Felix stands behind Queen Bellaceline, his spine a rigid line of terror. Sachester stands beside him, her gown a heavy weight of diamonds.

The Queen had watched them from the crystal archway with narrowed eyes. A maid had whispered the command into Felix's ear: Dance.

Felix's collar feels like a noose. Sachester stares at the ceiling as he leads her through the steps, her gaze far from the boy in front of her.

A hand snatches Felix's elbow in the shadows of the hall. He spins to see the common guard with Dion's missing features.

Felix exhales, his shoulders dropping an inch.

They duck behind a heavy velvet curtain. The magic ripples, and the Prince emerges in his silver embroidery.

Felix slides into the darkness of the servant's corridor. He vanishes before the Queen turns her head.

"Dion." The last noble vanishes through the doors. Bellaceline waves her maids away.

"Yes, Mother."

The Queen scans his face, her eyes like cold glass. Her fingers tighten around the handle of her fan.

"Where did you go tonight?" Her voice is a shard of ice.

Dion's pupils dilate. He looks at the floor.

Bellaceline remains perfectly still. A frost begins to creep over the edges of the nearby fountain.

He opens his mouth, a lie resting on his tongue. He bites it back, his jaw locking.

"I'm... disappointed."

She steps closer, the rubies on her neck catching the light. She looks at the new military seal on his desk.

"Was it the human bride?" The question hangs in the air like a blade.

Dion didn't lie. He gave his mother a sharp, single nod.

"You haven't... fallen for her? A human?" Bellaceline's brow twitched. It was a rare crack in her marble mask.

The last time she'd made that face, her father had been handing her to the King. That was a thousand years ago.

Love? Dion stood like a statue.

He'd never spared a thought for love. Not for a vampire. Definitely not for a human.

His chest hitched. "That's impossible," he snapped.

Bellaceline didn't blink. "If you want her, I'll have Brian hand her over."

"She's just a Blood Bride."

...

The Queen turned her back. "Decide what it is you actually want."

Dion didn't sleep. Again.

He appeared in Ruby's doorway at sunset. His gaze was a jagged, unfocused mess.

"You're... early..." Ruby muttered.

Dion caught her wrist and yanked. "Move."

Ruby stumbled after him. She spared a single, mournful glance at her abandoned pillow.

He launched them into the night sky. Ruby's scream tore through the wind.

They crossed the palace walls. Ruby's teeth chattered as she pictured iron hooks and cold stone.

Dion felt the tremor. He hauled her flush against his chest, pinning her arms down.

They hovered over a rolling hill. Below, three horses and a lone figure stood like ink dots on the grass.

Dion spiraled down. Ruby squinted as the ground rushed up.

Jacob Vraj.

Dion released her. Ruby's boots hit the turf, her knees wobbling. Jacob waved, a grin cutting across his face.

Ruby whipped her head around to stare at Dion. "What is... what are we doing here? And you two?"

"The Prince invited me for a ride last night," Jacob said. He glanced at Dion. "I didn't expect a third."

Dion caught her shoulder and shoved her toward a small cabin. "Change if you want to ride."

Riding. Outside the walls. Ruby watched the two vampires through the window.

Jacob caught her gaze and gave a microscopic shake of his head.

Ruby found a set of riding leathers in the cottage. They fit like they were cut for her.

She stepped back into the sunlight. "Just... riding? That's it?"

Dion's gaze traced the lines of the leather. He didn't look away.

He gave a stiff nod and turned his back. The usual arrogance was buried under a wall of silence.

Jacob brought the chestnut horse around. "Up you go."

"This one's mine?" Ruby's voice pitched higher.

"Go on."

She vaulted into the saddle. A wide, bright grin broke across her face.

Jacob watched her for a beat too long. "Ride while the light lasts."

"Yah!"

Ruby snapped the reins. The horse lunged forward, hooves thundering against the turf.

Jacob's black stallion followed a second later. They tore across the open hillside, side by side.

The scent of crushed grass and wet earth filled Ruby's lungs. The wind bit at her cheeks.

She closed her eyes. She was back in the fields of the Kingdom of Aurelia, riding to find Angelina.

No walls. No blood-stained silk.

Ruby snapped her eyes open and inhaled the Châtelet dusk.

A white blur hit her periphery. Dion's white stallion slammed into the gap between her and Jacob.

Jacob swerved, his horse skidding on the grass. Dion's pupils were pinpricks of glowing red.

Ruby didn't look back. She was already a hundred yards down the slope.

Her black hair whipped in the wind. She leaned over the horse's neck, racing the dying sun.

Dion pulled his reins. He watched her.

Jacob slowed his mount to a walk. "The Queen is gathering steel at the border. The nobles are whispering."

Dion turned his head. His face was a blank slate. "And you, Duke Vraj?"

"I follow the Queen," Jacob said. "But war? With our numbers? What's your take, Highness?"

"No war. Not with a skeleton crew." Dion looked at the red dot of Ruby's gown on the horizon.

"But if the drums start... humans don't stand a chance. My mother prefers quieter methods."

The shadows lengthened. Jacob's grip on the leather tightened.

Dion Lancaster wasn't a boy. He was a predator with a clear view.

"True," Jacob grinned. "Humans don't fight monsters. They just give them what they want."

Dion said nothing. Ruby thundered back toward them, her laughter cutting through the cold night air.

Night falls. The moon hangs high, a silver disc nearly full in the black sky.

Dion Lancaster looks up. A full moon means the wedding. Ruby Kingsley and Brian.

The Queen's voice echoes in the silence of the field. "If you want her, I'll have Brian hand her over."

His grip on the reins tightens. Would Queen Bellaceline really hand her over?

Ruby Kingsley in Durell Palace. Forever.

A phantom warmth touches his chest. He jerks his head away and stares at his boots, cutting the image short.

Ruby stays in the saddle. Her eyes are wide, a bright spark dancing in the brown depths. She hasn't stopped smiling since the first gallop.

Jacob Vraj holds the bridle. He doesn't pull. He knows she wants this moment to stretch.

Princess Angelina had cornered him in the capital. "If you find her... let her ride."

Dion's invitation was likely a probe for secrets. But the promise to a Princess is kept, and the girl is on a horse.

Châtelet is stirring. They need to move.

Dion catches Ruby's waist and launches. The wind screams past them as they tear through the clouds.

"Wait—Jacob? You're leaving him?"

Dion scoffs. "He's a thousand-year-old predator. He won't get lost in the dark."

The landscape blurs. Jacob shrinks into a black speck on the horizon.

A tray sits outside the door of Solara Palace. Breakfast.

Ruby reaches for the handle. Dion shifts his weight, his coat fluttering as he prepares to leap back to his own wing.

She pauses in the frame. She looks back. "Thank you."

...