Chapter 18

He pressed his forearm against my throat.I clawed at his sleeve, trying to force him back, but he barely moved. His red eyes seemed to glow in the dim light.

I couldn’t breathe properly.I couldn’t get free.For the first time since entering the hunting games, I was completely helpless.The stranger leaned closer, studying my face.

“There you are,” he whispered.

My stomach dropped.“What do you want from me?”

He smiled.Before he could answer, a voice came from behind him.

“Take your hands off her.”

The stranger froze.I looked past his shoulder.

Vladimir stood at the entrance to the passage.

He wasn’t wearing a jacket anymore. His black shirt was open at the collar, and his golden eyes were fixed on the hand pressed against my throat.He looked calm.

Too calm.

The stranger slowly turned his head.“Your Highness.”

Vladimir didn’t answer.

“She’s an interesting little thing,” the stranger continued, easing his arm away from my throat but keeping one hand around my wrist. “I was beginning to wonder why you—”

He didn’t finish.

Vladimir moved.I barely saw him cross the passage. One moment he stood by the entrance, and the next he had the stranger by the throat.He lifted him off the ground with one hand.

The stranger’s boots kicked uselessly in the air.

My mouth fell open.Vladimir hadn’t even seemed to try.The stranger grabbed his wrist with both hands, struggling to loosen his grip. His face began to darken, but Vladimir’s expression didn’t change.

The stranger’s smile disappeared.“Wait—”

Vladimir slammed him against the wall.

The impact shook the passage. Dust fell from the ceiling, and a crack spread through the stone behind the stranger’s head.

I flinched.

Vladimir pulled him away from the wall, only to slam him against it again.

This time, the stranger made a choking sound.

“Who sent you?” Vladimir asked.

The stranger bared his teeth.“Go to hell.”

Vladimir’s eyes flashed gold.

He threw the stranger across the passage.

The vampire hit the opposite wall and fell hard to the floor. Before he could get up, Vladimir was on him, one knee pinning him down as he seized the front of his shirt.

The stranger tried to strike him.Vladimir caught his fist without looking.Then he twisted the man’s arm behind his back.

The scream that followed made my blood run cold.

“Who sent you?” Vladimir repeated.

The stranger struggled, but he couldn’t move.I had never seen anyone make a vampire look so powerless.

The stranger finally stopped fighting.His gaze shifted past Vladimir and landed on me.For a brief moment, his expression changed. The anger disappeared, replaced by something I couldn’t understand.Recognition.

He looked at me as if he knew me.

Then his lips moved.“Night…”

The word was barely audible.

Vladimir’s head turned sharply toward him.

Before he could speak again, Vladimir struck him across the face. The vampire’s head snapped to the side, and he went still.

Footsteps thundered through the corridor.

Several guards rushed into the passage, swords drawn. They stopped when they saw Vladimir kneeling over the stranger.

“Your Highness!”

“Take him to the dungeon,” Vladimir ordered.

Two guards moved forward.

The stranger suddenly thrashed, throwing one guard off balance. He struck another in the chest, sending him crashing into the doorway, then sprang to his feet.

He was fast.Too fast.He lunged toward the exit, but Vladimir caught him by the back of his neck and drove him face-first into the floor.

The impact silenced everyone.For a moment, nobody moved.Then Vladimir rose, straightened his shirt, and looked at the guards.

“Next time he moves, break his legs.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The guards dragged the stranger away. He didn’t fight them again, but just before they disappeared around the corner, he turned his head.His eyes found mine.He smiled.

It wasn’t the smile of someone who had lost.It was the smile of someone who had found exactly what he came for.

I pressed myself against the wall.Vladimir turned toward me.I immediately looked away, suddenly aware of how close he was standing.

“Can you stand?”I nodded, although my knees felt weak.

He glanced at my throat, where the stranger’s arm had pressed against my skin.

“Did he hurt you?”

“No.”

The answer came too quickly. My throat still hurt, and my wrist was beginning to swell, but I didn’t want to give him another reason to look at me like I was something he owned.

Vladimir studied me for a moment.

Then he bent down, picked up my knife, and held it out.

I stared at it before taking it from him.

“You shouldn’t wander the castle during an attack,” he said.

I looked at him in disbelief.

“An attack? There were vampires throwing guards across the corridors! One of them nearly strangled me!”

“And yet you’re still standing.”

I wanted to hit him.Instead, I clutched my knife and swallowed the angry words rising in my throat.

Vladimir turned to leave.

“Wait.”

He stopped.

I had no idea why I had called him. I had questions, hundreds of them, but I couldn’t ask them with the guards watching us.

Who was that vampire?Why had he looked at me like he knew me?And what had he meant when he said my surname?

Vladimir’s gaze settled on my face.“What?”

I hesitated.“Nothing.”

His expression hardened slightly, but he didn’t press me.“Go back to your quarters.”

He walked away, leaving me alone in the passage.

I stood there for several seconds, listening to the sounds of the guards moving through the castle. Somewhere in the distance, the alarm finally stopped ringing.

The attack was over.

But I couldn’t forget the stranger’s face.

He hadn’t looked at me like I was a random human caught in the wrong place. He had looked at me with recognition, as though he had been searching for me.

And just before Vladimir silenced him, he had said my name.

Night.

I tightened my grip on the knife.

I had no idea who that vampire was or why he had come to the castle.

But I was going to find out.