Read Online Night Seeker by Yasmine Galenorn - Free Book Online Page B

handsome king, promising to take away her worries. Maybe…maybe I’d never know, and maybe that was best.
    Peyton sniffled. “I used to imagine that Rex had to be dead. Otherwise, surely he would have come back to find me, to find out if we were okay. I couldn’t let myself believe that he was alive and happy, knowing that he’d left behind a daughter who never got to know him.”
    Rhiannon murmured in soft agreement. “I’m still in the dark about my father. I have no clue who he was, or what I am. I’m just…a woman who once killed a little girl with my fire, and my mother is a vampire, working for an evil queen.” She sounded lost and frightened.
    “Are you thinking about Leo?” I sat up, gathering the covers around me to wrap them tight against the cold.
    Rhia let out a forced laugh as she scooted over next to me and leaned her head on my shoulder. “Leo? I don’t know if I ever really knew him. I thought I did, but now Ithink…I was in love with the idea of being in love. Or maybe I loved the man I thought he was, but in reality it was a sham. He let me believe he was who I wanted him to be. Not once did he ever tell me he was interested in being a vampire.”
    I hated sticking up for the scum, but there was a part of Leo that I understood. The all-too human side. “He probably knew how you felt. He wanted you to love him and said the right things, made the right moves…Don’t we all do that at times?” I paused, wondering whether I should ask the next question. But since we were having an impromptu girls’ night, I decided to go ahead. “And what about Chatter? Did you ever talk to Leo about him?”
    She shook her head. “No, never.”
    “But you thought about him.”
    Rhiannon let out a soft sigh. “I met Chatter in the woods a few times when I was a teenager—I don’t think Grieve knew, we kept it secret. But I couldn’t believe we had a chance.” She looked up at me. “I don’t think I’ve ever loved anybody else. And I always remembered him. How caring he was, how gentle, how I trusted him and he never let me down. He gave me my first kiss, out there in the woods, when I was fifteen. But I couldn’t tell him about the little girl. I was too ashamed. I thought he’d hate me, so I never went back again.”
    Luna had been listening to us, watching us in the dim light of the twenty-five-watt exposed bulb that lit our chamber. She pushed herself to sitting, too, huddling under the covers. “I listen to all of you and I think how lucky I had it. My family loves me, even if they don’t understand me. I’ve never had a great love, but I’ve never had great loss, either. I’ve only sung about it. I guess I’ve lived vicariously through my music.”
    I reached over and took her hand. “You are holding up remarkably well. And we’re grateful—and glad—you’re here.”
    She crossed her legs. “It’s nearly midnight. I should call Zoey. It’s morning where she’s at.”
    “Where are the Akazzani located?” Peyton asked.
    Luna shook her head. “I can’t tell you that. I don’t even know myself. But I do know the time zone difference. It’s midmorning where she is.”
    “Go ahead. I don’t think we should keep this secret any longer. Myst is determined to spread her contagion. If we don’t survive, someone outside of New Forest should know what’s going on. That’s why we’re going to the Consortium, too.” It was time to spread the word. If Lainule was right, Myst had other cells of the Vampiric Fae scattered around the world.
    Luna moved to a quieter spot in the room and flipped open her cell phone. Not wanting to make her any more uncomfortable than she might already be about asking for her sister’s help, I turned to Peyton.
    “Did your father say when he was going to be here?”
    “Around eight or nine.” She rested her chin on her knees. “I really don’t know what to expect, so I’m trying to expect nothing.”
    I stared at my feet, poking up under the