“I guess that really gives you only one option…” Liana broke the tense silence.

“No. It doesn’t. I’m going to talk to my father about this. I’m not having it.” I growled and shot a glare at two of my dearest friends. “Where is he?”

“He’s at his penthouse, but is it really wise to…”

I didn’t bother to hear what else Liana had to say. I was up on my feet and speeding toward my father’s penthouse—not far from mine. I pushed the doors open and let myself in. A young woman stood shocked in the middle of the large round hall that composed my father’s welcoming room. I immediately saw the bite marks on her neck—fresh blood was still trickling from them. I expected to crave her, but all I felt was empathy. She couldn’t have been any older than Sofia.

“Where’s my father?” I asked, reeling in my anger so I could speak to her in a soft voice. I didn’t want to frighten her any more than she already was.

“Your highness…” she croaked, as if unsure whether or not she should be speaking to me. “He’s by the pool. I was just…”

“What’s your name?”

“Yvonne.”

“Take me to him, Yvonne.”

She led me through a series of glass-covered walkways before leading to a large, circular room with a round pool in the middle of it. My father leaned against one side of the pool, sucking on the blood of one of the two lovely maidens sitting on either side of him. Being distracted by them, he didn’t even notice my presence. My stomach turned upon seeing the bruises on the girls’ bodies. The thought of how Sofia would react to the sight before me was enough to make my blood boil.

Yvonne walked over to my father and the moment he was aware of her presence, he grabbed a fistful of her hair and forced a kiss on her. Her body tensed and I knew that, though she didn’t resist, she wasn’t enjoying the rough manner in which he was treating her.

Throughout the years, my father had already given me many reasons to be ashamed to call myself his son, but he was still my father, and if only to honor Vivienne, I had to attempt to treat him with some respect. I cleared my throat to announce my presence, no longer willing to witness this wanton display of lust.

Gregor snapped to attention. He grabbed Yvonne by the waist and planted her on his lap, using her body to cover his own as he looked over her shoulder at me. He raised a brow at the sight of me. “Derek! To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

“You would have me send the girl I love to The Catacombs? I won’t have it.”

“Ah… We’re at this again. Every time you come to me it is to bitch about that redhead pet of yours. Must everything be about her?”

“I’ve done everything you told me since you came back. I’ve taken my place as commander of the army and I’ve geared them up for battle just as you commanded. I did not interfere with any of the decisions you’ve made about the island since you took your place as king. Why do you vex me this way?”

“Vex you, Derek?” He once again grabbed a fistful of Yvonne’s hair, pulling on her scalp enough to get a yelp from her before pulling her head to an angle that exposed a generous amount of her neck. “Why do you think that everything I do is about you? I’m merely enforcing the laws of this island. Felix has told me about your manic outbursts and about your delusion that you are the law on this island. You’re not, my son. We owe you a lot. You made The Shade possible, but we’ve formed laws in this kingdom that even you aren’t exempt from.”

All throughout his spiel, all I could really think of was how awful Yvonne must’ve felt, with her head so painfully positioned and his words breathing chills over her exposed neck.

He must’ve noticed the way I was staring at his slave, because he tightened his fist over Yvonne’s hair and grinned. “If you don’t want your beloved living with the rest of her kind in The Catacombs, then realize that this is what happens to humans at The Shade, Derek. You either turn them into one of us…”

I could’ve sworn that he was going to bite into Yvonne’s neck and turn the girl into a vampire, so I was completely taken by surprise when instead, he smiled and said, “…or you kill them.” He then snapped her neck like he would a twig. The sound of bone cracking filled the room. The two other girls beside him shrieked at the sight of Yvonne’s lifeless form falling into the water.

My entire body tensed, knowing that women just like Yvonne had met the same fate in my hands long ago. Gregor didn’t even flinch. He looked irritably at one of the girls and blurted out instructions.

“Go get the guards and have them bring the body to the chilling chambers so we can drain what’s left of her blood.”

As she scurried away, he grabbed the other young woman, forcing the brunette to take Yvonne’s place.

“What happened to you, Father? Since when were you this merciless?”

