A Castle of Sand

She shook her head. “You didn’t do this.”

“I’ve failed to protect you so many times…”

“Don’t do this, Derek. Just don’t. We have to get out of here—you, me and Ben. Staying here will be the end of all of us.”

Borys cleared his throat. “Much as I hate to break up this sweet reunion between husband and wife, I have to interrupt.”

Husband and wife. I creased my brows in confusion as I reluctantly let go of Sofia. Ignoring Borys, I bit into my palm to draw blood and coaxed Sofia to drink the blood so that the bite on her neck would heal. The moment the skin on her neck closed, I glared at Borys. “I demand the life of whomever it is that has tasted her blood.”

“You’re king of The Shade, Derek Novak.” Borys frowned. “But I’m king here. I’ve had a taste of your wife. Do you demand my life?”

“Yes.”

“You insolent fool!” Borys smirked. “She is my betrothed, offered up to me by her own mother since she was a child. She is mine. You never should’ve touched her in the first place, and because you did, because you spoiled her for me, I’ve invited you a day before our wedding so I could make a widow out of her.”

Sofia’s hand found my arm and she held on so tightly, it felt like she was trying to break my arm. “Derek…you can’t possibly take on this many men…”

“I don’t have a choice, Sofia.” I pushed her out of the way and the fight began. One vampire after the other attacked me. I was able to rip several hearts out, but I didn’t stand a chance. Though a lot of Borys’ men proved to be ill-trained and a lot weaker compared to the vampires at The Shade, I was simply outnumbered.

The moment they had me subdued and bound on the ground, I was sure that it was the end of me. I cast a desperate glance at Sofia who was being held back by Borys, delight evident in his eyes as he saw me fall.

“Kill him!” Borys gave the order, his eyes fixed on Sofia.

Sofia took one look at me, tears streaming down her beautiful face. She began shaking her head and I knew how difficult it was for her to do what she did next. She knelt in front of Borys to plead for my life. “Please…don’t do this…I will do anything you want me to do. Anything. Spare his life.”

Borys sneered as he gestured for the guards to wait. “Anything?”

“No, Sofia!” I yelled.

Sofia nodded and all I could think of was the horrors her agreement would put her through.

“Very well then.” Borys nodded. “Take the king of The Shade to level seven.”

I didn’t need to ask what level seven was. The terrors done within the walls of The Oasis’ dungeons were no secret to vampires.

“What are you going to do to him?” Sofia croaked.

“Whatever it takes to punish you for daring to bargain yourself in exchange for my enemy’s life, my beautiful bride.” His voice was cold and merciless. “You’ll soon find, my love, that there are fates far worse than death.”

CHAPTER 50: SOFIA

Borys pushed me into my chamber, a wicked grin on his face. Ingrid stood beside him, staring at me with blank disappointment.

I tumbled backward, attempting to balance myself from the force of his push. I eventually tripped and crashed to the ground, tears streaming down my face as I glared up at Borys. “What’s in level seven? What are you going to do to Derek?”

I groaned in pain when Borys leaned over and once again grabbed a fistful of my hair. “You’ll find out tomorrow on our wedding day, my love. Don’t worry about him. I’ll take care of him. Just get some beauty sleep so that you can be the bride that I deserve.”

I choked on my tears. “Please. We’re not actually married. We’re just engaged. Let him go. I’ll do everything you want. Please…” I sobbed.

“Kiss me, Sofia.”

I sealed my lips, sickened by such a horrible thought. “Please…” I whimpered.

“You let him touch you and you respond to his every touch, his every kiss, his every caress, don’t you? You shall not refuse to do the same with me—especially not after you’ve said your vows and surrendered to the inevitable. The immune will be my wife and you will show me that you enjoy everything I do to you.” He grabbed my jaw. “Do you understand?!”

I was staring pure madness in the face and all I could do was tremble as I nodded, wondering to myself how on earth I could survive even just a night with him without completely losing my mind. Everything about him revolted me. I couldn’t help but recoil with even just the thought of his touch. To even pretend and act the part of a blushing bride who found pleasure in his presence was sheer torment.

“Now, respond…” He pressed his lips against mine—painfully, his fangs came out and drew blood from my lower lip. For a moment I thought about forcing myself to return the kiss, but I found that I couldn’t. I simply didn’t know how. Every part of me was just wishing for it to end. It didn’t seem to matter to him, because the blood on my lips quickly shifted his attention from forcing me to kiss him back to his craving for my blood.

