A Castle of Sand

“What happened?” he asked, gently brushing his hand over my hair.

“It’s nothing. I just had an awful nightmare…” I pulled my knees up, embracing them against my chest. I gingerly looked at him. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to visit you… I kept on knocking, but no one was answering, so I just let myself in. Rosa told me that you spent the night here. I could hear you screaming from outside…”

I hated how much I doubted him, wondering if what he had told me was true. I wondered if Claudia even knew that he was around. I hadn’t seen the crazy, blonde vampire since the last council meeting.

It then dawned on me. Where’s Derek? If Ben was knocking, Derek would’ve heard it. He was a very light sleeper. If I’d been screaming because of my nightmare, he would’ve heard.

“I need to go find Derek…” I motioned to get off the bed.

“Wait.” Ben grabbed my wrist and held on tight.

“Ben?” I actually felt nervous. Suddenly, being alone in the same bedroom with my best friend didn’t feel safe. “Let go of my wrist.”

He looked surprised, and even hurt, by my reaction. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be rough. You’re obviously shaken.” He got off the bed and stepped away from me. “I just wanted to tell you that just as I crossed the walkway leading to your bedroom, I saw Derek’s father enter the penthouse. He’s in the living room, and I don’t know...something’s not right. I don’t trust him, Sofia.”

I laughed wryly. “Yeah? That makes two of us.” I had no idea what was going on, but I was sure about one thing: Ben was right. Something was wrong.

Something was very wrong.

CHAPTER 43: DEREK

Clad in a glowing white dress, Sofia held a bouquet of white roses as she marched across the aisle. The only ornaments that graced her were beautiful pearl earrings and the diamond necklace I had given her. She was a vision to behold—just as I imagined she would be on our wedding day.

Her smile was enough sunlight to brighten up the darkness that had been my life. She was my life and she was about to become mine, bearing my name, making it known to the world that we intended for our love to last far longer than they ever gave it credit for. However, it seemed fate had other things in mind.

She was halfway down the aisle when she suddenly stopped, panic evident in her eyes. Blood began to trickle from two small holes in her neck and she began to breathe in pants as she held on to her neck.

I immediately ran toward her the moment I saw the bouquet of flowers fall onto the ground. To my horror, the diamond pendant she was wearing morphed into a heart-shaped ruby red one. I didn’t understand what it all meant, but I didn’t have to. It was clear that something wasn’t right.

When I reached Sofia, she looked at me, her eyes wide with terror. She swallowed hard as tears began to run down her face. “I’m scared, Derek.”

And just like that, she was gone.

Eyes still shut, I tossed and turned in my bed, half-asleep and half-awake. The terrified look on Sofia’s eyes still etched into my brain. I knew that something was wrong and that I had to do something about it, but I was still in a state of limbo, trapped in the place between wakefulness and dreams. I knew I was mumbling something even as I shifted on the bed, but I couldn’t quite make out what I was saying.

Then a feminine voice said my name. “Shh…everything’s going to be alright, Derek. Relax.”

I could feel the bed shift and I knew then that I wasn’t alone. Warm lips began to press against mine and I found myself breathlessly saying the name of the girl in my dream. “Sofia…”

“Yes…Sofia…”

I was conscious enough to know that the woman in my bed wasn’t her, but it all still felt like a dream. I wanted to snap out of it, but it was almost like I was trapped in that state, unable to get out. When the lips pressing against mine pulled away, I forced my eyes open.

Blinking several times until my vision cleared, seeing who was lying on my bed was like a blow in the gut. Claudia.

She smiled and before I could even react, she stabbed a large syringe right into my veins. “I’m sorry, Derek, but you made a big mistake the day you treated me like your whore.”

The last thing I could remember was the crazed and manic look on Claudia’s face as I drifted off into unconsciousness. Just before I completely faded away, I could hear Sofia’s voice croak out the same way she did in the dream, “I’m scared, Derek.”

And by instinct, I knew that when I woke up from the sleep that Claudia had put me in, Sofia would be gone.

CHAPTER 44: SOFIA

At the sight of me, Gregor stood up and slightly bowed his head. He had a smile on his face—calm and unnerving. All I wanted to do was get as far away from him as possible.

“Derek’s not here,” I told him. “I haven’t seen him since I woke up.”

