It took me a moment to realize Julian was back. When I felt his presence next to me, I looked up to see him looking at me with admiration.

"I know you are probably adjusting to everything, but Eretria wanted to talk to you as soon as you were awake," he whispered before he kissed my temple, sending waves of electricity to the spot his lips had just touched.

"I'm okay to see her. Where is she?"

There was a lot I wanted to talk about with her. I needed to also apologize about the kiss I shared with Tristan, her soulmate.

"The garden," He answered. "It's about to be dawn though, so you need to drink some blood in order to be in the sunlight."

Blood. I was a vampire now and needed it to survive. Weirdly, the thought of the taste of blood didn't gross me out like it used to. It now had a certain appeal. The concept would still take some getting used to though.

I nodded to Julian. He grabbed my hand, and led me out the door into the hallway.

I glanced around. "What room were we in?" I asked while we walked.

"Mine," he smirked. "You like?"

I shook my head as I tried to suppress my smile.

"Is that a yes?" He teased.

"I'm just not going to answer you," I laughed as my face heated up.

"Fine then, princess."

I was suddenly swept off of my feet, literally. A small yelp of surprise escaped my lips. Julian held me bridal style as we made our way down another hallway. I tried to wiggle out of it, but even my new vampire strength was no match for Julian's. I finally gave up and let him carry me around the castle. His woodsy, sandalwood scent surrounded me as I rested my head in the crook of his neck.

When we finally reached the back door where Julian had killed Collin not long ago, he finally put me down. My thick eyebrows rose, waiting for what he was going to do next. He simply pulled out a vile of red liquid and placed it in my hand.

"Drink."

I sighed and looked down at the crimson red liquid that was now a means of my survival. I hesitantly opened it and put it to my lips. I leaned my head back and poured it down my throat. I expected to choke it down. Surprisingly, it no longer had a metallic, bitter flavor. The taste of sweet ecstasy overcame my taste buds. My senses heightened almost immediately; I could hear some of the maids cooking in the kitchen, gossiping about their fallen King. When the taste diminished, I craved more. I now understood why it was hard for them to control themselves.

Licking my lips, I gave the vile back to Julian. "That wasn't like I thought it would be," I admitted.

"It's not so bad, huh? I guess you can see why vampires have blood lust. You'll eventually be able to control yourself around humans."

I nodded. "Yeah. It's tastes completely different as a vampire. It even makes me feel different—stronger."

"Drinking blood strengthens us. It's important to always drink enough. Now, the soon to be Queen is awaiting your presence." Julian bowed as he opened the door.

I giggled as I made my way out of the castle. The sun was just peaking over the trees, casting a warm glow onto the nature that surrounded us. I knew it would be cold at this time of the day, but my body was surprisingly comfortable, another perk of being undead.

I turned back around when I noticed that Julian didn't follow me outside. He was standing in the doorway.

"Aren't you coming?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Nope. I got to go see Tristan. He's the King now, so as his personal advisor, I need to be there for him and actually do my job for once."

"I'll see you soon then," I said with promise.

I began walking to the garden when I heard him call out once last time, "Bye, princess." I just knew he was grinning like a Cheshire Cat. "Try not to jump in front of anymore stakes while I'm gone."

I couldn't help but snort at his comment. I felt his presence disappear, and I made my way to where I saw Tristan many times before. Eretria was standing by my favorite flowers, twirling one in her hand. Her raven hair veiled her face, hiding her electric blue eyes.

When she sensed my presence, she turned towards me, giving me a bright smile. "Claire. I'm so happy you're okay!" She greeted me with a hug.

It was so strange to have her here in person. I was so used to seeing her in my head, a figment of my imagination.

"Me? I'm happy you're okay!" I beamed. "If I would have known you were alive that whole time, I would've dug you up sooner."

She laughed with me, and I looked down at the flower in her hand, captivated by the beauty of it's bluish-purple petals. Eretria looked down and saw what caught my attention.

"The forget-me-not flower. It's beautiful, isn't it?" She asked and held it up to me.

"It's my favorite," I sheepishly replied.

"It's mine too. I love it so much that I had Tristan hang up a painting of one in our room when I moved in," she reminisced, petting one of the petals. "Do you know what they represent?"

"Yeah, true love and memories, right? I read about them while I was in the asylum."

"Right. People often give them to others as hope that the person they give them to will not forget about them," she continued.

I admired the flower while the sun rose higher in the sky, illuminating the color of the flower further.

