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sp; Leo’s cheeks flushed a deeper red. His jaw dropped and he turned to stare at his brother, words escaping him.
“That’s right, little brother.” Viktor stood, an amused grin on his usually stoic face. “It’s all been stamped and approved. I’m not certain who’s feeding you these lies, but I think you ought to reconsider whom you’re relying upon as a source.”
Frustration blossomed inside Leo’s chest. He whipped around to look back at the castle, his fangs flashing. “Rodrigo!”
A small, black figure darted through the lamplight and disappeared into the darkness.
He was going to kill that cat. Or, at the very least, cut back on his catnip supplies for the next year. That would teach him to lie to his employer.
The adrenaline coursing through Leo’s body had begun to subside. In its place, an uneasy sensation of embarrassment and guilt festered. Now that he truly took a moment to think about it, denying a group of people their right to rule themselves just for economic gain wasn’t Viktor’s style. He’d never been that kind of vampire.
If anything, he was a wise and fair ruler. In hindsight, it was ridiculous he’d believed a single word that cat had uttered. It showed how unhinged he’d become in the last few days. Leo grimaced and turned slowly back to face his brother, shrugging his shoulders.
“I guess that black cat is more than bad luck,” he said with a mortified grin. “Teaches me to ever doubt my brother.”
“We all do stupid things,” Viktor said, chuckling as he approached Leo to pat him roughly on the shoulder. “Especially, when there’s a woman involved. I talk from experience.”
Leo grinned. He could remember a time not too long ago when Viktor was losing his mind over a mortal female who’d unknowingly found her way into a dating competition with the crown prince of vampires. But look at them now. Cate was the best thing that had ever happened to Vik. They fell in love and now ruled the vampire throne of Monstrana. Cate had even agreed to give up her mortality for Viktor.
At the time, Leo had been happy for them both, but he couldn’t grasp what they were feeling. That was, until now. Until Eina. His heart ached at the very thought of her name.
“Is she here?” He glanced out over the water. “Is Eina here?”
His heart hadn’t allowed him to hope before now, but as he gazed into the dark waters, he wished for one small glimpse of her. One last thing to take with him.
“You will not find Eina here.” Loriella flipped her red scaly tail and made a small splash. Sadness washed over her face. “She has left the colony.”
Leo took a step toward her. All his hopes shattered inside his chest, feeling like jagged pieces of glass up and down his esophagus. “Why? What happened?”
“She was offered the ambassador position at the castle, but she decided instead that she would be better served by journeying to our secret kingdom of Atlantis. She is a lost fish, swimming without a school.” Loriella gave him a sad smile. “I’ve never seen her like this in the near thirty years since her hatching. She always was a quiet one. But this was disconcerting.”
“This is all my fault.” He raked a hand through his hair and fought back the overwhelming feeling of shame that threatened to consume him. “She left because of me.”
He should’ve talked to her. Should’ve told her why they couldn’t be together. Instead, he’d given into his selfish desires to make a clean break. To skip over the hard conversations. As a result, he’d driven her away from her home and from a job that would’ve allowed her to fulfill her dreams of affecting the world. If he hadn’t been so stupid, he could’ve seen that. For once in his life, he’d tried to do the right thing and in the end still screwed it up.
“Prince Leo,” Loriella said in a low voice, her eyebrows raising. “Eina might have had many reasons for leaving. I believe she said she was trying to find herself. However, I believe that she would be happy to know that you fought for her and her people. You are a good friend.”
That explanation didn’t seem to ease any of his guilt. He still had a feeling that his abandonment of Eina had played a part in her leaving. And not a single two-legged creature knew the location of Atlantis. It was a secret mermaids guarded with their lives. Even if he chased after her, he’d never see her again.
It was all over.
“She may be right, brother,” Viktor said, laying a hand on his shoulder. “Listen to Loriella.”
She bowed her head the slightest. “Forgive me if that was impertinent, but I could not hold my tongue.”
He gave a bitter laugh and shook his head at the leader of the mermaids. “You laid me flat on my back and threatened my life with a sharpened sea shell and now you’re worried about being impertinent?”
The left side of her mouth twitched in a small grin and she shrugged. “I did what I had to in the moment. But I never intended to actually hurt you. It’s a rough sea out there. A mermaid has to play the part if she wants to swim with the sharks.”
“I would’ve paid money to see that,” Viktor said with a deep chuckle. “A mermaid taking out an ancient vampire? Who would’ve thought?”
“Oh, it’s not as hard as it looks,” called a soft voice in the distance. “He isn’t so tough.”
Leo squinted into the darkness. Even his sharp vampire eyes had trouble spotting the owner of the voice. A figure came walking down the shoreline, swaying her hips gently like the waves of the sea. As she came into focus, Leo felt his tongue go numb and his body tense. Maybe he was dreaming, but he would’ve bet every dollar he owned on the fact that it was Eina coming his way.
“Eina,” he whispered.