Gregor looked at Ben, who was standing right behind me. “Is he aware that you’re with your lover boy over here?”

“What do you want, Gregor?”

He smirked. “I want you out of this island, Sofia. What else would I want?”

“Well, I’m here to stay.”

“No, darling. You’re not,” a feminine voice from behind me spoke up. I didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. Claudia.

Before I could even react, Gregor lunged for Ben, and Claudia had already tackled me to the ground, her hands around my neck.

“Derek!” I screamed.

“Your king is back to sleep for the moment, Sofia.” Claudia grinned before stabbing me in the neck with a syringe. Panic took over as I watched Gregor do the same thing to Ben. A sob escaped my lips as complete dread took over every fiber of my being. I tried to struggle against Claudia, but I knew that there was nothing I could do. I just drifted off into unconsciousness, dreading the thought of Derek waking up to find me gone.

When I came to, it was clear to see that I was no longer at The Shade. I was lying in the middle of a king-sized bed with soft white linen sheets. I looked around the torch-lit room and was relieved to find it empty.

Where am I? I sat up on the bed, my head feeling rather hollow. I cringed when I realized what I was wearing—a one-shoulder white dress that went down to my knees. The fabric was so thin, it was practically sheer. The intricate beading it had, however, spoke of the richness of the material. I trembled to think of where I was and what my purpose was for being there.

It seemed I was about to get answers to the questions filling my mind, because the door swung open and Lucas stepped in.

“You’re awake!” he exclaimed delightfully.

“Where am I? What have you done to me? What are you going to do to me?” I spluttered.

“Always so many questions, huh, Sofia?”

I glared at him in response.

He rolled his eyes. “You’re at The Oasis. If you don’t know what that is, it’s the home of the Maslens. We’re in the middle of the desert now, Sofia.”

The Maslens… Tears began to brim my eyes. The thought was horrifying.

“What have I done to you?” He smirked. “Well, the question I think should be what do I want to do with you, but I’ll spare you those details? Sadly, as much as I wanted to have my way with you, I had to bring you to Borys Maslen unscathed. He wanted you to remain a virgin until the night of your wedding to him. Now, for you final question, I’m about to take you to your betrothed, Sofia.”

I was finding it hard to take in the information that I’d just been given. My mind was whirling. “Why would you do this?” was all I could manage to ask.

“You ruined my life, Sofia. I’m about to ruin yours.” He lunged forward, pushing me down on the bed, and letting his weight fall on top of me. He then whispered right into my ear, “Make no mistake about it, Sofia…after your wedding night, I will have my way with you. I still remember how sweet your blood is. I would’ve taken a bite during the journey back here, but there was no way I could have hidden the scars from Borys.”

I trembled beneath him as I began to get a better picture of the life I was about to lead should things go the way they planned. “Derek’s going to come for me.”

He laughed. “Oh baby, that’s exactly what we’re counting on.”

He got off me and none-too-gently yanked me upward out of the bed, forcing me to stand up on my feet. He looked at me from head to foot.

“We’re going to have to do something about the hair. It’s a mess. Otherwise, you’re good to go.”

He clapped his hands and several women stepped in.

“Prepare her,” Lucas ordered, a smirk on his face, as he stood back and watched as they began to fix my hair and straighten out my clothes. I could feel his eyes on me, raking over my body. I shuddered at the thought of being in the same room with him, remembering all the torment he put me through when we were still at The Shade.

Still, it seemed Lucas was the least of my worries. I’d never met Borys Maslen before, but Vivienne’s memories told me enough about him to know that he was bad news. I couldn’t wrap my mind around the idea of being his “betrothed.” Why would he even want me?

I then remembered Gregor’s revelation back at the town square. After everything that happened following the whipping at the square, I’d barely given his pronouncement that Ingrid Maslen was my mother any thought. I thought the whole while that he was just bluffing. Since Derek never brought it up, I just assumed that I was right.

I guess I’m about to find out.

Once satisfied that I looked good enough to present to Borys, Lucas waved everyone off and walked toward me. “You ready?”

“No.”

He just laughed. “Well, it’s not like it matters if you’re ready or not…” He held the small of my back and pushed me forward. “This is going to be fun.”

We walked through eery torch-lit corridors surrounded by dusty brick walls. We weaved through hallway after hallway until we stopped in front of a large, arched door.