The Dark Prince's Captive • Complete

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 - 𝑹𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓

The bones were still exactly where I last saw. And they were still glowing. Was it from when I’d been there earlier? Or…

But no. No. I shook my head and grabbed a hand shovel from the backpack Savannah had somehow managed to keep on her back the entire time.

Mihai, who’d been silent and passively obsequious ever since I’d saved him, did most of the work.

I still dug at the earth with a vengeance, shovelful after shovelful, taking turns with Alex and Savannah.

My mind went blissfully quiet as we dug.

The sky lightened.

We found the first bit of Dracula’s skeleton right at dawn. Headless, just like I’d seen from above.

Alex didn’t waste any time. Savannah placed the kindling and Alex drenched the bones in lighter fluid. Seconds later he lit the match and the bones went up in a whoosh of flames.

We all watched silently. What was there to say?

After it was done, Alex removed a few bits of charred bone for a weapon.

We left Mihai there on the side of the road and Alex told him in a deadly honest tone it was his last chance—if he ever betrayed us again, Alex would kill him without remorse.

And now we were back in the tiny Dacia driving down the highway, the morning sun lighting the highway. For once, traffic was light. What day was it? Saturday? Sunday? I had no idea. I shook my head and looked out the window again.

“So is no one going to talk about the elephant in the Dacia?” Savannah exploded in a huff of air from the backseat. “What the hell happened back there?” She shoved her head forward between the front seats where Alex and I sat.

Then she glared at me. “How could you not tell me you were a diviner, River? You’re obviously way more powerful than me but you still let me make a fool of myself back in the dorm room.”

“And…I mean, how did you even do what you did? I’ve never seen anything like it… It really looked like you had control of it. Completely different from everything I’ve experienced or even heard of in diviner theory. But I was there. I saw. You used it to take out all our enemies and even heal Alex—”

I put my hands over my ears and screamed. I couldn’t help it. I just had to make her stop.

“Back the fuck off her, Sav!” Alex shouted.

“You don’t think she has some explaining to do?” Savannah sounded offended. “She’s been lying to us this whole time.”

I started shaking my head. That wasn’t fair. I hadn’t lied about anything.

You never told them about me.

I froze. Wait. No. I shook my head.

Wait.

Was that her talking now or just me remembering her saying something?

She wasn’t still inside me!

…was she?

Fucking say something else, bitch!!! I screamed inside my head.

Silence.

Blessed silence.

I counted to ten. Nothing but the blessed silence of my own thoughts.

I breathed out in relief, then laughed shakily at myself. Okay, so I was going to be a little shaky on the mental stability front for a while. After being possessed by a demon goddess, maybe I could give myself a little slack.

Alex pulled the car into a parking lot and we came to a stop. I looked up, only now registering where we were. We’d stopped in front of a very nice looking hotel that was obviously for foreigners visiting Romania.

Alex’s voice was soft and his touch gentle as he reached out and laid a hand on my shoulder. “You must be exhausted. Let’s go get some rest and tomorrow we’ll get the hell out of here. Sound like a plan?” His smile was kind when I finally brought myself to look up at his face.

Then and only then did I truly believe that one day, it might just be possible for everything to be okay again. No matter how dark it seemed right now. But if Alex hadn’t been there…

I threw my arms around him, hugging him hard.

I was just there, leaning over the console awkwardly like that, hugging him harder than I’d ever hugged any human being except my sister, and it just slipped out—

“I love you.”

Alex immediately jerked back from me, his eyes wide and startled.

My mouth dropped open and I immediately meant to take it back or explain I only meant it as friends. Instead, I just said again, “I love you,” and stared at him.

“Like, a lot. I love you a lot.” Well, apparently my mouth was all in. Might as well get the rest of me on board, too. “Maybe you think it’s too soon to say that, but frankly, we all just almost died and I was possessed and I’ve never been in love before and it’s frankly patriarchal bullshit to say you don’t trust your gut when my gut says this is love—”

I stopped in my tracks. “Unless you don’t feel the same way. In that case, I mean, it’s totally fine and I’ll just go away now—”

But when I tried to retreat from Alex’s arms, he just pulled me closer and dropped his lips on top of mine.

He kissed me.

HE KISSED ME.

Melt melty melty meltymeltymelty. Heartbeat loud in my ears. Floating sensation. Perfect soft lips pull away from mine and I come back to full consciousness, blinking rapidly.

“Oh,” I whispered. “Hi.”

He grinned at me. “Hi.”

Savannah made a gagging noise from the seat behind us. “Jesus Christina, get a room!” Then, after glaring at us for a second, she threw her hands in the air. “Fine, I’ll go get us ALL rooms.” She pointed her finger and narrowed her eyes at Alex before turning and shoving her way out of the back of the Dacia.

Then Alex nestled his cheek against mine before continuing to explore my lips with his until Savannah came back with our room keys.

Ahem. Star.