THE ROAD TO MIDNIGHT
2168 Words
“She’s coming home.”
Hundreds of miles away, Elara had no idea those words had just been spoken.
She didn’t know that King Alaric Draven stood beneath the Midnight Court beside a door that had supposedly been sealed for twenty years.
She didn’t know he was smiling.
All Elara knew was that her mother was alive.
And King Alaric had answers.
For the first time in her life, answers were close enough to touch.
“We’re still going to the Midnight Court,” she said.
Adrian stared at her.
For someone claiming to be her brother, he was already getting irritatingly good at giving her looks that questioned her intelligence.
“Did you miss the part where I said Alaric knows your seal broke?”
“No.”
“The part where his blood was used to create that seal?”
“Heard that too.”
“The creatures that attacked us tonight were created using Draven blood magic.”
“Still listening.”
“And you want to walk directly into his castle?”
Elara folded her arms.
“My mother’s message is there.”
“Elara—”
“No.”
Adrian’s eyebrows rose.
“I spent twenty years believing my mother was dead. In the last few days, I found out she might be alive, that I lived with vampires as a child, that my memories were altered, that Maeve is actually my aunt, and apparently I have a thirty-four-year-old brother whose father is an ancient supernatural psychopath.”
Adrian opened his mouth.
She raised one finger.
“I’m not finished.”
His mouth closed.
Seraphina smiled.
“I like her.”
Lucien gave his sister a look.
Elara continued.
“I also found out the vampire king’s blood was inside the necklace suppressing my power.”
Her gaze moved to Lucien.
“And the only message my mother left specifically for me has been sitting inside his castle for twenty years.”
Lucien nodded once.
“It has.”
“Then I’m going.”
“I can retrieve the box,” Lucien said.
“No.”
“Elara.”
“No more people doing things for me because they think they’re protecting me.”
Her eyes moved toward Maeve.
Maeve flinched.
Elara hated seeing it.
But the truth remained.
Secrets had shaped her entire life.
Her childhood.
Her missing wolf.
Her parents.
Even her own memories.
She couldn’t keep allowing other people to decide which pieces of her life she was allowed to know.
“I go,” Elara said.
Kael stepped beside her.
“Then we all go.”
She looked at him.
“You don’t have to.”
“I know.”
That stopped her.
Kael’s gray eyes held hers.
“I know I don’t have to. And I know you don’t need me to protect you.”
His jaw tightened.
“But if you’ll allow me to come, I want to.”
The old Elara would have melted at those words.
She would have taken them as proof that maybe he wanted her after all.
This Elara simply nodded.
“Follow my rules.”
“No fighting Lucien.”
“Yes.”
“No Alpha behavior.”
Kael sighed.
“Yes.”
“And no acting like I belong to you.”
Pain flashed across his face.
But he nodded.
“Yes.”
Seraphina looked between them.
“Awkward.”
Lucien gave her another warning look.
“What? It is.”
Adrian laughed quietly.
“The vampire prince, rejected Alpha heir, vampire princess, witch, Eclipse-Born queen, and her long-lost brother walking into the Midnight Court together.”
Elara glared at him.
“Stop calling me queen.”
“The wolves bowed.”
“I didn’t ask them to.”
“They still bowed.”
Seraphina grinned.
“I think Queen Elara sounds nice.”
“Keep talking and I’m leaving you here.”
Seraphina immediately became serious.
“Your completely normal, absolutely not royal name is beautiful.”
Despite everything, Elara almost laughed.
Then Adrian’s pendant flashed.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
His amusement disappeared.
Elara noticed immediately.
“What?”
Adrian grabbed the stone.
It flashed faster.
“What is happening?”
“No.”
His voice changed.
Fear.
Real fear.
Elara stepped toward him.
“Adrian.”
He closed his fist around the pendant.
“No, no, no.”
“What?”
“The connection.”
“To Mom?”
He looked at her.
“Yes.”
The pendant suddenly turned bloodred.
Maeve rushed forward.
