"This place is very small. Barely one fourth of Capitol City," Samuel announced. "You'll have nowhere to really hide."

"Are you trying to scare me into leaving with you?"

"No. But if you don't leave, maybe I will stay for a few months."

"No." I glanced over my shoulder. "Absolutely not."

"Don't forget, you are my queen."

"No. I am not."

"If I remember correctly, you yelled you were my queen several times during the day."

"I said that in the heat of pa.s.sion," I mumbled, spotting a ma.s.sive stone statue in the middle of Zumaya Square. This was the area where all of the main roads met, but I didn't recall a huge statue. When did they put this here? My body stiffened as I realized who the statue was supposed to depict. Me. Halting the horse, I jumped off, quickly walking to a steel-plated sign that was nailed at the statue's feet. It read, Briele Moon gave up her life so that we might live. May we never forget her name or face.

I covered my mouth with both my hands. Disbelief shook my core. Samuel came from behind me and touched the statue. His face barely came to the statue's knees. It must have been thirty feet high.

"They honored your sacrifice. That's good." He looked around the paths. "But where is everyone?"

"Vampires don't live here so everyone works in the day and sleeps at night."

"No guards on the gate and everyone will be asleep when the king's men come. You won't stay here."

"You don't command me." I headed around the fountain and down a gray pebbled path that I'd traveled for many years. This was the way to my house. If Ethan and the girls remained in our home, I'd be there within minutes. Samuel trailed behind me, not making a sound. The horses followed us. I could only hear the clip-clop of their hooves over stone as we made it closer to my huge house. It was now painted the color of sand. It used to be my favorite color, jade. Why did he change it? A large smile spread across my face. Tears leaked from the corners of my eyes.

"Is this your home?" Samuel asked.

"Yes." I quickened my pace. We entered the pathway into my front yard. I pa.s.sed a flower garden on my right. He added a garden. On my left, tombstones jutted out of the gra.s.sy ground. My relatives had died during the years of the food shortage and now they lay in those graves. Ethan and I had buried aunts, uncles, cousins, young nieces, and nephews.

Are your parents gone too? Samuel asked in my mind.

"Yes. Both of our parents died." I paused as we came to the front steps leading to the porch.

My fingers trembled at my sides.

Samuel's hand clamped on to mine. "Don't be afraid."

"What if he did move on?" I whispered, my lips quivering.

What am I even doing?

"Once I helped a male slave escape the castle." Samuel's hand tightened around mine. "He'd been missing three toes on his right foot and couldn't walk for long periods or run if there was danger. I carried him the entire journey."

I gave Samuel a weak smile. "So you protected and guarded him?"

"Yes. But that's not the point of my story. I'd told him the whole journey that he had to prepare himself for the fact that his wife might have moved on. When we arrived in his town, we went to his house to greet his wife."

"And? Had she moved on?"

"No," Samuel admitted. "She'd prayed and hoped that one day her husband would break away from the king. She'd refused to move on and stayed true to him for seven years."

I exhaled, not even realizing I'd been holding my breath and waiting for Samuel's response. "That's a great ending."

Samuel combed his fingers through his blond-and-black hair. "And that might be your ending. You're definitely worthy of it."

Samuel embraced me and wrapped his arms around my waist. A weird sensation captured me as he touched me on my homeland, only several feet from my sleeping husband. But it also felt so right and natural. It was as if sometime before we were born, a great being had designed us to be a pair, to only fit in each other's form and become an unshakeable union.

This is the blood talking, I reminded myself.

Let it. Samuel's smoothing voice slipped inside my mind. Let's just run from this town.

"No." I climbed out of his arms. My hands returned to shaking. "I have to know if Ethan has moved on and I definitely have to see my girls. My daughters' faces and the memories I have of Ethan are the only way I survived my time in the Royal Court."

His face hardened into a mask of ambiguity. I didn't know if he was angry or not. He turned away from me and climbed the steps to my porch.

"So what's your plan right now?" he asked.

"I guess I'll knock on the door." I bit my lip.

