Chapter 27 - Glory
Glory
XXVII
I followed Kalla to the hot spring, though with every breath, I experienced another tug of fear that Cammon and I were stuck under this mountain.
After watching these vampires come close to slaughtering Cammon before my eyes, I hadn’t known what else to do but follow Thorn and pray her words of goodwill were genuine.
So far, no harm had come to us, and by calling me child she had claimed me as kin, which reduced my fears for my own situation, but Cammon’s fate remained a question mark.
I didn’t want to be where I couldn’t beg for his life if they turned on him, but I hadn’t wanted to make a scene, either.
After all, I was a half-vampire in a cavern of full-bloods.
That hadn’t seemed to matter to anyone, but I couldn’t help but feel small.
Just as separate from these vampires as I was from the humans in the city.
“Loosen up, will you?” Kalla said as she tugged on my arm. “I get why you wouldn’t want to stray too far from that man, but you’ll be back with him before you know it. Clean and scrubbed and shaved and whatever else you want. Believe me, you’ll both appreciate it.”
I blinked at her, first stunned, then alarmed by her assumptions. “Oh, no, we haven’t—we aren’t—”
Kalla burst into laughter, and I didn’t bother finishing my sentence because I didn’t believe it either.
I wanted him. To deny that would be to lie to myself, and I’d long ago accepted that doing so would be dangerous.
I faced the full, harsh realities of my life every single day to stay safe, and that meant admitting—at least in my own heart—that I desired Cammon Ruxo with a primal urge I hadn’t known I was capable of.
“I have no intention of acting on it,” I concluded.
Kalla’s dark blue eyes shone with mirth as she shoved me playfully through an archway tucked off the side of the cavern.
We followed a short tunnel and came out in a smaller room, this one completely dark.
By the trickle of water, the scent of silt that tickled my nose, and the humidity that curled the hair at the back of my neck, I guessed we’d reached the hot spring, but my vampiric night vision wasn’t enough to pierce the blackness.
“Give me a moment…” Kalla murmured.
There was a squeal of metal, and then a lantern on the wall, hanging from a simple hook, lit up without any apparent flame. Kalla went around the room and lit three more, until the space was filled with a warm glow that reflected off the moving water in a hypnotic pattern.
“Are those enchanted lanterns?” I asked, stunned. “I thought they worked with fae magic.”
She grinned. “They do.”
When she didn’t elaborate, I turned my attention to the steaming pool, and my jaw dropped. “How do you people ever leave this room?”
“I know. It’s bliss. But even full-blooded vampires get pruney. Come on, strip down and enjoy before the steam gets a real grip on your hair.”
I looked behind us. “Is Cammon…”
“Nah, Cliff’ll take him to the other spring. Not for modesty’s sake, mind. More because splitting you two up will give us a chance to make sure you’re both telling the same story.”
She winked, then closed the distance and tugged on the sodden rags of my torn and bloody camisole. I resisted her efforts at first out of the aforementioned modesty, but it soon became clear this vampire didn’t give two figs about my figure.
“Burn pile with these, yeah?” she asked, and didn’t wait for confirmation before she tossed them into the corner.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get you something clean and dry.
You won’t be walking out of here buck naked.
” She waggled her eyebrows. “We wouldn’t steal the fun of getting into that state on your own. ”
“We’re not sleeping together.” I stepped foot into the water and all embarrassment—gods, all thought of Cammon—disappeared. “How is it possible the water is so hot?”
Bathwater hot. Not quite scalding, but enough to give my skin a delicious zing. My shivers kicked up in response, but they washed away as I sank neck deep into the spring with a moan.
Kalla settled on a wooden bench set along the wall to my left and stretched her legs out in front of her. “Thank the dragons. Their fire boils the snow that settles on the peaks, and it has just enough time to cool before it reaches us.”
As I got comfortable, my drifting thoughts returned to Cammon and how he would react to such a luxury after so many days of cold rivers and rough sleeping accommodations.
Would his heavy muscles relax in the water, or would they stiffen first, unused to the aggressive temperature?
I pictured the steam clinging to his chest and dampening his hair.
The way he might card his fingers through the chestnut locks to brush them out of his face, his biceps and forearm flexing with the gesture.
I shook off the fantasy before I sank too deep into it and forced my attention back to Kalla. “You’re not partaking?”
“It’s to my benefit to stay dressed. You are naked and sitting beneath me, leaving you in a more vulnerable position. Far more likely to answer all my questions honestly—or at least fumble any attempt to lie.”
Again, I had to laugh. “Your methods of power play are unique.”
“Yeah, well, you seem clever enough that trying to get one over on you would be a waste of time. Also, where’s the fun? People get confused when I put everything out in the open. They get distracted searching for what I might be covering up.”
I laid my arms along the edge of the stone and closed my eyes. “I can be as open as you are. I have no secrets.” Not that these vampires didn’t already know, anyway.
The shock of that truth had left me reeling when we’d walked through the main cavern, but now that it had settled, I found myself weightless.
I didn’t need to shrink or lower my eyes or pretend to be weak with these vampires.
They knew what I was and had just as much to lose as I did if anyone discovered them here.
If they did choose to attack me, at least I could defend myself with everything I had.
“Really? None?” Kalla leaned forward to rest her elbows on her knees. “Then please, tell me. How are you not sleeping with that man?”
Was she still going on about that?
“I met Cammon a little less than two weeks ago for one thing. Second, he’s a demon.
