Chapter 49
Le v?u
CLAIRE
My attention darted between the dagger and the cup and the cold look in Natalia’s eyes. I had no idea how to handle her, or the threat she continued to pose to my secret. And my life.
“The Duchess should vow, like the rest of us,” Natalia continued—her hips swinging as she sauntered closer. “She should swear to never reveal the secret of your marriage. And never, ever betray you. Or keep any secret from you.”
A vow I couldn’t keep without dying, which was exactly what she wanted.
My hand flinched toward the choker necklace, but I caught myself before actually touching it.
Natalia didn’t miss the movement, though.
She could read me in a way her uncle couldn’t.
I cursed my younger sister’s impulsivity.
Had she not slapped her, perhaps Natalia wouldn’t be so suspicious.
“Nervous?” she asked in a devilish way. Her tiny nose crinkled.
I didn’t know what to say. Fear had me by the throat, unable to speak. I knew Bastien could sense my emotions, and with each passing moment, they grew stronger.
He knew I was afraid.
Frantically, I looked around the room, noticing the faces of those who had already pledged loyalty to Bastien, including Tyson. If his nephew agreed, how could I get out of this? I couldn’t. Arguing against it would seem even more suspicious.
My life depended on how well I could keep up my lie. I knew Bastien would never forgive the truth of my family’s mission and my part in it, so honesty was out of the question.
I swallowed hard, staring at the cup. I supposed I was faced with death yet again. In my moment of hopelessness, when I didn’t know what to do, the dark thing inside me flickered to life. The part of me that was a Dark Witch.
Live. Live. Live.
The words calling to me with each beat of my heart. The darkness reluctant to be snuffed out.
The heat of magick warmed my blood and snapped against my skin like it was begging to get free.
I was ashamed of it, disgusted by it, but I couldn’t deny its power.
In the graveyard, the darkness had broken past whatever was keeping it at bay, allowing me to create a wall of flames out of nothing to protect Bastien and me from the witches before retreating back inside me.
It was back now, called forward by my desperation.
Only this time, I didn’t need fire—not exactly. I just needed strength.
The magick filled every corner of my body, coaxing my nerves to relax and my swirl of thoughts to settle.
When they did, I realized honesty or death weren’t the only ways.
I rolled my shoulders back and lifted my chin, facing Natalia with courage I did not feel, but that seemed to possess me like a demon.
Pulling back the hood of my cloak, I revealed what I’d been hiding: my burnished copper hair. Even though they’d been told, this was undeniable proof. I let them all stare.
Yes, I was a ruin. A ruin that was still standing.
“What are you suggesting?” I asked the vampire in a sharp voice that didn’t sound wholly like my own. “That the gods erred when they fated His Grace to me? Do you believe you know more than Diana or Damien? And that you see things in me that they did not?”
Whispers went around the room. I only caught clips of what they were saying, but it sounded like:
“Out of line.”
“Too far.”
Good.
A smirk rounded my lips when I caught sight of the mild look of surprise on Bastien’s face.
He didn’t like me meek and soft, as I once thought.
He liked seeing me show my teeth. I canted my head to one side, taking in the lines of frustration creasing Natalia’s forehead.
She was on the defensive now. As a warrior, she must know her position wasn’t good.
As much as they respected her, I was the Duchess of Roselyn now. The wife of their liege lord.
“Of course not,” Natalia said, glancing between Bastien and me. “The only thing I’m suggesting, Lady Claire, is that you ally yourself fully with my uncle. As we all are.”
I made a noncommittal hmph and then crossed my arms. I had no idea where my confidence was coming from or whether this side of me was good or not, but I did know the darkness inside me was elated. It urged me on. Told me to press my advantage.
“I was with the Duke at Kemp Manor, accompanying him as he requested, when, by some fate, Damien named me the worthiest witch in the graveyard, granting me Temperance Kemp’s powers.
When the witches turned their cloaks and came for our heads, I stood by his side and fought with him when he told me to run.
And when they came for me, I offered to trade my life to save his.
” Hot tears collected in my eyes at the memory of that blade to his throat.
“We trust each other. And whether you like it or not, His Grace and I are one now. Fated by the gods.”
“I understand that—”
I pressed on. “What you seek is to make a mockery of me by suggesting that I cannot be trusted. To drive a wedge between us where none exists.”
More whispers followed. Bastien looked as if he wanted to intervene but was too intrigued to do so.
Then I delivered my final point—the one that I knew would keep them all from questioning my loyalty again.