"No. I have a better idea. We should sneak in."

"You mean break in?" I scrunched my face up in confusion.

"Yes. If Ethan is alone in his bed, then I'll leave you here."

What? For some reason panic hit me. The idea that Samuel would be far away made me form my hands into fists. My heart slammed against my chest.

Shh, he whispered in my head. It'll be hard enough to walk away. Control your body's reaction.

I'm not trying to react. It's just what's happening, I thought.

"It's because you're my queen," he claimed as though it were obvious.

I refused to respond and kept my mind as blank as possible. He pulled out a crooked black key that looked just like the one Leeta had in the hotel and winked. He stuck the key in the doork.n.o.b and twisted it. A small click sounded. The door creaked open.

Chapter Eleven.

How did you open my door with that key? I asked in my head.

I helped an old black mage escape The Quiet King's dungeon. He made me three keys like this. These keys can open any door that isn't locked by magic. I have two. I gave the other one to Leeta.

I nervously nodded and followed him in. The aroma of gingerbread hit me. The sweet scent saturated the dark room. I smiled, happy my girls slept in a house that smelled so sweet. Surely this was a home of fun things and happy memories.

Samuel picked me up.

I can move silently, Samuel said. You'll make a lot of noise if you walk.

I heard him inhale. Are you smelling me?

This may be the last time. I'm near you, he said. Be happy that's all I'm doing.

We moved through the dark room toward a dimly lit hallway. Shadows blurred and distorted the furniture and images in the picture frames. My body trembled. My heart beat loud in my ears, so loud I was sure it would wake everyone in the house.

Relax, Samuel said as we traveled down the hall.

Colorful drawings decorated the walls, resembling artwork children would make.

My girls. I beamed. The drawings had to belong to them. I touched one. Samuel paused, letting me run my finger against its smooth surface.

Take it, he said.

I almost pulled the picture down and stopped. Why should I take it? Will I not be living in this house to see the drawing every day? Are you trying to tell me something?

Blasted woman! I just figured you would want it. He took two of the drawings and carried me farther down the hallway. I knew my bedroom was the last one on the end and we were currently pa.s.sing the girls' room. But that was only if Ethan kept the house the same.

Samuel replied. I can hear tiny beating hearts in the room that we pa.s.sed. Two little ones.

I gasped. My girls.

Most likely. Samuel halted and gazed into my eyes. Do you want to see them now or go into the main bedroom to your husband?

How many hearts do you hear coming from the bedroom? I asked.

Even if I told you, Brie, you would still want to see. You would think I was lying.

Would you lie to me if it meant I would stay with you? I asked.

He looked away from me. Definitely.

I chewed the inside of my cheek. Let's get this over with. I want to go to him.

Samuel took me down the hallway. I counted ten steps. His hand went to the bedroom's doork.n.o.b and opened the door without a sound. I twisted my face toward the room, antic.i.p.ating this final answer, one that would alter the direction of my life forever.

The window's curtains were wide open. The light of the two moons traveled in through the gla.s.s. Ethan lay asleep in bed. He'd grown a s.h.a.ggy black beard. Gruff snores escaped his lips. A gla.s.s of water rested on the table next to him. I knew he would drink it right in the morning before getting out of bed. He was always thirsty. It was just one of those weird things I loved about him.

I drew that love into my heart, needing to hold on to those old memories of our marriage and all the things we'd shared-our first kiss, the first time we made love, the night he'd proposed, the morning when I discovered I was pregnant. Those were the only memories Ethan and I would have now, because on the other side of him a woman slept, a beautiful lady with dark brown hair and a round, protruding belly, announcing a new life grew inside.

Please don't cry, Samuel whispered in my head.

I touched my cheeks, shocked that tears were there. I hadn't even known I was crying. I'd been too busy gazing upon the life I'd given away.

Don't think like that, Samuel's voice sounded threatening, no longer smooth. Your life is just beginning.

I rubbed my eyes. I want to see my girls.

