Troubled (The Binding Chronicles #4)

8. We Can Still Turn Back

We Can Still Turn Back

T he prince smelled like maple and amber.

That was the first thought that flashed through Vivienne’s mind.

The second and more important one was that this entire situation was wholly inappropriate, and the thought doubly so because she was straddling said prince, and her fangs were pressed against his neck.

She hadn’t nicked him, but she could. The desire to bite down and taste his blood was growing stronger with every passing second.

For the longest moment, neither of them moved.

Vivienne had been in this position with hundreds of people before—mostly other soldiers during training, but a few others for much more pleasurable reasons—but none of them had ever made her feel like this.

Like this was right and good, and she could just lift her lips and move them to his mouth, or maybe taste his blood, and then?—

Wrong.

This was so, so wrong.

Gods have mercy on her .

Obviously, she’d failed to think this through. She’d just been trying to show the prince why his claim was cocky and stupid. How could he think he could go up against a vampire with a few daggers?

She’d disarmed him in seconds and pinned him on his back with barely a thought.

All she’d wanted to do was prove a point.

The prince had dragged her on this adventure, brought her to this creepy hollow that stank of death and old magic, and for some reason, he wanted to continue on this perilous journey.

But now…

Now her fangs were pressed against his neck, her usually slow-beating heart was making a concerted effort to race out of her chest, and she was far more affected by this encounter than she’d ever thought possible.

Judging by the prince’s rapidly beating heart and general rigidness, she wasn’t the only one affected.

You’re duty-bound to protect him, idiot .

The harsh, scolding voice echoed through Vivienne’s mind.

It took every ounce of discipline she’d gained over her century of life, but she slowly removed her fangs from the prince’s neck and eased off him.

Boundaries.

They were important.

She needed more of them. Right. Now.

Straddling Marius had been a bad idea, no matter her intentions. She couldn’t do that again. It had led to wholly inappropriate thoughts.

Rising to her feet, she held out her hand in offering.

She would not apologize for attacking the prince. She’d just been proving a point, and she was certain she’d done that. It was her job to knock some sense into him. She probably should apologize for scenting him, but at this point, that was neither here nor there .

Besides, the prince smelled far too good for a man who had been living in the woods for a week. There was just something about his scent that appealed to her. He’d felt good beneath her, too.

Too good, if she was being honest.

Gods, reinforcing boundaries had never been so difficult.

The prince was still on the ground. He looked relaxed, his elbows supporting his weight as he lifted his head and glanced at her extended hand, raising a brow. His lips twitched into a smirk, which made him far too attractive.

How frustrating.

She was his guard. That was supposed to be the end of their relationship. The problem was, he was making that harder to remember with every passing moment.

“You’re stronger than you look, Viv,” he said.

She ignored the nickname because it was making her feel things she had no business feeling. “I’m a soldier. Strength is a job requirement.”

Marius was still relaxing on the ground, as if they weren’t surrounded by tombs full of undead vampires. “I suppose it is. You know, I’m glad you’re on my side. Having you with me will make things a lot easier.”

It took a moment for his meaning to settle in her mind, but when they did, she stumbled back.

What? No.

He’d completely missed the point of her demonstration.

“I think you’ve misunderstood what I was trying to show you,” she ground out through clenched teeth, glaring at the prince and balling her fists.

He hopped to his feet without her help.

“No, I don’t think so.” The prince strode across the clearing and retrieved his dagger.

“You wanted to show me that vampires are strong. I understand that.” Marius sheathed the blade forcefully. “In fact, I think I probably have a greater understanding of that than most people.”

Vivienne nodded. “Exactly. That’s why we should turn back.”

“No.” He sounded so sure. So confident.

Infuriating man.

Maybe she should try a different tactic. Her mother, the gods be with her soul, had always said that kindness could accomplish far more than anger.

Keeping that in mind, Vivienne exhaled and unfurled her fists. She smiled sweetly at the prince, the expression foreign on her lips. “My prince, maybe?—”

“Don’t ‘my prince’ me,” he snapped, his nostrils flaring. “I won’t return to Castle Sanguis until I’ve dealt with this.”

He pointed to the broken tomb behind them, his meaning clear.