I leaned in, lips pulled back over my teeth and said, “The Duke drinks from me whenever he wishes. I do not need some cup and knife to make a vow to him. I have already done so, time and time again.”
“Yes, but—” she started, but Bastien cut her off.
He was at my side, one arm wrapped protectively around me. His tolerance for this was clearly at an end.
“That’s enough, Lady Natalia,” he said between his teeth, seething. Roughly, he took the cup from her, causing a bead of red liquid to slosh over the side and run down his long, pale fingers.
“Claire is my wife, and she has demonstrated her unyielding loyalty to me in more than one way. I will not tolerate hearing her questioned any further.”
My heart swelled as I watched him lift the gold cup to his lips and drink. However, the pride and adoration I felt was tinted with guilt.
“With your blood, your vow is sealed. None will speak of my mate bond to Claire, or death will be your consequence.”
A breath of magick, carrying the familiar fresh scent of garden herbs, trailed around the room, weaving between each one of his council members before it collected around him, the spell binding them all together.
The scent his magick left behind reminded me, shockingly, of home. I’d thought him a Dark Witch, but now I knew that wasn’t true. He had been born of the light. And I was the darkness. The thought caused the magick in me to retreat, and I shivered as my inner flame disappeared.
Bastien set down the cup and took my hand, then lifted my knuckles to his lips.
I’d grown up a ghost. Ignored and left out of important meetings.
Shunned for years because of my lack of magick and made to believe I wasn’t good for anything.
Told I wasn’t smart or strong. But Bastien believed in me.
Where others saw weakness, he saw strength.
He raised me up, offered me a seat at his his table, made me powerful in ways I’d never imagined.
However, it wasn’t the power of my new position that had my throat burning with emotion.
It was him. Just him.
The blue of his eyes and the fierceness of his gaze when they looked upon me.
The careless way his golden hair was pushed to one side.
I reached for his face, taking the soft strands between my fingers.
Then slowly pushed it back behind his ear.
Bastien leaned into my touch, and the feeling was heavenly and sinful at the same time.
He cupped my jaw and leaned in slowly, our eyes locked even when he pressed our lips together like he couldn’t bear to keep me out of his sight for even a moment—even in the middle of this meeting.
His lips tasted of the coppery flavor of blood. My head swam, but I breathed through the feeling, and thankfully, it passed. Bastien touched the corner of my mouth, trailing his finger along the line of my lower lip, then let out a sigh.
“Would you return to our room and wait for me there?” He glanced at Tyson. “My nephew and I have a few things to discuss.”
I wasn’t sure what Bastien was going to offer Tyson in return for his secrecy, but I knew whatever it was cost him dearly.
“Of course,” I replied. “I would like to bathe.”
He smiled and pressed a kiss to my forehead, just beside the painful gash on my brow. “I will send a nurse to tend to this cut.”
I nodded, and so did he, and I knew this was goodbye for now.
With my hand still clasped in his, Bastien addressed his niece. “Lady Natalia, escort the Duchess to our rooms. Ensure she has a bath drawn.”
Natalia narrowed her eyes. “I’m not her attendant.”
“I do not care.”
The usual warmth between them was absent, and I wondered if it would return any time soon or if my darkness and the need to protect my secret at all costs had severed their bond. For that, I felt guilty, because Natalia wasn’t wrong. Not at all. But I had no other choice when she kept pushing.
“And what of her dogs?” Natalia asked. “Should I bathe them, too? Or should we put them to the question for our werewolf investigation?”
The two great wolves howled outside the door to the council room, which gave many in the room pause.
“They are familiars, not dogs, and not werewolves. I witnessed them bond themselves to her after she received her magick,” Bastien said.
My gaze found Natalia’s, and no part of me wanted to be burdened by her sour mood or to be the target of her insults for the next half hour.
I’d experienced enough of that at the hands of my family to know how sour moods festered.
Instead, I squeezed Bastien’s hand, drawing his attention back to me.
“I don’t require an escort. I have my wolves.
I can find my way to our room by myself. ”
Pressing his lips together in a hard line, Bastien nodded, then touched the gem hidden under my dress. “If you need me, you know how to reach me.”
I nodded. “I do.”
“Then go. Bathe,” he said. “Get some rest. I will join you later. I swear it.”
With one last look, I exited the council room to find my two familiars waiting patiently for me. Their eyes alight with magick. I ran my hands through their thick fur, and a spark of heat tickled my palms.