My mind wandered to this morning’s lesson with Morgaine on Lilithian and Vampire politics and history—a lesson I, for once, stayed awake for, realising now, more than ever, how important it was that I knew all that stuff. Very soon, there’d be no king to save me from myself. I needed to—had to—understand how to do this on my own or, when David was gone, everything would fall apart. “You’re right, Em,” I said, feeling the realisation flood my system like water rising. “I probably know more than anyone here, aside from Arthur and Morgaine. And no one, not Margret, Walt, not even Mike, has the right to speak to me like I’m a child.”

“Right,” Em said, her smile radiating as she looked at Blade. “So, what are you gonna do about it?”

“Um.” I didn’t know. Not really. “I guess, now that I’ve addressed it as an issue, I’ll just have to put myself to the test next time a situation arises.”

Emily looked at Blade. He shrugged, nodding. He seemed happy enough with that.

“I’ll stand back on this one, Majesty. Let you find your own feet,” he said. “But if you need any advice, or encouragement, look to me for a quick nod.”

I gave one in return. “Thanks, Blade.”

“Any time.” He reached back to the table nearby and grabbed a notepad and pen. “Now, I want you taking notes for this part, because you’re going to learn all the loopholes in the laws you can and cannot be overruled on, and those you can be punished for breaking.”

“Great,” I said, and I meant that. Up until now, learning anything made my eyes roll, as if I was back in school, being treated like a kid again. But, in suffering curiosity and belittlement for too long, I’d come to realise just how important it was to be informed. If I knew what I was talking about, no one had cause to argue with me or doubt me.

He was small, just a dot on the horizon, almost completely shadowed by the two giant cliffs guarding either side of the small beach, but before I even reached the steep steps leading down to the sand, I knew it was Jase.

He crossed his arm over his body and under his elbow, then flicked it out quickly toward the waves, sending a small stone skipping across the choppy surface as best it could considering the almost violent conditions out there today.

I could tell, even from up here on the cliff side, that something was troubling him—could tell he came out here to be alone, but I didn’t really care. I needed some space, too, and my skin had been craving the fury of the ocean for about a week now. We weren’t supposed to be in the same space alone but, if one of us was leaving, I was sorry to say it’d have to be him.

“Hey,” he called, without even turning around.

“How’d you know I was here?” I projected my voice over the noise of the wind, even though I knew he could hear me just fine. A habit, I guess.

“I can smell you.” He turned slightly and smiled at me, then ditched another stone from his handful into the water.

“But I was downwind.”

“Trust me, Ara. My senses are very finely tuned when it comes to you. I could smell you before you even knew you were coming this way.” He laughed.

I laughed too, closing my shawl around my chest as I stopped beside him. “Hey, did you get that reading you were trying for at training the other day?”

He shook his head. “And now I need a new ammeter, thanks to your telekinesis.”

“Telekinesis?” I frowned. “What d’you mean?”

“That’s how you threw him.”

“I thought it was my light.” I waved my fingers.

“Your light doesn't have that kind of power. Maybe to knock someone back with the blast, but not pick them right up and toss them aside.” He threw another stone.

I reached across and stole one from the cup of his palm. “Show me how.”

“How what?”

“Show me how to do it.”

He looked at the stone in my flat hand, then dropped his collection on the wet sand at his feet, the pebbles scattering like pearly black diamonds. “On one condition.”

“Anything.” I smiled sheepishly. “Well, almost anything.”

“You keep everything I teach you a secret.” He wrapped both hands over my own and the stone. “They all believe your blue light threw that knight, Ara, and it’s probably safer if you keep it that way.”

I nodded. “Okay, agreed. But what about David?”

A thin smile stretched his lips. “I’d never ask you to keep something from your husband, Ara. You can tell whoever you like, as long as you trust them.”

“Okay.” I looked at my hand all tucked up and warm in his. “I accept the terms of our agreement. Now, show me how to make it move.”

“Right. Well, you only discovered this because of your survival instinct. Quite often, a vampire’s power can lay dormant for thousands of years, until a situation arises where they need to use it.”

“So, I could have more powers I don’t know about?”

“Ara,” he said with a small laugh. “I can’t even begin to imagine the potential within you. You’re not only a child of Lilith’s blood, but you’re also deemed a goddess by Mother Nature.”

“And that means I’m supposed to be magnificently powerful?” I asked disbelievingly.

“Not just powerful, sweet girl, a force to be reckoned with, something that should scare the wits out of any man who opposes you.”

I smiled at my own small hand, so feeble against his long, ancient and athletic fingers. “I can just see Drake shaking in his boots now.”

His hand tightened around mine. “He should be.”

“He will be, when I figure out how to use this power.” I grinned up at Jase’s very slight dimple—the one he’d get when he was enjoying something. “Now, stop stalling just so you can hold my hand, and show me how to do it.”

He laughed, but we both knew he wasn’t really stalling. “Okay, as I was saying before, you found the ability because you had the need for it. So, I want you to imagine I’m trying to steal this stone from you, and I want you to use your mind to throw it into the ocean.”

“Okay. But since we’re role playing, why are you trying to steal it?”

He thought for a second, looking up when the idea struck him. “Because if I get it, you have to let me kiss you.”

My spine straightened.

“On the lips,” he added.

I pictured it for a second, and before our lips even touched, an imaginary David came down and ripped Jason’s arms out of their sockets, laid his face down on the boulder by our feet and smashed his heel into the back of Jason’s head, knocking all his teeth out. “Okay.”

“Give me your word.” He held out his pinkie.

I linked mine over it. “You have my word. If you get the stone, I’ll kiss you.”

“He will hurt me when he sees the kiss in your thoughts, Ara. It’s not a joke.”

“Then you better hope you’re not wrong about me having telekinesis.”

“Hoping?” He took a step back and crouched down, pulling his jeans up his legs a little. “Ara, I’m praying right now.”

I looked at his white teeth under that smile, and a faint memory of what those lips felt like flooded my senses.

“Ara,” he said, his tone playful but warning. “You better start moving that stone.”

I jerked my hand back as he swiped at it, almost catching it in his palm, but my so-called powers didn’t surface. So, I ran—turned on my heel and bolted down the beach, my feet sinking into the softer sand further away from the waves.

“You can’t run from me,” he called. “And human pace won’t even give you two-seconds’ reprieve.”

“I can’t run like a vampire when I’m concentrating,” I called over my shoulder, half noticing Falcon on top of the lighthouse as I turned back, watching on: the protective knight. I knew there was no way he’d hear us from all the way up there, and a part of me wondered what he thought we were up to, running along the beach like a couple of kids, with me screaming and dodging Jason’s every leap to grab me, and him laughing in such a carefree, boyish way, it almost sounded like he was happy.

“Stop concentrating,” Jase said, nearly catching the hem of my dress. “The point of adding high stakes is so you’re not thinking about anything but fight or flight.”