CHAPTER35
I fly through the halls,my feet light, my heart racing now for an altogether different reason. I hear thumping and grunting. It makes me move even faster.
“Unhand me, monster!” Drew shouts. “You will not take me again!”
There’s a heavy thud. I round the door and find Drew and Quinn on the floor. Drew is fighting to gain the upper hand. Quinn is stronger, but far less trained. Drew raises his knee; I can see him about to pivot to throw Quinn.
“Drew!” I step in.
My brother freezes the moment he hears my voice. His head tips back and eyes meet mine. “Floriane… Floriane!” He moves almost as fast as a vampir, catching Quinn off guard and throwing Ruvan’s manservant nearly halfway across the room with his vigor. Drew jumps to his feet, races over to me, and immediately crushes me with his embrace. “You weren’t a dream! You were real.”
Moisture streaks my cheek. I pry myself away from him and look on in shock. He’s crying, too. My stoic, tough, fierce brother…is crying. I’ve never seen him cry before, not even when Father died. He followed me into that dark void of emotionless nothing and smothered any tears he might have cried there. When he emerged…he was void of anything he felt deeply enough to make him cry.
Until now.
“You’re alive,” he chokes out, looking me from head to toe and back. “How? How are you—what did they do to you? Don’t worry, you’re safe now. I’ll get you out of here.” He positions himself between me and Quinn, who just rolls his eyes and sighs.
“What did we do to her?” Ruvan slides into the door frame as smoothly as his voice. “We kept her alive. Shielded her. Clothed and fed her.”
“You—you’re—” Drew looks between us all, searching for an answer. His confusion peaks when he sees I’m not distressed in the slightest. I rest a hand gently on his shoulder. It’s smaller than I remember. He’s still strong, of that there’s no doubt. But he’s not hammered steel as I once saw him. He’s been withering away, even without being in Midscape. “I don’t know what they told you, Flor, but they’re—”
“Vampir,” I finish for him.
Nearly at the same time, Ruvan says, “Flor?” with a touch of amusement that I determinedly ignore. I hadn’t told him that nickname of mine yet.
“Vampir?” Drew repeats. “Vampire?”
“No, vampir,” I correct. “That’s the proper way to say it. We’ve had it wrong for thousands of years.”
“They got to you. They’re in your head like they were in mine.” Drew grips me with both his hands and shakes so violently that if my head wasn’t aching before, it certainly is now. “Break free! You’re stronger than them!”
There’s a light breeze at my back that heralds Ruvan’s arrival. The vampir speed to cross such a small gap definitely wasn’t necessary. But it had the effect he no doubt sought as Drew gapes up at him.
Ruvan’s hands curl around my shoulders. “I know you are Floriane’s brother, and that alone is the reason why you still draw breath. But I care less and less for your relationship the more you manhandle her.”
There’s a rough, protective edge to Ruvan’s voice that almost brings a flush to my cheeks. Combined with what he said earlier about developing genuine affections… A wave of heat crashes over me, quickly passing when my brother yanks me from Ruvan, standing between him and me.
“Don’t you dare touch her, vampire.”
“Vampir,” I correct again. “Brother, it’s me. Just look at me and you shouldn’t have any doubt that my mind and body are still well and truly my own.” He slowly eases away from Ruvan. Still glancing between the two vampir, he finally brings his eyes to me. I can feel his probing stare. I meet it.
“There’s no way…” he whispers.
“How can I prove to you it’s really me?” I never imagined I’d have to prove that I wasn’t under some kind of control. But I was foolish for thinking otherwise. Drew still believes the vampir are a hive mind. All mindless slaves to the vampire lord. I slowly raise my hand.
Drew mirrors the motion. Instinct, really. We’ve never tried to put what this is into words. Others have asked, but we’ve been hopeless at explaining. It’s something we’ve always done. Something we always will do. Mother said she’d find us sleeping in the crib, palm to palm. As if that tether was the sole and key reminder to the other that we were still there. It’s why we wore our rings.
My twin’s hand is flush against mine. He closes his eyes and breathes a sigh. His shoulders relax. And when he looks at me again it’s with a clarity I hadn’t yet seen.
Welcome back, I want to say.
“It really is you.” He eases his hand away and I do the same.
“It is.”
“What…” Drew trails off with a shake of his head. Warily, he looks back at Ruvan and Quinn.
“Ruvan, Quinn, might I have a bit of time alone with my brother?” It’s a demand phrased as a question. If those vampir don’t want to be hit with my hammer the next time they visit me in the smithy, they’re going to give me some space.