We arrived at my daughters' room in a blur. The aroma of gingerbread cookies captured me. Samuel opened the door and set me down so I could walk over to their bed. They slept together and clutched cornhusk dolls with tiny pink clothes. Their auburn hair was everywhere, along with their bodies. Lily had a tiny birthmark on her right cheek. She lay upside down in the bed with her foot on top of Rose's head. I stifled a giggle at the sight. My babies are so big.

Colorful drawings covered every s.p.a.ce on the wall. Stuffed animals and dolls crowded the room. A plate with cookie crumbs sat on a huge dresser. I stepped toward it and spotted a picture within a large frame. It was a picture of Ethan and me holding hands, but I couldn't remember taking it. I walked closer and suddenly realized the woman had brown hair, not auburn. It wasn't me. It was Ethan's new wife. The frame had the words, We love you, Mom and Dad written at the bottom in pink.

I scanned the room and saw no photos of me, no memory that told my girls who their mother was. Here I was ready to wake up my daughters and tell them their mother was home and they probably didn't remember who I was. And if they did know about me, clearly this new woman was their mother. She'd been here helping to raise them while I sat off in the castle. Even worse, once The Quiet King realized I was gone, he'd come here first. I couldn't stay here.

Minutes pa.s.sed as I gazed at my girls. My heart broke with each second. In one moment, I was talking myself into running off with them. I could take them. I could find us somewhere safe. It would be okay. My skin moistened with tears as the rational part of me kicked in, the part that knew what was right and wrong. So what will I do if I wake my babies? I can't drag my daughters around the planet, constantly keeping them in hiding and always in fear we'll be caught and killed. Pain bit at my stomach. I have to pretend like I don't exist anymore, to keep them safe. I shook my head. They would never know I stood above them one moonlit night, sacrificing my wants for their needs. Once again. They'd never realize that on this ma.s.sive planet walked a woman who would slice her heart into tiny pieces so they could have a fruitful life, one without strife and terror.

You were right, Samuel. I ruined my life.

You do exist to them. You have a statue of yourself in the city, Samuel offered.

I twisted his way. None of that matters if at the end of the day my girls call another woman their mother or my husband whispers I-love-yous to somebody else. I rubbed my face with both my hands, drowning in embarra.s.sment for myself and the choices I'd made. They probably don't even know it's their mother. To them it could just be some good-hearted citizen.

Stop it. You saved hundreds of lives. Samuel gathered me into his arms.

A hole emerged within my chest. It was like I'd been told someone had died. But am I selfish to now regret it?

No. Samuel lifted me, carried me out of their bedroom, and through the house. You're human. It's natural for you to feel regret.

"And do you ever feel regret?" I asked once we were outside.

"I regret taking you inside the house. I didn't enjoy watching your heart break. I wanted to take Ethan's life. I'm still not sure if I won't."

"No. You can't hurt Ethan. You were right. I couldn't have expected him to sit in this house with two young daughters and not want to give them a mother or experience love for himself." I went to the steps, ready to leave my home, the yard with my dead relatives, and all of Zumaya. Samuel grabbed my arm and handed me my daughters' drawings and a large photo of them outlined by a copper frame.

"When did you take this?" I grabbed them like valuables and held them to my chest.

"Earlier."

"Thanks."

"Are you coming with me?" Samuel asked with an unsteady voice.

"I'm considering it." I displayed a grim smile.

He laughed. "Considering it?"

Samuel's hand possessively clasped on mine as we traveled through a sleeping Zumaya. "You're my queen. While that house behind us was your only escape, there was still no guarantee I would have left you there."

"So you say," I teased and forced myself to not turn around or gaze at my house again. I even avoided the huge statue of me and hurried to our horses. "I want to get out of here as soon as possible."

"Yes, my love."

I snorted as he a.s.sisted me with getting on the horse's back. "You just keep changing my names. When you first met me I was a murdering and lying domina, then I was a blood wench that you needed to consume, later I was your queen, and now I'm your love?"

"You could be," Samuel confessed. "One day."