Paris added, “Our princess has been working on everyone in King Grayson’s circle to persuade the king to delay the sentence.”
“Sentence?” I drawled. “So they’re going to execute me, the sooner the better, right?”
“If it weren’t for Prince Shade that day, they’d have killed you on the spot,” Summer said softly. “We have the prince to thank for that.”
Danielle gave them a look before fixing her steady gaze back on me.
“I won’t let it happen.” She stepped closer, grasped my hand in hers through the bars, and whispered, “If they sentence you to death, we’ll bust you out before that. I have a backup plan, Pip.”
“No!” I shook my head vehemently. “The last thing I want is to get you girls in a bind. I don’t fear death.”
I’d been called Death’s daughter, hadn’t I? How ironic.
“You watch out for each other if I’m gone,” I told them bravely before I expelled a heavy breath. “At least I’ll die free and knowing I have friends.”
Paris and Summer quietly cried.
“It won’t come to that, Pip,” Danielle assured me. “Prince Shade keeps close contact with us. He’s hard at work to get Blow—BJ to drop the charges. He also pleaded with his brother to show you mercy.”
Hearing about Sideburns left a sour taste in my mouth and sent a pang to my chest. It didn’t surprise me that he would order the ax to fall upon me to appease his girlfriend.
Footfalls rushed toward my cell and paused at the other end of the corridor.
“The visit’s over, Princess,” a rough male voice called out. “You need to leave now! I don’t want to get caught.”
Danielle gave me a heartbreaking look. “You must hang in there, Pip. Just hang in there!”
I’d hang in here before I got hanged.
“Now, Princess, please!” the guard urged, and my friends rushed away. I slumped to the ground, my smirk and bravado vanishing as I stared at
the empty space where they had been moments before. The guard left around the corner too and never returned.
It was just me, silence and the darkness.
But I told myself not to be dismayed.
I scrambled toward the corner, my shaking hands opening the brown
bag and removing the sandwich. This hungry werewolf was going to consume everything! Screw rationing it.
I licked my fingers after the last chocolate bar disappeared into my belly. I had nothing to do now. Troubled dreams and fragmented memories did not visit me again, but I couldn’t sleep either.
I leaned against the wall, pulling my knees up against my chest, and my thoughts traced back to the Vampire God who had reappeared in my broken dream or memories before my friends’ visit.
Who was the handsome devil exactly? It seemed galaxy fire burned in his sapphire eyes when he’d gazed upon me with intense longing and ravenous hunger. Did he hunger for my blood or want me as a woman?
I shook my head at my wishful thinking. He couldn’t desire me.