Page 109 of Treasured
“Thank you!” He charged me, wrapping me in a hug before we returned to our chambers.
By the time I declared my brother ready to brave the outdoors, he was bundled up within an inch of his life. Sebastian and I wore cloaks in solidarity, although we didn’t need them, and Marius was grinning from ear to ear.
I took my brother’s hand. “Ready?”
He nodded. “More than ready.”
Sebastian laced our fingers together, squeezing tightly. A jolt of something powerful ran through me as we all touched, and I breathed in deeply.
These two right here—my vampire prince and my halfling brother—were my family. My future. My everything.
* * *
The shadows deposited us in the snow-dusted courtyard. The blanket of white spread far and wide, covering everything in sight.
A snowflake fell lazily from the sky, landing on Marius’s cheek. He laughed, brushing it off with a finger and staring at the snow in wonder. “This is amazing!” He let go of my hand, dropping to his knees to touch the powder at our feet.
I tried to see this through his eyes. To me, snow was cold, bitter, and a marker of the nearly never-ending winter in Eleyta.
To Marius, though, it must have been beautiful. The alabaster abbey glistened in the light of the crescent moon, the thick black trees wore pearlescent coats, and countless stars popped in and out from behind clouds, sparkling brightly.
After a few minutes, Marius stood. He ran in a circle around us in the courtyard, his feet leaving prints as he darted through the snow. He stopped at a statue of a child picking flowers, brushing the snow off her head before continuing his speedy path. He dashed around us, ducking beneath the few trees and bushes that grew in the courtyard, looking more like a regular child than he ever had.
Sebastian chuckled. “Marius,” he called. “Watch out.”
My brother’s head popped around a tree just as Sebastian threw a snowball in his direction. Marius’s laughter rang through the night, warming me from the inside out. He had already endured so much that I sometimes forgot how young he was.
However, when a snowball landed in the middle of my chest, I was quickly reminded of his youth.
Marius giggled, running away from me. “Come get me.”
He continued taunting me as I bent and scooped up a pile of snow. My shadows pulsed as if encouraging me. I formed a sphere, packing the snow just enough to avoid it falling apart, before standing.
“Hey, Mar-Mar!” I shouted.
The moment he looked at me, I tossed the snowball in his direction, purposefully holding back some of my strength. I missed, which wasn’t overly surprising. Good aim had never been one of my strong suits. That, like many other things, had not changed after my Making.
“You missed me!” Marius ducked behind a tree. “You’d better run, Lulu!”
I opened my mouth to retort when something smacked me in the back. I jolted, spinning around as Sebastian laughed.
Laughed!
The sound, which was so rare I’d only heard it a few times, was like darkness and violence and the night mixed together. It was deep and low and sent shivers of delight through me. It was like spotting an exotic animal escaping its hibernation after a long winter. Beautiful, wild, and such a rare experience that you cherished it forever. I stood in wonder for a moment, letting his laugh soak into my bones.
Another snowball hit me, this time on my arm.
Sebastian smirked, the challenge clear on his face.
My lips tilted up as I bent, making more ammunition as quickly as possible. “I’m going to get you back for that.”
Gathering shadows around him, Sebastian chuckled. Only if you can catch me, he said.
His wings burst out of his back through the special slits in his cloak, and he rose in the air with a flap.
Laughing, I pelted him with snowballs. Or at least, I tried to. In reality, my weapons arched through the air, landing uselessly on the other side of the courtyard.
Marius left his post behind the tree, armed with a dozen spheres. He threw them at us both and quickly proved that his aim was much better than mine.