They walked out the rear palace door, down a set of marble steps, and through the formal gardens.
“You better pick up your pace, girlfriend,” Lily said. “We’ve got miles to go to show you this place.”
They walked for what seemed like forever, through garden after garden, as Lily pointed out al the different buildings.
They walked around a large pond, and Lily pointed out where Marie’s private residence was.
“At least she’s fun,” Lily said. “Lots of parties. It’s never dul around her. It’s the people who surround her that are the problem. Of course, Marie’s one of yours, though. That’s the big thing around here: who’s vampire and who’s human.
Al the humans here want to be vampires. But the vampires wil never turn them. So we live in a sort of harmony together. The vampires watch our backs, protect this place from attack, and we give them a place to live. We guard the palace by day, and they by night. So far, it’s working out.
But there’ve been a few close encounters over the years.”
“What do you mean?” Caitlin asked.
“I mean, a human fal ing for a vampire, or vice versa.
People almost getting turned. That’s a big no-no for Aiden.
If that happens, they’re out. It’s always a source of tension around here. We can be friends, but we can’t cross that line. Which is fine with me. Al the guys I like are human anyway. But that’s not true of al of my human girlfriends.
Some of them set their eyes on a vampire, and just won’t let it go, if you know what I mean.”
Caitlin thought about that, and remembered back to when she was human, and she knew how they felt.
“Anyway, al your kind do is train al the time anyway. They spend the whole day on the training ground. Every day it seems like they’ve got a new weapon to try out, or some new skil . It’s fun to watch. Us royals gather around, and watch you guys square off. It’s probably the greatest entertainment around here.”
They walked down a set of grass steps, across another formal courtyard, and approached a low, marble building, set back from the rest of the palace.
“That’s where you guys live,” Lily said. “I trust you’ve seen worse accommodations?”
Caitlin was in awe. It looked like a miniature palace. She couldn’t believe she’d be staying here.
In the fields al around her, she saw dozens of vampires training, sparring with bamboo swords, their click-clack heard from yards away.
She suddenly had a pang of worry, as she wondered if Blake were among them. She was going to ask Lily, but was afraid to hear the answer. That was the last thing she wanted to deal with right now. As it was, her heart was stil hurting over Caleb, wondering if she’d made the right decision to leave.
Lily stopped before the door, and faced Caitlin. “Wel , this is far as I go,” Lily said.
Caitlin stepped up and gave her a hug. “Thank you,” Caitlin said. “For everything.”
Lily hugged her back.
“I’l see you soon,” Lily said. “After al , humans and vampires always feast together. I’l save you a seat next to mine.”
“I’d like that,” Caitlin said.
*
Caitlin surveyed her room, taken aback by its opulence.
Other rooms she’d stayed in, like the one in Pol epel, had been beautiful but simple—medieval and stone, almost monastic. This room was the opposite. It was huge, grand, ornate, decorated with a rug and drapes and a chandelier and mirrors and a vanity, and a huge four-poster bed.
Everything about this room was oversized, overdone, piling opulence on top of opulence.
Caitlin didn’t necessarily mind. After being on the run for so long, after sleeping in one place after the next, she appreciated being in such a quiet, comfortable place. She certainly could get used to living in a palace. It just felt so foreign to her, as if this were al a dream. She tiptoed through the room as if she were in a museum, afraid to touch the shining oak of the bedframe, or the perfectly smoothed silk linens on top of it.
Ruth, on the other hand, had no qualms. She happily wagged her tail as she ran about the room, smel ing everything.
Caitlin made her way over to the huge dresser in the corner. It had a shining, white marble top, with golden drawers. On top of it, there had been laid out already several sets of clothing options for her. She could not believe it. Each outfit was more beautiful and extravagant than the next. There was a long, formal gown, in a black silk; there was the Versail es version of casual clothing, which was just a slightly shorter gown, but which stil looked formal to Caitlin, in a light blue, with yel ow buttons.
Then there were al sorts of hats. And beside these, there was what looked like a training outfit.
It was made of a material she had never seen, like a thin leather, al -black. It looked like a skintight battle uniform, padded, with long pants and a tee shirt. Caitlin recognized.
It was the sparring gear of Aiden’s coven. It was lightweight and durable, and al owed her to fight, and at the same time, it managed to look elegant, with its shiny black coat and high col ars.
Caitlin immediately pul ed off al of her dirty clothes and was about to change, when she spotted a luxurious bathtub in the corner of the room. It was already fil ed with water, and she could see by the steam rising off of it that it had been heated for her. There were bubbles in it, and it was surrounded by al sorts of soaps.
Caitlin closed the drapes of her sun-soaked room, went over to her tub, and stepped slowly inside it, naked. She felt the luxurious feeling of the steaming hot water, and felt every muscle in her body relax. She had never appreciated it more.
Caitlin leaned back, closed her eyes, and breathed.
Images flashed through her mind, and she tried to stop them. But it was of little use. She saw Caleb’s face, how he looked in the morning, as they sat on his terrace together.
She saw him laughing, as they were horseback riding on the beach.
She saw them flying together, dipping, swerving. And she saw him on the hil top, the beauty and serenity of his expression, right before that falcon landed.
She tried to push the image out of her head. That moment when everything had changed for her.
She wil ed herself to think of anything else. She thought of Aiden. Of their walk in the forest that morning. What he had said. What if the Shield is not something you find? What if it is something that finds you? What if it’s about what you are becoming?