“Don’t be a hypocrite, Derek.” He cast me a murderous glare. “Don’t ever forget that it’s you who made me this way. Besides, you can’t judge me. Not while you’re doing the exact same things to that lovely redhead of yours.”

CHAPTER 5: SOFIA

The moment Derek returned, the first words that came out of his lips were: “I need to go to the lighthouse.”

We often retreated to the lighthouse whenever he felt particularly plagued by his own darkness. I wondered what his father could’ve told him to once again make him doubt himself. I exchanged glances with Ashley, Paige and Rosa. We had all been seated on the living room couches, talking over the things that Cameron and Liana had said earlier.

“And you should get dressed in something else.” He added, “We’ll spend the night there.”

“We need to have a talk when you get back,” Ashley spoke up when I rose from my seat and walked toward him.

I caught the way Derek swallowed hard upon seeing her. A pang of jealousy hit me over the way he looked at her, like he wanted her. I reminded myself that it was only because he’d already had a taste of Ashley’s blood and that it had nothing to do with his affections toward me.

“Since when was it your place to make such demands, Ashley?” Derek snapped at her.

I was surprised by his outburst, but before I could react, Ashley was up on her feet. “My place? What exactly is my place?”

I wish she would’ve just kept silent. Derek wasn’t in the best of moods and was already poised for a fight.

“You know who and what I am to this island, Ashley, and despite the liberties I allow you, you also know where you stand.”

Though I was relieved that Ashley didn’t respond, I couldn’t help but wince at his statements. He rarely ever pulled rank on us any more—especially when we were in the privacy of his home. When we were in public, we still had to put on a show sometimes: he was the master and we were his slaves and we gave him the deference he deserved as prince of the island, but when we were alone, we were ourselves and he was Derek. For him to question Ashley and put her in “her place” for simply speaking her mind was unlike him.

“Derek…” I gently brushed my hand over his elbow. “Come on… let’s go.”

To my relief, he cast one final glare at Ashley before storming toward his room. I kept my cool and remained silent as we both got dressed and packed a change of clothes. Whenever we went to the lighthouse, we lost track of time.

I didn’t utter a word as I pulled on a light blue dress. I didn’t even speak when he nodded his head toward me and told me that it was time to go. He was anxious to get to the lighthouse. While I loved the structure itself, the trip there never failed to take my breath away because it involved jumping free fall over the edge of the Crimson Fortress’ hundred-foot wall.

Derek always got a kick out of seeing how terrified I was by the jump, but not this time. He was too wrapped up in his own tension to tease me about it and all I could do was wait for him to let me know what was going through his mind.

Normally, we would’ve taken a leisurely stroll along the rocky boulders and stone path that led from the wall to the lighthouse, but this time, he held me by the waist, pulled me against him and sped us both right to the top of the lighthouse.

I took a deep breath the moment he set me on my feet. He switched the lights on and the octagonal room, which I embraced as my second home in The Shade, lit up. I drew the red drapes covering the large windows set on every other wall. I had to admire the beauty of the starry night sky within the lines that defined the island. From the vantage point of the lighthouse, it was easy to see where the night stopped and where the day began. A bright lantern hooked to the building shone light over the open seas.

I turned around to find Derek lighting up dozens of candles around the room. He then moved toward the fire place and lit up a fire to ensure I didn’t feel cold. I dropped the backpack we had brought with us onto the hardwood floor and made my way toward the velvet couch in the corner of the room.

My eye caught the large leather-bound book set atop the wooden coffee table in front of me. The book contained the chronicles of The Shade. A lot of it was written journal entries—mostly Derek’s. It was a peek into his mind, into the internal torment raging within him over the things he saw, and the things he had to do. I could still remember how terrified he was when he first revealed its contents to me.

“Do you remember what’s written in there?” Derek finally broke the silence that accompanied us since we left the penthouse and headed for the lighthouse.

“Of course.” I nodded before shifting my gaze toward him. I was surprised to find him unbuttoning his navy blue shirt, pulling it away from his body, before tossing it onto the floor. He gave me a sharp narrow-eyed glare.

Embarrassing as it was to admit to myself, it took effort to shift my eyes away from his chiseled torso and up to his face.

“How can you still look at me that way after knowing about everything I did?”

I swallowed hard. “You’re not the same person. Not anymore.”