A Castle of Sand (A Shade of Vampire #3)(53)

At that realization, I swore to myself that through it all, I would always be by his side.

Let the sandcastle collapse. In its place, I will build a fortress—one that the waves of nature and time could never destroy.

Just because he was the only man I knew deserving of it, I was determined to give Derek my forever.

CHAPTER 34: DEREK

To say that the vampires were adjusting to the new setup we had during council meetings was a huge understatement. The presence of Sofia, Gavin and Ian during council meetings was definitely making it hard for them to concentrate—especially Claudia who’d already had a taste of Gavin’s blood.

Even I had to admit that Sofia’s presence often made my mind wander off to multiple far off directions when it should have been concentrating on matters concerning The Shade.

Corrine wasn’t as much of a temptation, considering how most of us feared her too much to crave her, but she rarely ever attended the council meetings either.

I had already taken the place of my father as king of The Shade and occupied what used to be his seat at the dome. My former place was reserved for him as a show of respect, but he never showed up to any of the meetings either. As far as I knew he kept himself cooped up inside his penthouse, perhaps planning how to take me down.

Sofia took Vivienne’s seat. Though I could sense some resentment from several members of the Elite when it came to this move, they kept their mouths shut. After all, no one could question just how much of a voice Sofia had at The Shade. The fact that she was able to inspire a showing of protest the likes of which had never happened before, proved that she had a lot of sway among the human population—thus making her a force to be reckoned with on the island. After all, the fact that the humans greatly outnumbered us was a reality that wasn’t lost on any of The Shade’s vampires.

Gavin and Ian didn’t seem to have any issues or qualms taking their newly assigned positions as ambassadors for the Naturals. It was mostly the vampires that were finding it difficult to be around the two virile young men.

I couldn’t help but smile whenever I caught Claudia licking her lips every time she caught sight of Gavin. I could practically imagine the amount of self-control she needed to keep herself from devouring the lad.

During a particular council meeting, I was particularly finding amusement in Claudia’s discomfort after Gavin chose to sit right beside her. I was so distracted by it, I was barely paying attention to what Eli was saying as he took the stand.

It wasn’t until he cleared his throat and I saw Sofia looking over her shoulders at me that I finally snapped back to attention.

“What? What were you saying?” I asked, forcing myself to focus on Eli.

“I was saying that the chilling chambers are nearly empty of human blood,” Eli announced. “If we don’t get replenishments soon, we might just end up with another coup—this time, to overturn you.”

The Shade’s blood supply was, of course, the main point of contention at The Shade. I hated discussing the matter, because it felt like something I was incapable of finding a solution to. But it was an issue I couldn’t escape.

“Well, we’ve gone through this matter so many times before. Has anyone been able to offer up a solution?”

The silence was irritating.

“There must be a way,” Sofia spoke up to break the silence. “There are thousands of blood banks across the world. Could we not tap into that supply?”

“How, Sofia?” I snapped, sounding harsher than I intended to be. “How on earth are we going to do that?” I bit my lip when I saw a pensive look glaze her eyes. I didn’t mean to throw all my negative energy on her, but the pressure was on me and I was definitely feeling it.

I stared longingly at her, hoping to be able to steal some time away with her. Since the day of the coup, I’d hardly been alone in a room with her. In fact, we saw each other mainly during council meetings—to discuss matters of The Shade. The rest of the time, I was either overseeing military trainings, making sure that Gregor and Felix and all other vampires suspected to be loyal to my father were kept under close surveillance, verifying Sofia’s genealogical background and generally making sure that my rule at The Shade was secure. It helped that Corrine backed me up by making it known that should anyone overthrow my rule, she would break the spell keeping The Shade hidden.

Sofia, on the other hand, took on her new role as champion of the humans of The Shade in strides. With Gavin and Ian acting as her advisers, she was able to quickly get the pulse of the people in The Catacombs, and get a sense of what they needed. She was also kept busy by making sure that Paige and the rest of the people killed in The Catacombs were given proper memorials.

We were quite a team—Sofia and I, but the demands of the world around us was keeping us apart, stealing time we barely had to begin with away from us.

At that point, with her looking up at me, I found myself keenly aware of how much I missed her, how much I longed for her presence. Without really thinking about it, acting on mere impulse, I stood up and leapt over the steps landing on her level at the dome’s balcony. She looked up at me in surprise.

I grabbed her hand before looking at Eli, who was still in his place at the stand. “Eli, look into the possibility of tapping into blood banks’ supplies. I expect everyone to give Eli all the support he requires.”

“Of course, your high…” Eli paused mid-nod. I’d already requested that they stopped using the royal titles on me. King or not, I much preferred to be called by my own name. Only my father and brother really ever felt the need to use the titles in the first place.