Fated Connection (Book 1)

Chapter 13

I stared blankly at August, his words not making sense as my mind struggled to comprehend what was going on. It was the middle of the night and it had taken me forever to fall asleep. Now he expected me to awake enough to talk? What in the world was so important that he hadn't been able to wait until morning? My tongue felt glued to the roof of my mouth as I tried to remember how I was supposed to form coherent sentences. He looked at me expectantly before quietly walking passed me and into the room.

"Close the door, Nevada," he instructed softly as I continued to look at him in confusion. 

My body automatically obeyed his command, the clicking quietly into place and closing us off to the rest of the world. I was suddenly very much awake and more aware of August's presence than I had been moments ago. He was standing a few feet away in front of the footboard of my bed, watching me with his silver eyes filled with uncertainty. 

"August, what's going on?" I asked nervously. "Where, uh, where did you go today?"

He ran a hand through his hair and looked away from me, his focus towards the window that looked out over the back garden. I saw the muscles in his jaw twitch as the light of the moon cast shadows across his face in pale light that crept through the window panes. 

"I was hunting," he answered, his voice strained. "And then there were other matters I needed to attend to."

Hunting. Of course, why hadn't I thought of that before? August was a vampire and he would need to feed to keep up his strength and keep in control of the primal nature within him. What surprised me was the fact that I wasn't disgusted by the idea that he had been drinking the blood of another being, but instead that his mouth had been on someone that wasn't me. I fought the urge to grimace. Jealousy was not something I was used to experiencing and the idea of being jealous that he hadn't been drinking my blood was a whole other foreign concept I didn't have the energy to dissect right then.

"Other matters?" I asked instead, taking a step closer to him.

His eyes flicked to mine in slight surprise but he masked it quickly and answered with a nod. 

"There are things you don't know. Things that you will probably hate me for once you know." August raised his hand, his fingers grazing my cheek and I leaned into his touch. "But you deserve to know."

Dread filled me at his words. 

"What are you talking about, August? You're scaring me." I told him, hugging myself as if it would protect me from whatever he was about to say.

He took a deep breath and walked away from me, looking through the window out into the night. We stood in silence for long minutes, neither of us speaking and I didn't dare move. I was frozen in place as I awaited his response.

"Nearly twenty years ago, I received a call in the night asking for my help. At the time I didn't think twice about it, offering my assistance without hesitation." He finally said, his voice quiet but almost deafening in the overwhelming silence. "Now, I can't help but think I could have done something different, come up with an alternative solution. Maybe things would have ended up differently for all of you."

I didn't say anything, waiting on him to say more but I had a terrible feeling I already knew what he was going to say, a story I wasn't sure I wanted to hear.

"Have you heard the story of the Lost Prince, Nevada? The Prince who gave up everything to be with the woman he loved?" August asked, turning his head to look at me. My thoughts turned to confusion. 

"Yes. Nova said he was heir to the Folmorian throne but disgraced King Draymeir by having a child with a palace maid and then secretly marrying a Braelyn Princess. What about it?" I asked with uncertainty as I wondered what that had to do with anything.