The Vampire King’s Captive

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“Ruth?” Corey asked with disbelief in his voice, eyes wide like he’d seen a ghost-which was apt if one actually thought about it because the ghost of his wife was literally standing in front of him.

Ruth was tall and lithe, appearing almost fragile with the way she teetered on her feet. She had creamy brown skin, a shade darker than Corey’s and big curly hair that Maria had to admit she admired.

She had horns running down the sides of her head, small and pretty, not as big as Corey’s but of the same length.

Ruth was beautiful, lovely even, but she was also confused as hell.

She blinked and staggered back a step. “C-Corey?” Her voice was a whisper, her face haunted. The expression on Corey’s face matched her own perfectly. “I… Why can I see you? How is this possible?”

Maria watched from her spot, completely enraptured in what was happening before her. She was torn between freaking out that the spell had worked-that she’d actually brought a dead woman into the world of the living-and jumping up in the air with a ‘whoop’.

Ruth and Corey were standing only a few feet away from each other, their body language, easy to read. They wanted to go to each other, but were held back by doubt. Fear.

Fear that this wasn’t real. That if they blinked their eyes, the other person would disappear. They didn’t believe that the other person was real and yet at the same time, they longed to go to each other. To feel each other again after so long.

Corey was the first to move, walking over to the confused woman. He clasped her cheeks with shaking hands and ran his eyes over her lovingly. “Ruthie…” He whispered, probably not meaning for the other people in the room to hear the words. “I’ve missed you.”

Maria’s heart clenched at the longing in their gazes, the love they had for each other shining in their misty eyes.

She felt like she should turn away, like she should give them privacy. This was obviously a very emotional moment for them and she should probably leave-along with Bran-but she didn’t want to move because that would only draw eyes to herself and she didn’t want that.

She wanted to stay right where she was and watch this whole thing play out. She was curious.

“I’ve missed you too,” Ruth whispered back, eyes sweeping over Corey’s face. “But… how, Corey? How am I here?” Her eyes darted to where Bran was and she stood straighter. “Your Highness, you’re here too.”

Bran nodded at her, but he didn’t say anything. Maria looked at him long enough to note that his fingers dug into the armrest and his legs bunched with tension. But other than those little gives, there was nothing to show that he was on edge.

She didn’t know why exactly he was on edge-whether it was their current situation or what was happening in front of him.

Ruth gently pried her mate’s hands off her face. “Corey, please tell me why I can see you and your friend.” She looked away from him and for the first time, noticed the room she was standing in. “This place hasn’t changed at all. I never thought I would see it again.” Then she turned back to Corey. “Corey… why am I here?”

Why wasn’t she excited to be seeing her mate again? Sure, it was expected for her to be a bit freaked out all things considered, but she should be excited at least, shouldn’t she?

Corey sighed and took a step back from her, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

If Maria had to guess, he was probably trying to come up with the best way of telling her that they had pulled her from the realm of the dead into the living so that they could question her.

“Ruthie, something’s not right and I thought maybe you could help.”

“How can I possibly be of help?” Ruth blinked, appearing even more confused than she’d been before. “I’m dead.”

Corey flinched at the blunt words, pain filling his expression and clouding his eyes. Maria’s heart clenched and she crept slowly towards the wall, leaning on it as she watched them.

She had killed this beautiful woman. She’d taken this woman from her mate, separating them forever.

Regret filled her until she was almost haunted with it.

“I know, Ruth,” Corey’s voice was ragged, pained. “You don’t have to remind me.”

There was silence in the room for a minute and other than the sounds of their deep breathing, nothing else could be heard.

Without meaning to, Maria’s eyes wandered to Bran and she was surprised to see him looking at her, which meant that he’d been staring at her for a while now. She usually could tell when he was looking at her and the fact that she hadn’t been able to, just proved how disorganized her emotions and thoughts were over what was happening.

The light reflected on his ridiculously high cheekbones, his expression intense as he stared at her though hooded eyes.

When he looked at her like that, she forgot herself, forgot all her promises and vows, threw them at his feet and wanted nothing more than to kiss him.

To do more than kiss him.

But that was the Maria of before. She was different now and she was going to stop letting him get to her so easily.

Her eyes hardened and she looked away from him, dismissing him as easily as one dismissed a piece of furniture. Frustrated anger poured off him in waves-she wasn’t looking at him anymore, but she could feel it.

He was just that pissed.

“How am I here?”

Maria was pulled back to the scene in front of her by Ruth’s low question.

She noticed then that the woman didn’t really seem all that excited to see Corey. Maria could tell that she’d missed him, yes, it was obvious from the way her eyes had swept over him, but other than that, she wasn’t initiating contact. She just stood siffly with her hands clasped at her stomach, like she was being disturbed and would rather be anywhere but here.

What was going on?

Corey gestured to Maria. “She’s a sorceress.”

Ruth’s eyes flew to Maria and the woman pauses visibly, obviously not having seen Maria standing there before. “Oh. A sorceress?” Her brows lifted a bit higher and her lips pursed. “Since when was the ban lifted on the Sorceri not entering the realm?”

Maria tensed.

Now she understood why Olivia didn’t like Corey’s mate. How could she speak of Maria that way when she was standing right there? How could she speak of her that way to her face?

That was cruel. And it was something Maria would never do to anyone. Which meant she would not tolerate anyone doing it to her.

“You should show a little gratitude,” Maria, who had not wanted to intrude, had to say. “I just brought you here.”

A perfectly shaved brow lifted. “Gratitude? It’s not like I asked to be disturbed.”

Disturbed?

Maria’s eyes narrowed and she was just about to give the woman a piece of her mind when Corey spoke up, clasping the woman’s hand gently and turning her to face him. “Ruth, I asked her to bring you back because I wanted to talk to you.”

Corey was lying. He hadn’t asked Maria to bring her back, but he was only saying that because it was the only way his stuck-up mate was going to let this issue go.