CHAPTER THIRTY
I laid on my side facing Olivia until her eyes fluttered open, and when I saw the placid surface of indigo, I knew she was ready to emerge through the surface.
“How can I possibly mend myself together when the edges are so mangled?” Olivia’s voice was weak and rough from disuse.
“If you have edges, you can be mended.”
The faintest smile crossed her lips before fading back within her fallen features. I ran my hand through her golden hair, careful not to snag the tangles.
“You will get through this, and we will rid the world of vampires.” Those last words cemented themselves within my throat because that now included me.
What hurt worse was that she didn’t know she was about to lose someone else she loved, and I didn’t know how to tell her. I didn’t know if I even could.
What would truly break me would be to see the shift within the indigo. The moment she saw me as a demon. The moment she knew her sister was gone.
* * *
That night as I headed to my room for bed, Olivia was in much better spirits.
Well, her spirit still seemed far from her, but she was at least talking to everyone now.
The moment I entered my room, I halted just beyond the threshold.
A chill hung in the air, not the kind that came with the waning summer but the one that hailed from a final breath.
I saw it on my pillow. A letter.
You’ve broken your promise, sweet dove, and I have waited long enough.
I had asked for a week, but it had taken just over two for me to develop control and confidence in my control.
Alaric’s thinly veiled threat preceded an address.
An energy hummed beneath my chest, right up against my rib cage, a muted rapping.
The guilt thumped around me like a phantom dragging its feet across a weathered floor.
With our soulmate bond, Sebastian was with me always, and the pain of lying to him was akin to a thousand methodically placed cuts across my body that measured up to a dull ache, the sum would drain me eventually.
I was not sure what would happen if I met Alaric, but I was more afraid to see what would happen if I didn’t.
And there was no way Sebastian would ever let me go.
With our bond, it was uncomfortable to be apart, like a scratch beneath the skin I could never reach.
It would become easier overtime, but for now, our absence from each other was a fresh wound.
I told him I needed to spend time with Olivia.
I knew Alaric would show up at some point.
He always came to collect. But I’d rather that happened when Sebastian was long gone.
Too far to stop me. And the rapping grew incessant.
I took the horse that was most used to me.
The animals in my world were still not so fond of me.
We took off through the blue dark as the manor slept.
A hazy fog roiled about the air, wrapping around the barren trees as we tore down the forest road.
The address was located along the countryside, and my black cloak and horse disappeared into the night.
For a moment I worried about the newborns but then realization dropped through me. Did they attack their own kind?
I paused before a looming, iron gate. My horse’s sharp breaths broke through the chilled air like smoke plumes. She shook her head, stepping in place, clearly upset by something. The source of her discomfort stood before the gate.
I brought her over to the tree line across the road from the sprawling manor, or more accurately, the stately house of horrors. I wrapped her reins around a tree, keeping her a healthy distance from them. I could walk the rest of the way.
The two newborns opened the gate for me without a word. Down a long, well-manicured road lined with cypress trees sat a grim manor comprised of heavy, gray stone. The arched windows glowed with faint candlelight, some housed only darkness.
There were two more newborns at the towering entrance.
I wondered how old these newborns and the ones at the gate were.
They seemed to have far more control than the newborns I had come across before.
The others were feral compared to them. These newborns were like soldiers, and the perception hung heavy over my head.
The door opened to a stern-faced, older woman. Her golden wheat hair was slicked back into a low bun. She wore a black gown with white cuffs and a high neck. There was a softness about her and a sweetness that left my throat dry. She was human.
Before I interacted with any vampires, I wouldn’t have been able to distinguish them between humans.
They blended in so well. They existed right under our noses, close beside us, with us all along.
But now I knew. There was a coldness to their eyes, you had to know where to find it.
Perhaps it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, just something of another world.
She didn’t speak a word as she led me down an arched, stone hall. Iron chandeliers hung from the ceiling flickering with hundreds of candles. We entered a grand dining room. The expansive table was filled with an elaborate display of food that two people could never possibly finish.
