3 months later
I was back in England by June and spent two months figuring out what exactly I planned to do. It was August, the summer wind blowing through full green trees and sweeping in the smell of saltwater from the ocean. The sky was clear and there wasn’t a cloud in sight. The stars shone as bright as ever in the clean air of the countryside. The castle was bustling with activity.
My coronation was to take place that day. It was to be simple and quick. The Court was no longer adverse to my place on the throne. The people loved me. Lunnette had been boosted up through the system and took a place in my Royal Guard. She was vicious in politics and deadly in a fight. William was technically still my husband but we generally avoided each other now. I was more moody than ever, though I had no idea why, and I guessed he didn’t want to be beaten to a bloody pulp again.
So it was Lunnette who comforted me the day of my coronation. She grasped my left hand, now devoid of William’s ring. Her calming influence spread over me. My wrist throbbed gently, drawing my attention to the slightly luminescent crest on my skin. I shook out my other hand and breathed in deeply.
“And now we present to you your princess, Shadow Coeur Viguié.” Alexander’s voice rang out. Lunnette let go og my hand and fell a few steps behind me. Caleb walked beside me. Caleb, William’s ground-breaking betrayal. I had come to like him in the previous two months. I had forced the Court to allow him to be the head of my Royal Guard when he showed an unusual connection to me, an ability to tell when I was in danger. We were a striking pair. I was resting at twenty-six, Caleb’s age. I was in a long black ball gown- ladies never wore anything else- and my hair was loose and barely tamed. He was in the customary gold uniform of the Royal Guard. On his shoulder was my colored crest, shimmering in the moonlight because of the special thread used to embroider it.
Caleb had a body toned from years of baseball and deeply tanned brown skin. He had our black eyes but his had streaks of the brightest blue. He looked so much like Samuel with his wiry build and red gold hair I had cried the first time I met him. He had the same sensual lips and noble features. Caleb read about a quarter as much as Samuel had, though, and I missed Samuel’s sense of humor.
“Princess Viguié.” Alexander said quietly. Caleb, who previously had his arm wrapped around me protectively, moved away to stand next to William. William was watching the crowd with raised eyebrows as they screamed and chanted my name.
“I am present.” I responded, following the ages old ritual. The crowd quieted down and listened intently. I felt queasy, which was absurd because I wasn’t nervous.
“We have come to this place in order to release you of your position as princess and place upon you the title of queen. Are you prepared for your final trial?”
“I am pre…” I halted in the middle of the word, putting a hand over my mouth. I wobbled a few steps to throw up in the bushes. There was an immediate, urgent rustling in the crowd. Vampires only threw up when they sickened. We only sickened when we were moments away from dying, our body’s way of telling us to move the hell out of the way. I didn’t know why it was happening, but it didn’t matter. It was still a huge cause for concern. I heaved until there was nothing left in my stomach, until it sent pain bursting through my body. A moment after I finally stopped I felt hands in my hair and other, cooler hands on my forehead. Then someone lifted me into warm arms. I looked up to see Caleb’s face swimming in my blurry vision, puzzled.
I surrendered myself to the darkness. For the first time in my life, I fainted for no apparent reason. The world fell around me.
I was standing in the middle of a forest that had been burned to the ground. There was still fires burning around me, red-orange flames reaching up for the starry sky. Slain vampires covered the ground around me. Other, still living vampires fought over and between their bodies, fierce grins on their faces as they concentrated. Half were dressed in gold- the color of my Guard- and the rest were in black. I noticed I was fighting for my life as well. My silver outfit was spattered with blood. My adversary was dressed in red.
His face constantly shifted, never clear even in the bright light that came from nowhere. I was guarding a group of children. One of them looked like a mix between me and William with my black hair and his blue eyes. Two of them had red hair and green eyes, but one was pale and the other vibrant. The last, the smallest, had silver white hair and silver eyes. There was other people tooA man who looked like Caleb but fought completely differently stood directly behind me and the children. Lunnette was to my right and William was to my left. They were each fighting their own enemies. Lunnette drew hers in and kissed him passionately. He kissed her back but stabbed her through the heart.
I tried to scream but I couldn’t make a sound. My body kept fighting even as I tried to run. The children watched stoically, except for the silver haired one. He was staring at me with the calmest expression. He had the utmost confidence that I would prevail, like he loved me. Like I was his mother. But that wasn’t possible. Vampires couldn’t have children, unless they were cursed. And I hadn’t met any witches with the power to curse me.
In the blink of an eye William was down too. I felt only a miniscule fraction of the pain I had felt when Lunnette was killed. Yet it still hurt. Caleb’s assailant wrestled him to the ground and held a knife to his throat. I dropped my swords. They dissolved before hitting the ground, drawn back into my crest. I forced myself to my knees. My pride reared up and I struggled to make myself stand back up and failed. My attacked knelt down in a front of me, a few inches taller than me. He kissed me then bit me. The pain started as a tiny prick, like that of a needle, then slowly intensified until it burned through my body like fire until…
I screamed, thrashing and fighting against the bonds that restrained me. Silver chains held me to a soft bed that I couldn’t see because my eyes were shut as I fought. Even when I could feel Lunnette’s power trying to break through the pain, I couldn’t stop.
“Shadow. Shadow, calm down baby.” I heard Samuel’s voice and immediately stopped, my eyes flying open. His was one of many faces floating over me. I whimpered his name. Samuel gave me a sad little wave, trying to mask the desperate need in his eyes, then disappeared. I started to cry, deep sobs that tore my throat. Through all my tears and without Samuel’s all-consuming presence I could see the other faces. William, Caleb, and Lunnette all looked pale and scared. Alexander looked faintly concerned. Ansa and a few nurses showed desperate fear as they hooked me up to a machine.
“Shadow, we need to run some tests on you.” one of the nurses, a Sunlighter name LeAnne, said as she stuck a needle in my arm. It took all the control I had to not yank it out and rip open the girl’s throat. She drew three tubes of blood from me.
“Bottles.” I rasped to Lunnette. She nodded and ran off. Caleb shook his head an followed her, knowing I had named her my successor in the case of my untimely death. Which all the vampires thought would be soon. I glanced at the clock and was shocked. My fevered dreams had kept me for four and a half hours. By all right and reason, I should have been dead.
“Oh my god.” one of the nurses had been bio-scanning my body with our specially tuned tools for any abnormalities. She looked as if somebody had slapped he upside the head with a giant squid.
“What?” William asked. He, the two nurses, and I were the only people left in the room. The nurse who had spoken looked ready to pass out. The other one took a look at the screen. She ran off, dress flapping behind her, apparently to find someone important to tell the urgent news. Dread started to flood through me. William was frozen, his hand hovering in the air.
“What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with me?” I asked, bordering on hysterical. The nurse stared at me like I was an animal in the zoo.
“Tell us!” William demanded.
“Shadow, my lady…” she paused and swallowed hard.
“You’re pregnant.”
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