After failing as a vampire hunter, 17-year-old Cleo is sent to an academy full of vampires as a false peace treaty. Her true objective is supposed to be finding the hidden heir to the dark world while befriending the current one, but the current hei...
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The day of the ball arrived before I was ready for it.
When I woke, I didn't move for a moment, anxiety coiling in my gut, making me nauseous. I'd barely gotten any sleep throughout the night, tossing and turning, having nightmares about everything that could go wrong. I'd wanted my dreams to be positive— a sign that everything would turn out okay. But instead, they were full of darkness and death. My death. Claude's death. Over and over. I would startle awake out of the dream, reach for Claude beside me, and put my hand on his chest to make sure he was still breathing before I fell right back into a repeat of the same dream.
And just a few times, I felt Claude's hands pass over my own chest, checking on me, too.
I knew he had to leave early to prepare for the event, so I sat up immediately, rubbing my eyes. Claude stood by my vanity, buttoning up his shirt, his image in the mirror reflecting his gold eyes, his black hair, wet and messy over his forehead, his lips curled down into a frown. When he noticed my movement, his gaze snapped to me through the glass. "Did I wake you?"
"I don't even think I slept," I said, yawning.
"Me either."
I pulled my knees up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them, hating the way my pulse wouldn't settle down. "I feel like we've been talking about this so much and now that the day is here, it doesn't feel real."
Claude came to the bedside, standing over me. "Remember what I've told you before. You're steady with your ideas and plans. And I am too. Today will be successful."
"What if he doesn't show up?"
"He will," Claude said confidently.
I hugged myself tighter, unsure. But I had to face my father today and put an end to this— I had to be confident, not anxiety-ridden. I'd had all night to be worried. Now I had to pull myself together and make sure today would be successful. I couldn't let my feelings get the best of me.
Claude brushed back my hair before taking my chin in his hand and tilting it up so I was forced to look at him. "Cleo."
"Yes?"
"Nothing will happen to you. I promise you that."
"It's not me I'm worried about," I said.
Claude moved his hand from my chin to my cheek. "I don't plan on dying to your father. In fact, he won't even get close enough to me to do any harm to me. Or you."
I pouted up at him. "That's not something you can promise."
"No," he agreed. "But thinking negatively will do nothing to help our efforts."
"You're right."
Claude frowned down at me for a moment. "Stop pouting, then."
"Let me be worried for a few more seconds, then I'll suck it up."
