With a nod of his head, the King turned from her and left her alone in the room with her siblings.

Evelyn turned back to her sisters. Margaret glared fiercely at her before leaving the room, following after their father. Turning towards her youngest sibling, she found Justine to be grief stricken. Her blue eyes brimming with unshed tears.

Without hesitation, she opened her arms to her baby sister. Justine didn’t hesitate, running into her embrace. Evelyn clutched her small frame against hers tightly. The memory of grabbing her chubby, baby body and sliding her down the laundry shoot on that tragic day replayed in her mind. She would always be there for her sister, protecting her until her dying breath.

Justine sobbed against her bosom, sniffling loudly. “I don’t want you to leave,” she cried out.

“Listen to me, Justine,” Evelyn pulled her sister back until she had no choice but to look up into her eyes. “I may be moving North and I do not know when we will see each other next, but I will always be your sister. You will always have my protection. Do you understand me?”

Justine quietly nodded her head yes. Fat tears rolled down her slender cheeks as moisture collected under her bright red nose.

“If you ever need me, write my name down on a sheet of paper and burn it. I’ll come,” Evelyn told her without hesitation. She could hear her brother hiss behind her but she ignored him.

“But how-” Justine started.

“Never mind that. Just don’t forget. Promise me,” Evelyn held her sisters gaze steadily, reinforcing her words.

Justine nodded firmly, her lips pressed into a thin line.

“Good girl,” she kissed her forehead lightly. “Go ahead and head to bed. I’ll write to you as often as I can.”

Justine wiped her nose as she left her and her brother alone.

Evelyn turned back to her big brother, her Prince and smiled weakly. “Well, you were right,” she said with a slight shrug of her shoulders.

Lional shook his head, as though full of disappointment. “I didn’t want to be.”

“I know,” she sighed.

“I’m almost tempted to steal you away from here and flee in the night,” Lional confessed.

“Yes, but then we’d have a war with the North to contend with and I don’t think I’m worth all that fuss,” Evelyn teased with a smirk.

“But I do.”

She looked up into her big brother’s blue eyes. Eyes that mirrored her own exactly and found them with nothing short of seriousness. He was deadly calm, ready to whisk her away at any moment, but that fact that he hadn’t done so just yet implied that he was leaving the decision to her. It was up to her whether she traveled North with the Prince or South with her family.

Evelyn laid her hand on her brother’s arm, squeezing his bicep gently. “I appreciate the offer, but this is my fate. I must see where it takes me.”

Lional sighed in defeat. “I had a feeling you’d say that.”

He slipped his hand behind his back, pulling something out from his belt and laid it in her hands.

Evelyn stared down at the thin blade in her grasp. The metal was pure silver, glinting in the firelight. Silver was toxic to vampires, deadly against their demon blood, but that wasn’t what caused her alarm. The ruby fire stone laid in the bottom of the hilt nearly had her dropping the dagger onto the carpeted floor.

Even though the stone barely touched her flesh, resting along her palm, she could feel warmth building along her skin, reacting to something singing in her blood.

“Lional,” Evelyn hissed.

“I know you're afraid of what you're capable of, but don’t be. It’s a part of who you are. It’s saved your life in the past. Learn to embrace it Eve. It may very well save your life again.”

Evelyn could hear her brother's footsteps retreating further and further away from her, but she barely registered his departure. Her eyes were solely fixed on the blade in her hand, the gem of power within her grasp.

She was both terrified and thrilled.