“What does red mean?”
Adrian didn’t answer.
“Adrian!”
“It means her life force changed.”
Elara’s stomach dropped.
“Changed how?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is she dying?”
“I said I don’t know.”
His voice cracked.
For the first time, Elara didn’t see the mysterious man who had walked through her magical barrier.
She saw a son terrified for his mother.
Her brother.
The thought still felt strange.
But it was there.
“Can you find her?” Elara asked.
Adrian looked down at the pendant.
“She blocked the tracking spell years ago.”
“But something changed.”
“Yes.”
“So try again.”
“Elara—”
“Try.”
Adrian stared at her.
Then nodded.
He wrapped both hands around the pendant and closed his eyes.
Nothing happened.
Seconds passed.
Then his silver eyes opened.
Completely silver.
Elara stepped backward.
“Okay. Still creepy.”
Adrian ignored her.
Light poured from between his fingers.
Thin golden lines spread through the air.
They twisted together until a map formed in front of them.
Roads.
Mountains.
Rivers.
Territories.
Elara recognized Ravencrest.
Nightfall territory glowed faintly behind them.
Another point appeared farther north.
Dark.
Large.
Surrounded by mountains.
Seraphina stopped smiling.
“No.”
Lucien’s entire expression changed.
Elara looked between them.
“What?”
Neither answered.
“Why do people keep doing that?”
Lucien stared at the map.
“That’s the Midnight Court.”
Elara’s heart jumped.
A golden point pulsed inside the territory.
“Mom?”
Adrian nodded slowly.
“I think so.”
Elara moved closer.
The light shifted.
The glowing point sank.
Down.
Below the representation of the castle.
Then farther.
And farther.
Seraphina whispered, “That’s impossible.”
“What?”
“The royal crypts.”
Lucien shook his head.
“No.”
Seraphina looked at him.
“You see it.”
“The lower crypts were sealed centuries ago.”
“Apparently somebody forgot to tell your father,” Adrian said.
Lucien’s crimson eyes flashed.
“Be careful.”
Adrian stepped toward him.
“About what? Insulting the man who tortured me?”
“You accused my father of something I haven’t confirmed.”
Adrian rolled up his sleeve.
The burned Draven symbol was still visible.
“Would you like him to sign it?”
Lucien’s jaw tightened.
Elara stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Both men looked at her.
“I am not traveling with three hundred years of vampire family drama and werewolf testosterone just for everybody to kill each other before I get there.”
Seraphina raised her hand.
“I support this rule.”
Kael muttered, “For once.”
She looked at him.
“You’re still Lord Fluffy.”
Kael closed his eyes.
“Goddess help me.”
A laugh escaped Elara before she could stop it.
It felt strange.
Laughing while terrified.
Maybe that was how people survived impossible things.
Adrian suddenly inhaled sharply.
The map flickered.
“What now?” Elara asked.
The golden point representing Amara moved.
Barely.
But it moved.
Elara’s heart pounded.
“She’s alive.”
“Yes.”
“Then we go now.”
Maeve stepped forward.
“Elara, wait.”
“No.”
“Please.”
Something in Maeve’s voice made her stop.
Maeve looked older suddenly.
Tired.
“Elara, if Amara is beneath the Midnight Court, there is something you need to consider.”
“What?”
“She may not be imprisoned.”
Elara stared at her.
“What are you saying?”
“We don’t know what happened after she disappeared.”
“She sent you a warning.”
“Yes.”
“About the Blackthornes.”
“Yes.”
“Which means she didn’t want to be found.”
“Or she couldn’t risk being found.”
Elara shook her head.
“You’re doing it again.”
“Doing what?”
“Giving me half a truth.”
Maeve went silent.
Elara stepped closer.
“What do you know?”
“Nothing certain.”
“Then tell me what you suspect.”
Maeve hesitated.
Adrian watched her carefully.
Finally, she said, “Amara was one of the strongest blood witches I ever knew.”
Elara waited.