“I just think the king and queen might be better suited for this task,” Vivienne said softly, her mother’s advice still at the forefront of her mind.

“I will not run from this.”

“But—”

“No! Death has surrounded me every day of my life.” Marius turned to her, his expression stern. “My mother died bringing me into this world. I was sick for years. My father and sisters have all perished, save one. Luna has spent over a decade trying to protect me from death’s cold grip, but I’m done running.”

His words echoed around the clearing, his chest heaving as he stared at her.

Gods. Vivienne hated that she understood where the prince was coming from. It would be so much easier if he were just being stubborn and unwilling to listen to her. Then she could just force him back to the castle.

The problem was that he kept making valid points that were difficult to refute. Her heart twisted as memories of her own parents flashed through her mind, and tears pricked behind her eyes. Her mother and father had died a long time ago, but she still felt the sting of their passing.

Death was an inevitable part of life when one was an immortal being. Even though time muted the pangs of grief, they would never entirely disappear.

“I’m sorry about your family, I really am.” She blinked back tears. “But the First?—”

“You’ll protect me, right?” He leveled her with a stare, his brown eyes seeming to stare directly into her soul. “Isn’t that your job?”

Damn it all, he had her there.

“It is,” she admitted, regretting ever taking this position.

A grin spread across the prince’s face, his anger vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. A dimple decorated his right cheek. She held back a groan.

It was so unfair that this frustrating man for whom she could have absolutely no feelings was so handsome.

“Great.” He waggled his brows. “Then protect me. Show me why Sebastian and Luna picked you for the job.”

Vexing halfling. “That’s not?—”

“We should probably go. The First had a head start, after all.”

Vivienne’s jaw fell open as the prince turned and sauntered back in the direction where they had come. Did he think that their discussion was over?

He was absolutely wrong.

“Coming, Viv?” The infuriating man called out over his shoulder. He’d nearly reached the trees.

Isvana help her, but the prince was rapidly becoming a razor-sharp thorn in her side. She was beginning to hate him for dragging her into this… if by hate, she meant that she despised how he’d roped her into this, but she couldn’t stop thinking about him.

Gods damn it. Boundaries, remember?

This night felt never-ending.

Her wings itched in her back, reminding her of their existence. As if she could forget. She could either follow the prince, who was still walking away, or fly back to Castle Sanguis and let the king know where the prince was.

Except, she was fairly certain Marius would still go after the First on his own, and she’d already proven why that was a monumentally bad idea.

Gods above.

Neither option was good, but in the end, there was only one thing she could do.

She waited until Marius reached the trees before grumbling under her breath about the absolute ridiculousness of the situation as she hurried after the prince.

It was official: she should have just tied him up at the ball and hauled him over to the king.

That would’ve been so much easier than this.

She caught up to the prince, who was removing Azil’s reins from the tree. He fished out a treat from the saddlebag and fed it to the horse.

Vivienne took deep breaths until she was certain she could speak without yelling, and calmly asked, “So, what’s the plan?”

The prince smiled and swung into the saddle with the ease of a practiced horseman, his brown eyes twinkling.

Right then and there, she knew she would hate whatever her charge was about to say.

To say that Vivienne was right about the prince’s plan being horrible would’ve been an understatement of epic proportions.

There were certain things she hated. The sun, for obvious reasons (although she occasionally missed the feeling of warm skin). Her inability to touch silver without dying. People who were unnecessarily rude to others without just cause.

Vivienne didn’t just hate this plan. She despised it with every ounce of her being. It was idiotic and would get them both killed.

Marius wanted to track, trap, and kill the First without any backup. Of all the dangerous ideas, he had to go and concoct the worst one.

She tried to argue with him and convince him that this was foolish, but he refused to listen to her. Ultimately, she gave in because she refused to be in Hoarfrost Hollow when the sun rose.

They followed the trail of footprints, even though most were little more than indents in the snow.

An hour later, they found the first body.

The woman, who looked like she was in her thirties, was drained of blood. Her eyes were open wide, and her mouth distorted and frozen in death. The corpse was half-covered in snow and carelessly dropped on the ground. Broken fingernails and frozen tears lining the woman’s cheeks spoke to her struggle before she died.

What had she been thinking, wandering so close to Hoarfrost Hollow?

They would never know.

