Chapter 245: Grace
The party was in full swing. I suppose I expected it to be formal, but it was more like what I had imagined a rave might look like. There were disco lights coming from all directions, and the music was so loud it was reverberating off the wall.
I gripped Rhys’ hand tight, and he wore a serious expression as we walked around. As soon as we had gotten back to our suite, we had discussed that there was no good reason that Elijah was requiring us to stay. All of us were suspicious as hell of him. Maizie had barely spoken since dinner, and it wasn’t hard to tell that something was wrong. She looked a little lost and kept zoning out, but she was also still being a great guest. She just held Sawyer’s hand and ignored whatever feelings she was having.
Michael also was not leaving my side. He wasn’t normally so clingy, but something about the Vampires seemed to have both of the younger ones in our party on edge.
A woman walked over to where Rhys and I were standing, and she immediately began flirting with Rhys. Right in front of me. Which in my opinion was incredibly rude. But it was nothing new. I knew how attractive my mate was. If Kinsley hadn’t mated Adrian, I expected she would have gone after Rhys like all the women who had come before me. I knew she hated that I had mated above her, especially since she only saw me as worthless. I had heard many of the other girls talking about his looks too, especially after I had moved into his pack. But to know who I was to him, standing right next to him, made her flirtation way worse to me.
“This is my mate, Grace,” Rhys introduced me as an attempt to make her stop, which I appreciated.
The girl looked me over with a dirty look. But before I could respond, something caught my eye. A flash of movement.
“Rhys, I’ll be right back.” I told him, slipping my hand from his and taking off without another word.
“Is everything okay?” Rhys mindlinked worriedly.
“I’ll let you know in a minute.” I responded, slipping through the open doorway, hoping my absence would not be otherwise noted.
I could feel Rhys’ worry through the bond, but I ignored it. There was no room for that right now. I didn’t mind taking risks for Michael or any of the others, but I didn’t feel the same with her. Not yet anyway. And I couldn’t let anything happen to her, despite my feelings on it.
“And what do you think you’re doing?” I demanded just as her hand reached for another door.
She turned around to face me, her cheeks turning a bright shade of red.
“Grace... What are you doing here?” Iris exclaimed in a hushed whisper, placing a hand over her heart.
“Following you.” I answered cooly. “You said you didn’t want to go to the party. I understood that. But that does not give you permission to go sneaking around a castle of people we don’t know!”
“I-” She stuttered, looking like a deer caught in headlights. “You don’t understand!”
“Try me.” I responded, crossing my arms over my chest.
“I can’t.” She whispered.
“She wanted him to help her.” Someone answered from the shadows.
I turned to face the voice, but I didn’t see anyone, and if my nerves weren’t on fire already, they were now.
“Who to help her?”
“My brother.” A small girl, who looked no older than 7 stepped into the dim light. “Elijah. He worked in your program, did he not?”
Iris stared at the younger girl in horror, her mouth gaping open as she nodded.
“You’re Princess Elara?” I asked uncertainly. In our few hours here, her name had been mentioned several times at dinner, but we had yet to meet her, and I wasn’t expecting her to be so young.
She nodded, and the prestige of royalty was evident in her every move. “No need to look at me like that,” She chided. “I’m far older than either of you will ever be.”
I snapped my jaw shut, unsure of what my expression had said, but forcing myself back into what I hoped was neutral features.
“My apologies, Princess,” I bowed my head.
“You’re her, aren’t you? The one they are all after?”
“The Red Blood blood pack, yes.” I answered uneasily.
“If they are all you are worried about, then you are in much more trouble than you think.” Elara answered.
“What do you mean?” I questioned.
“We don’t have time.” The girl responded as she peered behind her shoulder. “He has already called in back-up, and they have permission to be on our land. You have to get out of here.”
“Who’s coming?” I asked, my stomach dropping.
“Grace?” Rhys called out through the mindlink as fear filled me to the core.
“Whoever is closest.” She answered cryptically. “Come on, follow me.”
“Wait, I can’t leave without Rhys!” I exclaimed, refusing to follow her. “Or any of the others!”
“He will notice if all of you leave. He won’t if it’s just you two. He won’t help you, Iris. But you know that. You know how he is.”
“But-”
“If he told you that you were one of his favorites, then he lied to you like he lied to everyone else.”
“I’m not leaving without the others,” I protested. “Either we all leave or we all get caught, but we’ve been split up too often lately.”
“What’s going on here?” Queen Margaret demanded as she looked from her daughter to me and Iris.
I looked to Elara to see if she had an answer, but she wasn’t looking at her mother. I didn’t know if they were even blood related, I didn’t quite know how vampire families worked, but for them to be blood-related seemed to be a little weird to me.
“Grace?” Rhys’ voice came through again with more urgency.
“We have to get out of here,” I responded through the link. “Tell the others, enact plan C.”
Without Elara’s help, I responded the only way I could think to. It was a complete gamble, but I said the words before I could lose my nerve. “Your son betrayed us, and we need to leave now. Will you help us?”