Before I approached the table, the woman gripped my shoulders, grabbing at my cloak in a rather rough fashion.
I shrugged out of it to reveal my gown. The sleeves draped off of my shoulders, and it was tight through the bust with delicate, sheer layers that flowed to the floor with a short train.
I didn’t know what my plan was, or if I even had one, but I had a feeling Alaric liked red.
He didn’t look up once from his position at the head of the table.
I sat to his left. I would have preferred several chairs between us, but it was the only chair available.
He continued to stare through his plate as one of his staff, another human, filled my crystal goblet with red wine.
His stone-like face was cut with hard edges.
His lips were tight, and his brow was pinched.
Though his face was rather blank as usual, he couldn’t hide what simmered beneath.
As he looked up, his eyes clashed with mine evoking a violent shiver uprooted from the depths of my soul. Pure malice roiled within hazel and gold set on fire. He was not just angry. He was wrath incarnate.
“I suppose congratulations are in order.” His calm voice and demeanor were even more unsettling than if he’d let his anger bleed through. “Welcome to the house of demons, darling.”
My mouth went dry. I forced a swallow through ash and gravel.
“How about a toast.” He held up his goblet, nodding towards mine. With reluctance, I lifted it. He leaned forward, reaching out his long arm. The clink of glass hurt my ears, and it wasn’t even loud. “To your new life.” Each word was laced with disdain.
He was scorned. What he wanted was taken from him, and I couldn’t help but smile. His eyes darkened at the sight, but his lips tilted into the most unsettling smile that would forever haunt my dreams.
He held my eyes as he brought the crystal to his lips. I did the same. The wine had a sweet scent, but a slight bitterness cut through my tongue as I drank. My eyes widened as I set the glass down. I had already drunk half. He smiled, clearly pleased.
He was oddly quiet as I poked around my plate.
My appetite wasn’t the strongest, though my throat burned.
I was still getting used to my cravings.
I reached for my wine again. He leaned back in his chair, elbows resting on the armrests, and his hands draped over the sides lazily, his eyes not once leaving me. I shifted under his gaze.
He was quite handsome, the same sort of dangerous, ethereal beauty as Sebastian. Too bad he was deranged.
At the thought of Sebastian, my chest ached. It physically hurt to be apart. The bond strengthened our connection to a painful degree. Everything good came at a price, I supposed. Guilt bloomed from our distance, at the lie I told that kept us apart.
The wine began to take hold as it roamed throughout my system, and I figured it was as good a time as any to get to know the man who had been haunting me for the last year.
“You knew the exorcisms were killing me,” I said flatly.
He nodded once. “Yes.”
“Is that what you want? You want me to die?”
“Of course not.”
“Then what do you want?”
“Obedience.”
I scoffed, rolling my eyes. “You’re a very attractive man. I’m sure you can find someone else who actually wants you.” I didn’t mean for the words to come out so harshly, and something flickered within his eyes, but it was quickly wiped away as an arrogant smirk twisted his features.
“Very attractive?”
When I didn’t respond, he sighed and gave a slight shrug. “I like you.”
“Unfortunately for me.”
His smile did not reach his eyes. “Though that is not all. I feel the need to protect you.”
My mouth fell open as my face scrunched up in disbelief. “In what world are you protecting me?”
“So far, both of ours.” He exhaled through his nose in a brief laugh. Did he just try to make a joke?
Any trace of humor left his face. “I was hoping you would see by now.”
“See what?”
He didn’t respond, but what drifted up to the surface of his eyes was enough to tell me how he felt, though it did nothing to explain what it meant. Disappointment. Pity?
We held each other’s gaze for a moment. He wasn’t very talkative tonight. I’d have to pry what I wanted out of him.
“Why did you come to another world? You successfully carried out a coup, why not take over Svealin or any other kingdom in Dreigo?”
“Would you want to remain in the world that stole the only one who ever loved you, a world that hunted you down to rid itself of you until it discovered you had some use it could exploit?”