"Claire..." I heard her speak, and I looked up. "There's a reason these flowers called to you—why you like them so much. It's because of me."

"I don't understand." My eyes met hers.

"The moment right before you were born, the poison from that stake momentarily killed me. Our souls met in an in-between state. I'm not sure why, but when I came back to life and was in that coffin, I tried reaching out to someone for help and every time, my soul would project to you. Something strange happened when I died and you were born. It was like we were supposed to meet. I tried to communicate with Tristan through his dreams, and I often watched him, but I was not strong enough to get through to him—until you. For some reason, it worked with you..."

She rested her hand on my shoulder. "I was able to project my memories into your dreams since I wasn't strong enough to project myself, but it wasn't enough. I couldn't actually talk to you. I tried so hard, but I knew for some reason that you would help me. When the accident happened..." She gave me a sad smile. "You died briefly before they resuscitated you. I'm not sure why, but when you came back, it became easier to try to communicate with you. I thought maybe because we both died, we had some type of connection through that."

Her face softened. "I saw everything you were put through, Claire. When you were sad, I would put these flowers in your dreams because they were what made me happy—what made me think of Tristan. They gave me hope. I didn't know if me reaching out to you would work to save me, but you were my only chance. You were, for some strange reason only known by fate, my chance to get back to Tristan and expose his father. You see, fate is unpredictable and funny and can be devastating, but what happened brought me back to my soulmate. It took down an evil man and it brought you to us—to Julian. It probably even saved humanity. And... I know what happened between you and Tristan. I want you to know that I'm not mad. My astral presence made you two feel the bond that Tristan and I share. It wasn't your fault."

I was speechless. My whole life I saw those visions. People thought I was crazy; I even started to think it at some point. Now, I finally knew why. I got the answers I longed for, and I didn't know exactly how to feel. Maybe it was the shock of the truth. I thought that this would make me angry, but surprisingly, I was far from it.

It was her all along. I was seeing and feeling those memories through her. The connection to Tristan, the way I felt about him was her feelings. Maybe the feelings I had for Julian as a human were clouded by Eretria's connection with Tristan. That's why I had such conflicting emotions. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. It was like pieces of a puzzle coming together.

I didn't remember dying in the accident or what happened when I did; I do remember that's when the visions got more intense and bled into the physical plane though.

She was right. Fate was funny. I lost my family that night, but the accident made it so I saved another. I couldn't help but wonder what would've happened if we just stayed home that night instead going out for that pizza I threw a fit over.

Would Eretria have been rescued? Would my family and I die anyways because King Gabriel would've eventually enslaved humans?

I would never know, and somehow, I was okay with that. I missed my family and would've done anything to save them from that accident, but I did find peace in the thought that everything did in fact happen for a reason, even though we all experienced tragedy and loss to get here.

It was all overwhelming, now knowing. I took in a deep breath, trying to steady myself.

"I'm sorry. Maybe I should have waited until you had a chance to get used to everything. I think this might all be too much for you." Eretria wrapped her arm around my back.

I took in a few, slow breaths so that I could answer her. Words wouldn't leave my mouth though. I couldn't help a strange feeling taking over. I began to think about Julian and how he made me feel as a type of anchor to calm me. Flashes of images of him played in my head. It was as if there was a connection to Julian, like a string that led straight to him in my mind. The more I thought about him, the clearer the images got.

The scene of me laying on the ground in the woods popped into my mind. Julian was walking up to my unconscious body, and he combed some of my hair out of my face.

"Wow, she's beautiful for a human." I heard him say, but his mouth wasn't moving.

It was like he was thinking out loud. As he picked up my body, I realized it was the night Julian found me. I watched the scene unfold as he said it was his lucky day and as he took me back to the castle. I watched as he set me down in the hospital bed, and ran his fingers across my cheek.

"You are possibly the most beautiful woman I've ever laid my eyes on, and of course I can't have you. You are a part of something big, way bigger than me. You are probably too good for me anyways. With how I am... I would never deserve someone like you," I heard him say, but once again, his mouth was closed.

I then realized that I was hearing his thoughts, but how? This was a memory. His memory.

My name was being called at a distance by a familiar voice. I tried to focus on it to understand where it was coming from. The more I focused, the louder the voice became until I was finally able to open my eyes that I didn't know were closed.

"Claire?" Eretria said in a worried tone as she held my arms.

I looked up at her in bewilderment from what I just saw. "What just happened?"