“Keeping someone like her imprisoned for twenty years would require enormous power.”
“Alaric is a vampire king.”
“Yes.”
“But?”
Maeve swallowed.
“But if Amara has truly been beneath the Midnight Court all this time, there are only two explanations I can think of.”
“What are they?”
“Either Alaric has something powerful enough to keep her there…”
Maeve paused.
“…or your mother stayed willingly.”
Elara felt like she’d been punched.
“No.”
“I’m not saying she abandoned you.”
“Then what are you saying?”
“I’m saying we don’t understand the situation yet.”
Elara looked at the glowing point.
Her mother.
Alive.
Possibly waiting.
Possibly trapped.
Possibly hiding.
She didn’t care which.
“I’ll ask her myself.”
Lucien stepped closer.
“If Alaric has harmed her, the Court may turn against me when I help you.”
Elara looked up at him.
“You don’t have to come.”
His expression became almost offended.
“Yes.”
The strange thread between them tightened.
Warmth spread through Elara’s chest.
Lucien’s crimson eyes held hers.
“I do.”
For several seconds, neither moved.
Elara hated how aware she became of him whenever that connection awakened.
His scent.
His breathing.
The way his gaze softened only slightly when it rested on her.
Then Kael shifted beside them.
The rejected bond immediately pulled in the opposite direction.
Pain.
Longing.
Confusion.
Elara stepped away from both men.
“Nope.”
Seraphina blinked.
“Nope what?”
“Whatever supernatural love triangle nonsense the universe is trying to do.”
She pointed upward.
“I have enough problems.”
Seraphina laughed.
Even Lucien smiled.
Kael didn’t.
His eyes remained on Elara.
Sad.
But he stayed silent.
Good.
She wasn’t ready.
Maybe she never would be.
Adrian lowered his hands.
The map disappeared.
“We should move.”
“How far?” Elara asked.
“By car? About four hours.”
Maeve looked toward the dead vehicles.
“We currently have no cars.”
Lucien pulled out his phone.
Elara stared.
“You have service?”
“I’m a prince.”
“That does not explain cellular reception.”
“It does when my family owns the towers through this territory.”
Seraphina shrugged.
“Rich people magic.”
Lucien ignored her and made a call.
Elara turned toward Adrian.
His pendant had returned to its faint golden glow.
“You really think she’s there?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t it show you before?”
“I don’t know.”
That worried her.
Something had changed.
Something had allowed Amara to be found.
Twenty minutes later, headlights appeared down the road.
Two black vehicles approached.
Lucien’s guards.
Elara released a breath.
Finally.
They were moving.
She climbed into the first SUV with Maeve, Seraphina, and Adrian.
Lucien paused beside the door.
“I’ll ride with you.”
Elara raised an eyebrow.
“Why?”
“Protection.”
She stared.
He sighed.
“And because I would prefer to.”
“Better answer.”
He climbed inside.
Kael entered the second vehicle.
As they pulled away, Elara watched Nightfall disappear behind them.
She didn’t know what waited at the Midnight Court.
Her mother.
A vampire king.
Answers.
Maybe another betrayal.
But she would face it.
Adrian suddenly stiffened beside her.
His pendant flashed.
Once.
Twice.
Then again.
He stared at it.
“What?” Elara asked.
Adrian looked at Lucien.
The stone pulsed faster.
His face slowly lost its color.
“Adrian?”
He moved the pendant away from Lucien.
The flashing slowed.
He brought it closer.
Faster.
Lucien noticed.
“What are you doing?”
Adrian didn’t answer.
He stared at the pendant in horror.
Elara’s stomach tightened.
“That’s supposed to be connected to Mom.”
“It is.”
“Then why is it reacting to Lucien?”
Adrian lifted his silver eyes.
“I don’t know.”
Lucien’s expression darkened.
Adrian looked from him to Elara.
Then back at the glowing stone.
“But whatever is connecting this pendant to Amara…”
He swallowed.
“…is also inside Lucien.”
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