Spurned Queen

Chapter 37: The Sweetest Thing I Ever Saw

Aevran

Her face was pale. The room was permeated with pain, anger, and fear as she read about the Oblivion. She took a shaky deep breath, gathering herself up as if she had been physically crushed by the news. A weapon that could kill all the Wolves at once? I watched her reaction curiously; she retained her composure, glaring at me for an answer.

"My guards found it, in the room of Rulin, a certain vampire noble who was possibly involved in the murder of my previous Advisor," I told her. "Apparently, it was to be sent to him on the day he died. I've been trying to see what was in it for several weeks."

She stared at me, and I could almost see her thoughts sitting on the desk.

She plucked the flash from the computer. "I think we both agree on what to do with this." Without bothering to wait for my reply, she dropped the flash and crushed it under her boot.

I raised an eyebrow. There was nothing left under her heel but dust. Not that I blamed her. This thing threatened her entire Kind.

I shrugged. I pulled her up from the chair, muttering, "Let's just hope that was the only copy. You can kill Rulin if you get the chance. He's in the dungeon at the Palace; you probably already know where that is."

Alexandra didn't spare me a glance as she cockily replied, "You can bet your fangs I do."

I shook my head, a tiny upward tug pulling at the corners of my lips.

We got back to the car, and this time she strapped herself in. "Where did you get this piece of junk?" she snorted as we sloshed through the mud to get back.

I didn't feel like explaining. So I ignored her and we drove in silence. Half an hour passed. I glanced over to see her leaning her head on her hand, looking wistfully out the window.

She was beautiful. Even with no light whatsoever, her eyes shone. Her slim body was elegant even when perched in the old, rough car seat. Her arms and hands were smooth, white, and delicate, speaking nothing of the raw power they held, that had broken my nose. Her dark blonde hair had been pulled to one shoulder, the ends pooling in her lap. Her parted lips were mesmerizing in the dark, all the more when a drop of glistening water slid past them.

Wait, what?

She was crying. She had blocked her emotions so I couldn't sense them, but she was crying nonetheless. She didn't make a sound, her breathing was even, and her face didn't scrunch. She didn't blink. Tears simply pooled in her crystal eyes and spilled when there was no longer any room for them. Then they trickled down to her hand that held her chin. Her eyes held pain; a pain so deep and excruciating just looking at it nearly crushed me.

I watched as she swallowed and exhaled lightly, soundlessly. She closed her eyes, shutting the pain away, locking it in somewhere. When they opened again they were dry. Her fingers swiftly wiped her cheeks, erasing the proof that she had just been weeping in silence. She licked her lips and settled deeper into her seat, assuming no one had seen.

But I had.

Third Person POV

He was cold.

The Vampire King neither said nor showed it, but his body temperature had fallen so low Lexi could sense it. After driving back to the camp, he hid the car again in the shrubbery. When he was finally satisfied that humans would never find it, he dusted his hands and stuck them in his pockets to hide their bluish color.

Lexi wasn't an expert on vampires, but she knew that they were used to being cold, so turning blue was definitely a bad sign. But of course, she said nothing as they walked the rest of the way to their camp.

Lexi felt the urge to say something. "Hey, I really enjoyed that," she said before anyone could hear.

"What?"

"That little... episode," she called it.

"And you're thanking me? I dragged you out of here, drove you off to a warehouse somewhere, and used your skills, and you're thanking me?"

"Sure. It was interesting and fun to bug you for a while," she smirked. "Besides, I got to crush something, so that helps."

He paused. He knew that she was putting on a show, and that that discovery shook her more than she cared to admit. Nevertheless, he smiled. "See you around, pretty werewolf," he said quietly. Then he shifted and flew into the camp.

Lexi couldn't shake the picture of that strange, half-knowing, half-sympathetic smile from her mind.

She forced it also away to the numb portion of her mind, just where she was keeping the knowledge of her mother's betrayal. After the calming tears she had shed, she was ready to keep the thought on ice until she was ready to carefully unwrap it and let it sink in, preferably when Tyler was near.

She squared her shoulders, sauntering into the camp. Fires were small and miserable in this fog, and she had a small urge to wave her hands and have them blaze proudly. But, she supposed, she couldn't take her true place in the world while still concealing her identity.

"Well look who just rolled in," said Cindy as she emerged from a group of their pack members. "I hope you hunted, coz we just polished off all the midnight snacks."

"These people don't know how to feed Wolves," she complained, stretching. Her bones were happy to be out of the car.

"Right? They give us rations. You can't ration pork!"

They had pork? Darn it. Her stomach grumbled emptily, and her best friend's eyes narrowed on her. "Where have you been? You weren't hunting," Luna Lucinda questioned suspiciously.

"Nothing special," Lexi lied.

Cindy's brown eyes lit up with interest. "That was a lie. Where were you really?" She took a sniff. "Ooooooooh, you smell like vampire. Were you with him this whole time?!" She wiggled her eyebrows.

She couldn't help the heat that rose to her cheeks. Cindy squealed.

"You've been gone for two whole hours! You had better start talking, young lady!"

Lexi groaned. So this is what it felt like when she demanded to hear all her friends' escapades.

Well, it was only fair that she should spill, so...

A sloppy grin slipped onto her face as she recalled his scowling face in the car. "He was..."

Cold, Lattis whispered to her, recalling her mind to a completely different matter. Her head snapped up. Yes, he was very cold; his temperature had fallen dangerously low. As a vampire, it couldn't kill him; but as a vampire, he couldn't produce enough body heat to function properly. He would be physically and mentally sluggish, and that would get him killed.

"Oh my gosh, I gotta go. Sorry Cindy, I promise I'll tell you some other time," she said rushing. She sped over to her mate's royal tent without thought, miraculously avoiding notice.

Years later, Imogen, who found them, would tell Kaiden: "She was stretched slanting across his pillows, sound asleep, while his head lay on her belly and his hands in her lap. It was a strategic position to provide him with the most possible warmth without waking him. Though I didn't think so at the time, it was the sweetest thing I ever saw."