Free 06 Love Bites - My Sister the Vampire by Sienna Mercer

friends.’
    ‘Be careful, Olivia,’ Ivy replied. ‘His mom is acting so sniffy because she thinks he likes you.’
    ‘A vampire prince wouldn’t date a human,’ Olivia pointed out.
    ‘You can’t say that,’ Ivy countered. ‘Since you were initiated, most vampires have accepted you. Like the Count said: times are changing.’
    Olivia had too much to think about at the moment with Jackson. She couldn’t deal with this, too. Besides, there wasn’t any spark between her and Alex.
    It’s not a problem,
Olivia decided.
I’m sure of it.
    Just then, Prince Alex returned with two pairs of muddy leather snow boots.
    ‘Milady.’ He bowed and held out his arm for her to take. ‘Shall we?’
    Olivia giggled at his pretend formality and nodded. ‘We shall.’
    Crunching through the snow and looking up at the tree branches, Olivia thought the royal garden was like a winter wonderland.
    She stepped carefully along the slippery stone path. The frosty wind wasn’t helping.
    ‘Up here,’ Alex said and began climbing a narrow path ascending a hill. Olivia had no choice but to take his arm.
    ‘There is a legend about this hill,’ he said when they were about halfway up and Olivia was running out of breath. ‘A princess was being forced to marry a man she did not love, to marry for money.’ Alex paused in his climb and looked at her sadly. ‘On the night before her wedding, she fled the palace and climbed to the top of a tree on this very spot. She hid there all night, crying. When the sun rose and her parents came into the garden, shouting for her to come and be married, she flung herself from the highest branch anddied. They say this hill grew from her tears.’ Alex turned away and kept walking up the hill.
    Some parts of being royalty must be awful,
Olivia thought.
Having to marry someone you don’t love.
    ‘Is it still like that?’ she asked gently. ‘Will
you
have to marry someone your mother chooses?’
    Alex’s face darkened. ‘My mother tends to get her way.’
    Olivia gulped. She remembered the Queen’s tone with poor Tessa during last night’s dinner. She certainly did know how to get what she wanted.
    At last, they reached the top of the snowy hill and Olivia caught her breath.
    There were mountains on three sides, beautiful peaks, covered in white. Pockets of tiny villages nestled among the trees, their red roofs poking up through the snow.
    ‘It’s so beautiful,’ Olivia whispered. ‘You know, I was worried that I would only feel out of place here. But somewhere inside of me knows that I belong.’
    ‘I’m glad. Look over there.’ Alex pointed to a picturesque frozen lake twinkling in the bright winter sun. ‘That lake is on your grand-parents’ land.’
    Olivia looked from the lake to the tops of the stone mansion that she could see through some trees. Her family’s estate was enormous.
    ‘And the reason I wanted to show it to you now is because of the poem I mentioned: “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird”,’ Alex went on. ‘In the summer, blackbirds thrive around that lake, singing their love songs for all to hear.’
    He took a breath. ‘The poem is an intense study of one thing, analysing it from everyangle – almost obsessed over.’
    ‘I know the feeling,’ Olivia said. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Jackson. She didn’t know what to think any more. Right here on this beautiful mountain top was the type of Valentine’s Day she’d wanted with Jackson – not waiting in line for a paltry two minutes with him.
    She sighed.
    ‘I think the poet wanted to show that you can’t judge something, or someone, at first glance.’ Alex took her gloved hands in his. ‘There is so much to see beyond that.’
    It was quiet for a moment. Was the prince trying to tell her something? All this talk of poetry and meanings . . .
It’s like we’re talking in code,
Olivia thought.
    Then Alex grinned. ‘But right now, all I can see is a fireplace and a hot