His mouth quickly left mine and found my neck, and he once again sunk his fangs in and drank my blood. I was trembling uncontrollably as his arms clamped around my body, crushing my chest against his. I tried to push him away, but found that I couldn’t. I stared up at Ingrid, who was still standing by the door watching everything that was happening and I wondered how she could do it. What kind of mother do I have? How could she just stand there and watch him do this to her own daughter?

She looked at me blankly, her arms crossed over her chest.

“Please…make him stop…” I mouthed at her.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. “That’s enough, Borys. You’re going to drain her of blood before you marry her.”

Borys withdrew his mouth from my neck. “I love how she trembles. Your daughter is so beautiful, Ingrid. Untouched.” His eyes darkened. “Except for that brute, Derek Novak.” He let go of me and stood up, looking down at me as I curled into a ball on the floor. “I’m going to make him pay.”

“Please don’t hurt him…” I begged. For that, I got a kick in the gut.

As I coughed, he looked at me coldly. “Your pleas only make me want to hurt him further.” He then turned and brushed past Ingrid. “Put a bandage on the bite mark,” he instructed her before leaving. “I don’t want it healed. I want to see the scars tomorrow. It will be a sign that she’s mine. Make sure she’s a stunning sight tomorrow. Make me look forward to our marriage bed.”

The door closed and I was alone with my mother. That’s when I realized that neither Ben nor the guards were in the room. “Where’s Ben? What did you do to him?”

“Your best friend is fine. Don’t worry about him. I instructed Claudia to be gentle with him. We need him to be presentable for the wedding tomorrow. He’s the best man after all.” She walked past my still curled up form on the floor. “Get up, Sofia. Why must you be so stubborn and pathetic?” She began to rummage through a drawer in one corner of the room.

“What kind of mother are you?” I managed to say in between broken sobs. “Your king is about to kill the man that I love.”

I shuddered when she sped my way and threw me onto the bed. “Understand this, Sofia,” she hissed. “The man you love is Borys Maslen, not Derek Novak. The Shade’s prince has obviously brainwashed you…”

Despite my tears, I laughed wryly. “It’s you who’s been brainwashed, Ingrid…or maybe I ought to call you Camilla…is there still any part of her left in you? Dad was right about you. You are insane. You left your own family to blindly serve this villain of a king.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about. You don’t know what my life was like. I loved Aiden. He was everything to me, and then you came along. I never wanted you, but I gave in to his requests for a child, because I loved him. You stole him from me.” She was saying the words calmly, her eyes set on the bite marks on my neck as she proceeded to tend to the wound.

The spite every word contained mixed with the calmness and affection by which she expressed them made her one of the scariest people I’d ever met. I couldn’t begin to fathom how broken a creature my own mother was. I was certain, however, that even though I had been born of her womb, she was now a complete stranger.

No more words were exchanged until she was done. As she turned to leave, I couldn’t help but cry out, “Please…help Derek. Help Ben. They are dear to me. I love them.”

She stopped right by the door. She didn’t bother to face me as she shook her head. “No, Sofia. You love Borys. He’s the only man you’re allowed to love from now on.”

That’s when I accepted that my mother was completely gone. Camilla Claremont wasn’t just insane. She was dead and her body had been replaced by Ingrid Maslen.

CHAPTER 51: SOFIA

The silence and solitude was driving me crazy. It’d been more hours than I could count since Ingrid left me. I had no way to track time, nothing to take my mind off of Derek and Ben and what torment they were most likely going through. I couldn’t stop crying. At some point, I just crumpled myself up on the bed, knowing that there was no way I could escape that bedroom, hoping that sleep could provide me with an escape from the tormenting thoughts and emotions coursing through my mind and soul.

I could still feel the stabbing ache of the bite marks on my neck. My lips felt swollen from the cuts caused by Borys’ sickening kisses. The heaviness in my chest made it difficult to breathe.

I’d never felt more helpless and distraught than I did at that moment. I lay there for hours, sleep eluding me. My stomach was already grumbling. No one had bothered to bring me food since Ingrid had left. I wondered if it was some sort of punishment.

When my eyelids began to get heavy and sleepiness began to overtake me, I gladly gave in, hoping that when I woke up, I would find that The Oasis was my nightmare and The Shade was my reality. The Shade had its own horrors, but though firelight flooded the tombs of The Oasis, to me, it would always be darker than the island Derek spent a hundred years establishing and fighting for.