Everything about him is made to be appealing so he can feed on our emotions.
Third, he plays the rake for the newspapers.
All fake charm. So yes, he’s gorgeous. And sexy.
And alluring. But it’s a trap. One I do not mean to fall into. ”
How much of that did I believe anymore? The first was fact. Two weeks was not enough to truly get to know anyone. Even when faced with life-threatening puzzles and late-night attacks. As for the not falling… No, I wouldn’t. That had to stay true as well.
“And?”
Her simple question, uttered as though nothing I’d said was cause for concern, made me crack one eye open. “That’s not enough?”
“Gloria, darling—”
“Glory, please. I’m only Gloria when I’m in trouble.”
“Gloria, darling, everything you just described could as easily apply to you. Except maybe the rake part. I know we found you straddling that delicious demon, but everything you just said screams prude.” When I raised an eyebrow, she leaned in closer.
“You’re a vampire. You were made to captivate.
” She leaned back and crossed one ankle over the other.
“And if his behaviour is anything to go by, he has been properly captivated. Not many people would risk challenging Thorn.”
I closed my eyes again. “He reacted that way because of the temporary bond. May I repeat, we’ve only known each other for two weeks. Going that far is not something he’d be inclined to do without that push.”
“Temp—so you’ve fed on him?”
The joy in her voice, the need for the latest gossip, was so instantaneous, so natural, I felt as though I were sitting in my apartment with Ashara. I didn’t know this woman. Hardly any time ago, I wasn’t sure if she would tear out my throat, yet I couldn’t help but warm to her.
Olodin, it had been so long since I’d enjoyed the easiness of a friendship that I was too quick to give in.
But what did it matter? For the first time in years, I didn’t need to fear my nature coming out.
I didn’t need to hide behind excuses or lies or innocent-looking storage containers for my blood supply.
The freedom my companion allowed me caused my throat to tighten and tears to sting my eyes, but I breathed through the wave of emotion and nodded.
“We were attacked by shifters. Cammon didn’t know what I was at the time, so I couldn’t fight as hard to protect myself. The encounter nearly did me in. My blood reserve was too far, scattered somewhere in the camp, so Cammon offered—well, forced me to drink from him is perhaps more accurate.”
Footsteps padded nearby, and I opened my eyes to find Kalla walking a circle around the spring, taking me in. “You look pretty well healed except for the fresh wounds from tonight. How long ago was this attack?”
“Two nights ago? Three?”
A smile crinkled her eyes. “And you think it’s the bond that pushed him to stand over you like he was ready to go toe to toe with an elder vampire?”
A flutter stirred in my stomach. “You don’t?”
She shook her head slowly, her smile growing.
“Why?” I asked. “How long does the temporary bond last? I was always told it could be a few days.”
Kalla set her hands on her hips. “I don’t know where you’ve been taught anything about our kind, but that’s sort of an important detail to know unless you want to accidentally bond with someone for good.
The effects of the first bite last one full day, from the moment you bite them to the same moment the next day.
It frees us up to feed from someone different the next day without a horde of thralls following us around.
Either you’ve got a more potent bite than the most powerful vampire I’ve ever met or you’ve got him wrapped so tightly around those beautiful fingers that he’s a lost man even without the bond. ”
My cheeks flushed, then her words sank in and the blood fled my face, leaving me lightheaded.
Him saving me from the fire, uttering those beautiful words, protecting me from Thorn.
The water felt too hot, but I didn’t have enough control over my body to hurl myself out of its embrace.
I didn’t understand why I was so frazzled.
It meant nothing that he’d stood up for me to Thorn.
He was doing his job. Nothing else could be possible.
He’d said it himself: He didn’t form connections, and love was a weakness.
He’d fallen into a habit with the bond and hadn’t broken it yet, that was all.
The tendril of warmth creeping around my heart that felt disturbingly of hope? Unacceptable and unwanted.
“He was hired by King Evaniel to watch out for me,” I explained.
“His Majesty doesn’t know about my vampirism”—I hoped—“so he doesn’t know I can take care of myself.
” I huffed out a breath. “Not that I could have gotten this far without Cammon, as I told Thorn earlier. But that’s what his posturing was about.
If it’s not the bond, then it’s his sense of duty. ”
Kalla was full-on grinning now. She tossed her thick auburn hair over her shoulder and returned to her bench. “Believe that if you want, darling.”
“I do. I will not be sleeping with Cammon Ruxo now or ever. The prince is off limits.”
As soon as the words were out, I wondered if mentioning his title was a mistake. But Cammon had made it clear it was no secret. Even if the vampires wanted to leverage it, how would they? They weren’t supposed to be in the country.
“Prince?” I hadn’t thought it possible for Kalla’s interest to rise any higher, but I’d been wrong.
“Your big, sexy, hovering demon is a prince? Oh, that is too rich.” She threw back her head with a laugh, then stretched out her foot to shove my shoulder.
“Darling, you’d better get him into bed soon, or you risk me sweeping him out from under you. ”
I waved my hand. “Take him. I hope you enjoy passing time with someone who loves to talk history and whose ego is as tall as this mountain.”
But not for a moment did I believe that last part anymore, and beneath my flippant response lurked a vicious streak of jealousy that refused to be quieted.
My traitorous heart had acted without my permission, and I didn’t want to think what it meant for me when I returned to my quiet, isolated, adventure-free life.