I was speechless. It was all I could do to control my tears. I didn’t know that I could manage to speak without my voice breaking.

“Thank you,” I breathed.

“You’re welcome… I suppose we ought to get going now. I fear we’ve already outstayed our welcome.” She paused, reaching out and clutching my hands again. “We know that you’ve left Rhys and are no longer allied with him. I want you to know that if you ever need somewhere to go, or if you want to just visit home, you are always welcome in The Sanctuary.”

Pain tore through my chest. I wanted to go more than anything, even if just to experience what it was like to feel welcome in my home, to live there without fearing for my life. But I couldn’t. It would forever be a distant dream.

I nodded. “Thank you. But my home is here in The Shade now.”

She withdrew her hand, her cool eyes still fixed on mine. “Of course…”

She looped her arm through Csilla’s and, as she raised a hand to wave goodbye, both of them vanished from the spot.

I’d been clutching the jewelry box so hard, its gems were beginning to form dents in my skin.

I vanished myself back inside The Shade and appeared outside Kiev’s and my home. I didn’t bother to check if Kiev was back. Opening the front door, I rushed straight upstairs and locked myself in the bedroom. Sitting at my dressing table in front of the mirror, I stared at the pale, teary-eyed girl looking back at me. I reached out and positioned the box in front of the mirror. Staring at it, I traced it with my fingers once again, as though to memorize every part of it by touch alone. Fumbling for the latch, I flipped it open. An amber ring, two sets of ruby earrings, and a silver-plated amethyst necklace. Closing my eyes, breathing deeply, I could still remember my mother wearing them.

I picked up the pieces of jewelry one by one and tried them on, with shaking hands, in the mirror. I was about to replace them again for safekeeping when I remembered there was a second level to the box. If I recalled correctly, it had contained a stash of my mother’s pearls. I gripped the small handle at the base of the box and tried to pull it open. But it was fastened tight. With age, I supposed. I’d lost count of how many human years had passed since I’d last seen my mother alive. I didn’t want to force it open in case I damaged the box, so I closed the lid and replaced it on my dressing table.

I slumped back in my chair, my eyes still fixed on the box. The look of disappointment in Brisalia’s face and the words she’d spoken before we’d parted replayed in my mind. And I felt suddenly disturbed.

As much as it wasn’t fair, I couldn’t help but feel resentment toward the king and queen of The Shade for dismissing my two old friends so unceremoniously.

Chapter 5: Csilla

Once Mona was safely out of view, my mother and I vanished ourselves to a cluster of rocks a few miles away from the boundary of The Shade.

I had to admit, I’d thought the king and queen would have at least granted us a meeting, considering what we’d said we could offer them. Their kicking us off the island so swiftly hadn’t been expected, but we had of course planned for it. As we walked toward the center of the rocks, my mother didn’t seem too fazed by it.

“You know, Csilla,” she said, sitting down on a rock and gathering the hem of her dress, “I think this actually might work to our advantage.” Placing her hands on her lap, she licked her lips thoughtfully. “Yes, it would have been helpful if we’d been able to scope out the island for ourselves a bit more… but this way they are much less likely to suspect us. Out of sight, out of mind. We just need to trust in the preparations we made before arriving, and trust that things will go according to plan.”

“I suppose,” I said, sitting down opposite her. My mother cast her eyes about the rocks surrounding us. They fell on a small pool near her feet. She looked at me and nodded toward it. I stood up and walked over to her. We both leaned over it as she dipped her fingers into its center.

“Yes,” she muttered, slipping herself off the rock and kneeling down over the pool. “This is deep enough…”

When she spread out her fingertips, a metallic liquid flowed from them. Heavier than water, it sank to the bottom of the pool and as she filled the pool with more and more, soon it had displaced the water. My mother stopped once it was filled to the top. She ran her fingertips over the surface of the pool and the surface hardened beneath her touch. As I peered over it, it took about three minutes for it to form a mirror. Both my mother and I stared at our reflections.

My mother smiled as she looked over her handiwork.

“Now, we wait,” she said.

“How long do you think it will take?”

“It all depends on when he deems it safe.”

I stepped away from the pool, manifesting myself something more comfortable to sit on rather than rocks—a reclining armchair. My mother did the same as she took a seat opposite me, and when it began to rain, she formed a gazebo over us along with an invisibility spell to prevent anybody from noticing us.

For hours we sat, watching the glassy substance, waiting for any sign of movement. As midnight approached, I began to wonder if something had gone wrong. I kept looking up at my mother. She remained calm throughout, no sign of the slightest bit of anxiety, so that calmed my own nerves. I knew if she suspected something had gone wrong, I would notice it in her countenance.

She was right to be calm, for as midnight struck, the pool finally stirred. What had previously been a reflection of ourselves was now a different vision coming into focus. Blackness at first, then a sliver of light forming around the lid of the jewelry box. As the lid opened further, a bedroom came into view. Mona and a male vampire lay together on a bed, wrapped in each other’s arms, sleeping.