~ NYSSA

Eric frowned deeply, his hands perched on his hips as he looked between us with suspicion in his brows.

After what felt like hours, he sighed and nodded. "Keep your phone on you and for the love of everything that is holy, please don’t stay out long. If your mate returns and you’re not here—"

"I’ll be back in half an hour tops," I promised him as I headed out the door. "Try not to be too bored without me."

"If you’re not back, I’m calling a fucking rescue squad."

I rolled my eyes at him. "You sound like Rowan."

He mumbled something incoherent under his breath but waved me off as I got into Aria’s car. It smelled like some kind of cleaning product and air freshener and there was something different about it but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

"So," I drawled, turning to her. "Where are we driving to?"

"Nowhere in particular," she shrugged. "Maybe we’ll just go to get a drink or something. I might need one for this... well, things have been a bit tense between us."

A brow rose in amusement. "A bit? You’ve been a real bitch to me, you know?"

She sighed, the tips of her ears turning a bright shade of pink. "I know, and I just really wanted to apologize for it. I don’t even have an excuse because it’s just so fucking stupid but I guess... I just panicked or something."

"Panicked why?"

"Because things were changing so fast," she murmured under her breath, taking one hand off the steering wheel and running it down her face. "It started at the arena. It was just so jarring when Eric said that I wasn’t the princess anymore and I just... I didn’t know how to handle it. I’ve always been the princess. I didn’t know who I was outside of that and it just felt too easy to blame you."

My insides twisted uncomfortably at her words.

I knew things had gotten tense after that day but I never realized that was the reason. I could understand where she was coming from but I’d be lying if it didn’t make me a little uneasy to know that something so small could cause such a large problem.

"I’m not trying to gain your sympathy," she whispered softly. "I just..." she stopped abruptly, slamming her feet on the gas.

"Aria?"

She bent over the steering wheel, her hands gripping it so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Her entire body seemed to tremble from an unknown force and I swear that everything fucking stopped.

Blood rushed in my ears as I sat there, unsure of what to do. It took me a few seconds to pull my phone out of my pocket and begin frantically searching for Rowan’s number.

"I’m fine!" Aria yelled out just as my finger hovered over the call button.

She turned to me, her lips spread wide into an unnerving smile. "Whew, sorry about that."

"Are you fucking insane?" I hissed out, trying to calm my raging heart. "What the fuck was that? I thought you were dying or something?"

She just waved me off. "I... thought I was going to throw up. It’s nothing, let’s keep going."

I wasn’t sure if she was just fucking crazy or if I was overreacting because I didn’t feel like going anywhere after that. That didn’t seem like normal nausea. It was fucking terrifying and the way she was vibrating—

"I missed you," she said suddenly, snapping me out of my thoughts. "I miss being able to just talk to you and sit with you and I hate that all of this was changed because of one stupid event. It makes it even worse now that we have the vampire thing. I feel like we could be gossiping about how hot the vampires are, you know?"

I shook my head, unable to hide the small smile that curved my lips upwards. Only she would be talking about hotness right now.

When I didn’t respond, she shot me a look. "I know you have a mate but even you can’t deny it. I’ve heard so much about how hot the king is and I mean, I should have known when I met Allister, the only way he could be that hot is if his father was also hot."

She burst into a fit of laughter but something inside of me shifted uneasily. "What?"

"I mean he’s hot as well, right?" she joked. "It must run in the family or something."

I’d never told her that Allister was the King’s son, and as far as I knew, neither had Rowan. The only other person who knew was Eric and that was because I told him myself.

When Allister said someone was compelled... could he have been talking about... her?

I glanced out at the empty roads around us and the darkening sky wondering how the hell I had ended up in this position.

The door was unlocked so I quietly reached for the handle. My hand had just made contact when the locks clicked in place.

I looked up to find Aria watching me with eyes so blank that they almost looked dead and for the first time since I got into the car, I felt a wave of fear rush down my spine.

"You didn’t tell me about the family relationship, did you?" she asked and I shook my head. "That’s what I get for having a big fucking mouth. I should have just shut up. The cat is out of the bag, I guess."

I tried to open the door but it wouldn’t work and tried to reach Rowan via the mind link but his wall was down.. "Aria, you don’t have to do this. I don’t know what he has on you but—"

She sighed softly. "Actually, I do."

She grabbed the back of my head with one hand and slammed it harshly against the window. I heard a loud crack and everything went black.