51
I stiffen as he leans close and gently lifts my head from the pillow to wrap the silk ribbon around my throat.
I feel dizzy, odd, but now that the threat has passed, my mind is clearing. I imagine I’d only received a small dose of whatever the fake doctor had tried to inject into me, which I think was most likely just something to knock me out.
My family doesn’t want me dead. I’m special. The only woman of childbearing age in my bloodline.
They need me.
As he ties the ribbon his motion is quick, but careful, and his breath stirs the curls near my ear, making me shudder.
His proximity makes me nervous and tingly, and it’s not something I’ve ever felt with anyone before.
I wonder if it’s just adrenaline caused by fear of his bite, but deep down I can’t help recalling the other feelings that bite promoted.
Things I don’t understand and don’t want to think about.
Right now I need to try to focus on the ribbon.
I thought he insisted upon it because he didn’t want to bite me.
But if he’s been killing contestants, then I need to know if I’m, ribbon or no, in imminent danger of being sucked.
“You said you weren’t going to kill any contestants,” I blurt, trying both to distract him from whatever it is he wants to know and to find out what the hell had changed since we last spoke.
He gives me a measured look.
“Who is Valentino?”
“Answer my question,” I reply softly, “and I’ll answer yours.”
‘Although I won’t give the whole truth. I can’t.’
“Catriona, don’t play games with me. There’s a dead man lying beside your bed.”
“I told you I have powerful enemies…”
“You did,” he sighs, rubbing his hand over his face before observing the note near the flowers by my bed.
I bite my lip as he raises an eyebrow before switching his attention back to me.
“This is from the cunt chasing you?”
I nod.
“He calls you, Puss?”
I blush and nod.
“Tell me his surname, I’ll make this all go away.”
I shake my head.
‘I can’t.’
“No. He’s my enemy, and I must have my vengeance. When I have your name and immortality, I’ll wreak it.”
He frowns.
“It would seem he’s not trying to kill you.”
“No. He just wants me out of the Game and within his reach. He wants to take his time punishing me. Each attempt has been with that aim.”
“You said you were being hunted because you failed to fulfil an obligation…”
“Yes.”
I clamp my lips shut. After I’d assumed her identity the family had pursued Mirabella to punish her for allowing my death.
Since discovering I was alive they’re pursuing me to force me to marry Valentino.
I can’t let the bachelor know that, though; too many details could lead him to finding out my true identity.
“He seems hell-bent on getting you back. Three times now. He must know there’s no way my kind would sit back and allow a competitor to be taken. He’s risking powerful enemies. Even if he did get you out of the Game, he’d be hunted to extinction. That’s some kind of obsession.”
“Not the kind any woman wants,” I whisper. “I told you what happened when I was a child.”
He considers me for a long, long moment.
“This is the man?”
I nod, swallowing hard.
“You’re a strong woman, Catriona. You must fear him if you’d risk death on this show rather than confront him.”
‘My nightmares are plagued by him.’
“I’m not planning on dying on this show,” I look him in the eye and avoid his question, “and I’ll do anything I have to do to ensure that. I told you, I’m going to win. I have to win. Now answer my question. Did you bite Daniela and Luo?”
“Yes.”
“But you said…”
“I didn’t kill them,” he sighs heavily, “I gave them a nip and Starlen did the rest.”
“Ugh,” I shudder.
“I know, but I must be true to myself. I made a vow. Honour dictates I adhere to it. There’s just something about your blood… I have to know, Catriona. Is your family entirely human?”
“Completely and utterly,” I nod.
‘The literal truth.’
“Then nothing makes sense,” he sighs.
I move to change the subject before it becomes dangerous.
“Viscount, why the ribbon around my neck if not to prevent you biting me to death? Do the scars you caused disgust you that much?”
“No. They shame me,” he says quietly.
“Good,” I nod.
“How so?”
“You regret hurting me. You said you’d help me destroy my enemy, that you’d offer protection. Now I know I can trust you to stand by your honour.”
He looks down at his hands as I say this.
“Honour… all I can say is that I’ll do my best.”
‘Ah, so this is the reason he’s so melancholy. He’s done something dishonourable. I wonder what?’
“I don’t expect you to be perfect,” I reply gently as he raises his eyes to mine. “I’d say you’re only human, but you’re not. That doesn’t mean you can’t make just as many mistakes as we do. At your age you’d have to be a saint not to have done some terrible things.”
“Yes, I expect you’re right,” he murmurs, looking back down at his hands.
“And we’ve already established that I wouldn’t do well in a nunnery, so I can hardly marry a saint.”
“There’s no chance of that,” he snorts, looking back at me, his eyes having lost some of their hopelessness.
“Good.” I meet his gaze steadily. “I’ve told you what I need. Love is not what I’m here for. If I were to ask anything, it would be that I could at least respect the man I marry. If you strive for honour, then I respect that.”
“Then we’re aligned in our goals, Catriona.”
“We are?”
“I need a wife in name only. My future spouse will not have my heart or my children. But I can offer the things you seek: my name, my protection, an enviable lifestyle and, I hope, a mutual respect. If you win, we’ll both get what we came here for.”
“So, you’re not looking for love either, Viscount Speardon?”
“Call me Jaguar,” he frowns. “I just said as much.”
“Strange then that you’ve come on a show where you’re surrounded by women sacrificing their hearts, but you don’t want what they’re offering.”
“Less and less every day,” he murmurs.
“Then why not just get a wife in the real world? You’re one of the most eligible bachelors on the planet; women fall at your feet daily. Why participate in this farce if not to find an extraordinary woman to love?”
My words trail off as I ask this question, my vision suddenly blurring.
He frowns.
“Your heart rate has become uneven, and your skin has taken on a strange pallor, Catriona.”
“I feel strange,” I acknowledge weakly. “I don’t know what they put in that syringe. Not much went into me, but something did.”
He rises swiftly to his feet.
“I’ll call again for a doctor. A real one,” he adds after a second.
“He won’t give up, you know,” I murmur as he turns to leave. “He’ll never give up, not until I’m under your protection. Maybe not even then.”
“When I catch him, and I will, I’ll watch as you kill him by increments,” he says, his tone deadly. “Rest easy, Catriona. You’re already under my protection.”