Vampires Realm Prophecy 01 - Child of Light

she looked at Valentine. She remembered the way the woman had touched his cheek and frowned.
    He had some explaining to do.

Chapter 27
    The streets were relatively empty. They’d passed only a handful of people in their hurry away from the Venia’s palace. She hadn’t dared to speak. Valentine had been intent on getting them away safely and she didn’t want to stir anger in him by asking him the questions she could barely hold inside.
    When she recognised the street they were walking along and saw that Valentine wasn’t looking so pensive, she found her voice.
    “Were they looking for us?”
    A frown narrowed his eyes before he shook his head. “No.”
    “Then who?” She couldn’t stop herself from asking.
    “Did you sense power in the room? A strong vampire?” He stopped and looked at her.
    He had pushed his mask up onto his forehead when they’d made it a good distance away from the palace. She hadn’t removed hers. She was too frightened to. His mask made him look as though he had two sets of eyes, one that stared blankly into space while the other gave her a concerned look that lit a spark of warmth inside her.
    He still looked stunning in his long jacket with its high collar almost touching his jaw. He looked regal and proud. It suited him. The cut of it made him look slim, but she knew the muscles that were hidden underneath. Her fingers had traversed his chest and felt the strength in him.
    She brought her focus away from him and tried to recall what he’d said while she had been staring.
    “Yes. I felt power but I didn’t know where it was coming from.”
    “Hyperion, lord of Validus,” he said and began walking again. “Apparently Ineru has escaped her exile and is with a vampire hunter.”
    “Ineru,” she whispered. She seemed to hear that name so often but she still didn’t know who the woman was. “She’s a Validus then?”
    “Hyperion’s birth and blood sister. He fought hard to get her exiled rather than executed when she was discovered to have fallen for and brought into her home a human male, an extremely powerful witch no less, and showed no desire to turn him.”
    “A witch? She was in love with him? Is that why Elena said that you and her could’ve been another Ineru and River?” She frowned and didn’t wait for him to answer the question. “But why a vampire hunter?”
    “Presumably, he is the reincarnation of River. Love that powerful finds a way to continue.”
    She stopped and looked into his eyes when he turned to face her with a frown. The streetlight above them cast a sickly yellow glow, but it did nothing to dull the intensity of his eyes. Did he believe what he’d just said? He’d mocked her when she’d spoken about the love that Lady Caelestis and Lord Aurorea had shared. Had he done it purely to cover his feelings?
    “Three centuries ago Ineru left her family to be with River,” he said. “When they came to execute him, it is said that he promised her that he would return to her. They have found each other again. It is the kind of story you would love, just like Aurorea and Caelestis.”
    He held his hand out to her and she stared at it. It was a silent way of telling her to keep moving, but at the same time, it seemed more than that. She wondered when he’d stopped fighting against his feelings and had accepted what was happening. Back in Oxford, he had hated her touching him, but now he welcomed it.
    She slipped her gloved hand into his and continued walking with him.
    “So this vampire has fled her prison to be with her lover?” she said the words slowly so he didn’t make her repeat them. Her stomach squirmed and flipped when he glanced at her, catching the hidden meaning behind her words. Letting go of his hand, she waited for his answer.
    “She has indeed. Hyperion will look for her. The Law Keepers believed she would be at the ball in an attempt to make contact with him, so Hyperion went there as instructed.”
    “Would he turn her in if she was there?” She felt a little sorry for the woman. All she wanted to do was be with her love and people were chasing her down. In a way, she was thankful for the distraction it gave the Law Keepers, but at the same time, she wished that they would leave them both alone. All they wanted to do was fulfil their destinies.
    He shook his head.
    “Hyperion lobbied for her sentence to be reduced. He would never turn her over to the Law Keepers. Besides his guards, she is his only kin. He is more likely