Rafael blinked as the pain faded away. His environment was different; it was brighter and smelled weird, like drugs and herbs.
"Rafael," he heard his mother. Her voice was high-pitched; she was worried. "Are you okay, son?"
"I…" His throat was hoarse. "My mate, how is he?" Rafael asked. The last thing he'd seen before his collapse was Julian in pain too.
"He's there." She pointed to the bed beside him. He looked over to see Julian, who was still groaning unconscious.
As he looked at Julian, the strange ache in his chest intensified. What was happening…
"When we saw you guys… oh goddess," his mother started. "It seemed to get better when we separated you, but if we took you too far, you started shouting. I don't know, I've never seen anything like it."
Rafael did not understand what was happening. He reached out to touch Julian, but he stopped when the pain in his chest intensified. He winced. He had never heard of something like this before.
"We need to get back to the pack," his mother said. "Alma will know what to do. She'll know how to fix whatever is going on here."
That's right. Alma was their resident wise witch, an old woman Rafael had known as long as he'd been alive. Yes, she would know what to do.
"Rafael?" Julian called out. He was sitting up and looking at Rafael. "What's going on?"
Rafael swallowed. "I don't know, Julian."
"This is me and my awful luck," Julian said. He looked down, and it hurt Rafael to see how broken he looked. "I find my mate who looks like a Greek god and then this happens. I must be cursed."
"Hey," Rafael said firmly. He didn't like the look of self-pity and hate on his mate's face. "Julian, look at me. This is just a temporary hurdle. We will fix this. I want to get to know my mate."
Julian looked at him.
"I can tell, Julian," Rafael began, "that this world has not been easy on you. I don't know what happened to you, but I promise you things will change for the better. This is temporary. I promise you, my little mate."
Julian looked at Rafael, like he was trying to gauge any deceit in him.
"Ok," he said, his voice small. "I believe you."
Rafael nodded, but a bit of fear ran through him. He had been making a lot of promises lately. Hopefully he would be able to keep them.
Many times during the day Viktor found himself clutching at his chest, partly to check if his heart still beat and also in a futile attempt to soothe the hollow ache in it.
His butler Wren seemed to hover near him. Viktor had caught Wren looking at him in awe at random times.
Right now he was looking at the scarlet envelope in his hand. From the King of the Night, embroidered in gold on a scarlet red background.
He let out a sigh and opened the envelope.
There was a letter inside, with instructions written simply on it.
The time for the renewal of the treaty was to start tomorrow. The wolves were hosting the treaty this time, so Viktor was to set out to the Red Moon Pack to meet the famous Alpha Rafael and spend the period of 14 days following the usual rituals during the signing of the treaty.
There were additional instructions. The king had been serious yesterday. Viktor had been commanded to provoke the wolves. The mad king was obviously still at his antics. Viktor wondered why he wished for another war.
The vampire population had still not recovered from the last one.
Viktor decided that he would just ignore this prerogative. The king could not do anything to him anyway.
"Wren," Viktor called out. "Prepare. We make our way to the land of the wolves tomorrow."
Wren nodded and left.
Viktor placed the letter on the table beside him and gazed out through the windows. His hand moved unconsciously to his chest again.
Moments later, Wren burst back into the room.
"Sorry, Lord—"
A voice interrupted. "How many times have I told you to get rid of this pesky butler of yours?"
Viktor recognized the voice instantly. Lord Belmor, fifth duke of the night. He swept in with his usual flourish.
"Lord Belmor is here," Wren's voice finished, low and exasperated.
Viktor let out another sigh. He had been doing that a lot since his heart started beating. This troublesome lord was here again.
"The king has told me to accompany you on this mission," Lord Belmor said. "We have a very important mission to cause war, and the king knows that you are clearly too incompetent to accomplish it."
Viktor's face hardened.
Things would be difficult if Lord Belmor were accompanying him.
Lord Belmor, the youngest vampire duke, he was incredibly powerful, despite his young age. But to Viktor he was a rude and insufferable creature. Viktor was always pained anytime he had to interact with him.
"You see, I—" Lord Belmor was talking as he took a seat, and then he stopped suddenly and looked at Viktor. His mouth stretched in an "oh."
Viktor felt like rolling his eyes. This fool had no
ticed.
"Lord Viktor," he started, "does my ear deceive me… does your heart beat?"