Caitlin found herself walking with Aiden through a path in the woods. She could tell that he was silently fuming, as he hadn’t spoken a word since he’d summoned her to follow him.After the fight, he’d led her outside the circle, away from the others, and had lifted off in flight with her. She had followed, feeling like a chastised schoolboy. She didn’t like the feeling. She felt that she was old enough now to be able to learn her own lessons from the fight. Besides, Cain had had it coming.Now they tramped endlessly through forest, until finally, they came to a large clearing in the woods. The sunlight broke through the trees, lighting it up.Aiden finally stopped and turned to her.“I’m disappointed in you,” he said.“It wasn’t my fault!” Caitlin snapped back, preparing her defense. “You saw the fight. He fought dirty, from the beginning.”“It doesn’t matter. You should have transcended that.”“He was trying to hurt me. To really hurt me. Even when the fight was over.”“You l

Caitlin stood in the sparring ring, surrounded by all of her coven members, Aiden watching intently off to the side. After their training in the woods, he had brought her back to ring. She had been sparring—and winning—for hours now, and the crowd had grown considerably. She had fought nearly everyone in his coven, and had defeated them all. She was now down to some of their very best warriors.Word had spread, and now all the royals had gathered, too. The marble steps were completely filled with them, along with tons of onlookers.Caitlin felt as if she had come into her own. She fought with a skill unlike any she had ever experienced. She felt more fluid, more in control. She felt as if she knew what her opponent would do before he even did it. Whatever Aiden had taught her—and she still wasn’t even exactly sure what that was—had sunk in deep, and as she fought, she heard his words in her head. Your own worst enemy is yourself. The only one who can defeat you is you. This is about

Sam walked arm in arm with Caitlin through the formal grounds of Versailles. He had been so shocked to find her here, and to see her fighting. He had been so proud, watching his big sister. At first, he hadn’t realized it was her. He had just stood there, with the others, watching in awe as the tournaments continued. He had been shocked to discover that the greatest warrior of them all was actually his big sister. He was in awe of her skills. He’d never seen anyone fight that way. It was a combination of a human warrior, and a vampire master. She moved with lightning speed, striking, slashing, dodging, doing things he couldn’t even imagine. It was like watching art in motion.After it had been over, after they had embraced, Caitlin had been surrounded by well-wishers, people congratulating her in every direction. Even Aiden had come over, and had nodded approvingly. Sam had wanted to talk to Aiden, but Aiden didn’t even look his way, and immediately disappeared. And having found Cai

Kyle stood beside Napoleon, a huge army of supporters behind them. Napoleon had summoned his entire coven, all his people, hundreds of vampires strong, and along the way, they had all agitated in the streets and encouraged the citizens to join them and storm the Bastille. It had been easy: there had been such discontent hanging in the air anyway among all the French citizens, such anger towards the royal authority, and the prison in the Bastille happened to be the perfect symbol, the perfect representative of everything royal. The further they had gone, the more the mob had grown.And Napoleon, of course, looked to Kyle for direction.Kyle felt himself surge with power, relishing the feeling of being in charge of an army once again, relishing the destruction and bloodshed that were about to happen. As he stood with his men in the cobblestone plaza opposite the Bastille, Kyle stared up at it. The castle-like fort, with its drawbridge and turrets, was well-defended by soldiers, looking

After what felt like hours getting ready—far longer than Caitlin would have liked—Polly was finally satisfied with the way that the two of them looked. Because they couldn’t see themselves in mirrors, they had to rely on each other. According to Polly, Caitlin looked ravishing. Caitlin wasn’t so sure. She had never thought of herself as ravishing, in any outfit.But she had spent more time putting on makeup, and getting into this outfit, than she had in any outfit of her life. There had been layers and layers of fabric, each more uncomfortable than the next, and in this July heat, she felt her body temperature rise with each added later. She had no idea how they did it.If that were not enough, Polly had caked her face with layer after layer of thick, white powder. Caitlin didn’t understand why this generation thought this to be attractive. And even if for some reason they did, wasn’t one layer enough? She was pale to begin with, but now, she was sure she looked ridiculous.As if al