That first night, they came across two more bodies, each drained and bearing evidence that the humans had fought back.

When dawn was near, Vivienne found a frozen cave for them to stay in. It was cramped, even with Azil standing outside. Marius ate dried strips of meat from the saddlebag before resting his eyes, but Vivienne didn’t dare sleep. She stayed awake, watching the sun rise outside the cave as she regretted her life choices.

They were off as soon as the sun set. The only good thing about hunting the First—and Vivienne was using the term ‘good’ in the loosest possible sense—was that the feral vampire would be just as affected by daylight as her.

The fact that their prey also had to follow the movements of the sun and the moon was a small reprieve.

Yesterday had been bad, between the highwaymen and Hoarfrost Hollow, but today?

Somehow, today was worse.

Vivienne was running beside Azil, and they were making their way through the frozen northern forests, following the First’s tracks.

The running wasn’t the bad part. In fact, Vivienne would go so far as to say that she enjoyed the exercise. She’d always found it stimulating, even as a human.

But everything else was dreadful.

Her fangs were burning in her gums, and her stomach was cramping. She’d been a vampire long enough to recognize the early signs of hunger setting in. She’d gotten some blood from the highwaymen when she killed them, but she’d been far more focused on saving the prince’s life than feeding.

The urge to feed would get worse if she didn’t find blood.

Not only that, but charcoal clouds churned in the sky. A storm was coming. Judging by the shift in the air, it would be bad. If the snow fell, the tracks would disappear.

That would be a problem since the prince insisted they find the First.

The moon was high, and they had been following the ancient vampire’s tracks for several hours when a shrill scream shattered the silence of the night .

It was long and drawn out, the painful plea of someone nearing death.

Vivienne’s sword was in her hand before the cry ended, and she glanced at Marius. “Last chance, Prince. We can still turn back and get the king.”

He dismounted, slipping Azil’s reins over a branch. “No, we can’t.”

Marius unsheathed his daggers, expertly spinning them and handling them better than most soldiers. She must have looked impressed because he raised a brow. “The High Lady of Life taught me a few things about wielding daggers.”

A reminder of how interconnected he was to the ruling bodies of the Four Kingdoms… and how important it was to keep him safe.

The reminder was good. She needed to remember their boundaries. He was her charge. Nothing more.

Another scream rose.

“Come on,” Marius said, jerking his head towards the sound. “Let’s go.”

A gleam that Vivienne recognized all too well entered the prince’s eyes. He would charge into any situation that would bring him closer to achieving his goal, even if it meant endangering himself.

Resigned to the fact that this night would almost certainly keep getting worse, Vivienne held in a groan. "Will you at least let me go first?"

The halfling sighed, but he paused and waited for her to catch up.

Thank all the gods for small mercies.

Vivienne gripped her sword and stepped in front of the prince.

“This way.” She shifted towards the undeniable scent of copper that was growing stronger by the second. “We need to move swiftly.”

No mortal could lose that much blood and live for long. Especially not when a feral vampire was draining them.

“After you,” the prince said, pulling on the hood of his cloak .

And so, they ran.

Locating the source of the blood didn’t take long.

Even if Vivienne hadn’t been a vampire who was in tune with the darkness of this world, they would’ve found it. The wind carried faint screams to their ears, as if the forest itself wanted them to know someone was in trouble.

The scent of death had returned.

It was the same one they’d encountered in Hoarfrost Hollow, but more potent. Her eyes burned at the awful scent. Her heightened senses felt like a curse as her entire body revolted at the stench.

If Vivienne could call upon the shadows of her brethren, she could cloak them from sight as they advanced through the forest.

Alas, they had to do without.

Vivienne led the prince through the forest until she spotted something strange. A large boulder was nestled in the snow, half-hidden behind two massive pines wearing thick white coats.

Or at least, Vivienne thought it was a boulder… until it moved .

Marius halted behind her, a curse slipping from his lips. “Is that?—”

She shot out an arm and glared at him.

“Quiet,” she hissed.

Too late.

The boulder spun around.

This time, it was Vivienne’s turn to curse. Her heart raced in her chest, and she released her wings.

By all the gods and everything else she’d ever held dear, this was awful.

They definitely should have turned back and gotten the king.