Chapter 25
IS THAT A BAD THING
CORA
When I left the manor with Elliot, I convinced myself I knew what I was getting into, in more ways than one.
I believed I could get the ingredient without revealing any memories.
Then, I believed I could keep Elliot without revealing his.
I was wrong, on both counts, but it’s hard to feel bitter about either.
I ended up with Elliot, the ingredients, and a light conscience.
I didn’t even know my conscious was capable of feeling light.
My greatest lie upon leaving the manor, however, had nothing at all to do with Elliot, and everything to do with the shadowed man I see now.
“Fuck,” Elliot breathes. “Is that…”
“I wonder how long he’s been standing there.”
I swallow and shake out my hands, determined not to tremble once I reach him. We’re far enough away that he won’t see me cowering now, but he’ll eat me alive if I step onto his stoop with buckling legs.
“Is there a chance he’ll try to hurt you?” Elliot asks. He looks sweaty and exhausted, which means I undoubtedly look worse. It was faster walking downhill than up, but not by as much as we hoped. We were racing the sun all day, and we’re only now getting back.
The sun is setting.
Another hour, and we would’ve been caught in darkness.
“I can handle Sebastian,” I say.
Elliot stops abruptly, catching my elbow.
“I know,” he says. He lowers his voice, pulling me closer. “But if he tries to hurt you, I’m going to lose my mind, and we both know how that ends.”
I smile despite myself, despite the seriousness of his expression. It’s not that I doubt him. It’s that I know he would. Forget the consequences, Elliot would absolutely kill the vampire king to protect me.
“He’s not going to hurt me,” I say softly. “Sebastian is many things, but he’s not stupid. I’m his best defense when it comes to the witches. He needs me.”
I start walking again, clasping my hand around Elliot’s.
It’s one of the few times I’ve so much as touched him in front of someone else, and that fact alone makes my cheeks heat.
I don’t drop his hand though, even as old insecurities flare to life.
I might not deserve Elliot, but he loves me all the same.
“You sure?” he asks.
“He’ll know anyway,” I say. My cheeks, impossibly, burn hotter.
“I can keep my emotions in check.”
“First, I highly doubt that’s true, given we both know how that ends,” I tease.
My bravado falters as we cross the final stretch to the manor, crossing its rocky, neglected landscape.
The falling sun surrounds the manor with warm oranges and purples, making the stone structure look even bleaker than usual.
Sebastian descends the porch steps. To the ordinary person, his expression looks blank, but I’ve known Sebastian long enough to read his subtle tells. The flare of his nostrils. The twitch of his left eyebrow. The way his fingers stretch, resisting his urge to clench them into fists.
“And second,” I say, my voice dropping. “He can already smell it.”
Elliot’s pace stutters, and he nearly loses his footing over the rock pathway. I give his hand a final squeeze before we stop, only feet in front of Sebastian.
“Master,” I say. I offer him a stiff nod. Polite, acknowledging, but certainly not cowering.
Sebastian’s nose crinkles. He looks from me to Elliot, back to me. I’m doing everything in my power to keep my expression controlled, but Sebastian knows me as well as I know him. I’m sure he can hear my heartbeat and the way I can’t quite regulate my breathing.
Ever since we started back down the mountain, I’ve considered what his reaction might be. I left without permission. I went with his enemy’s son. I told him nothing of the plan, even in the note I posted. For all he knew, I could have been in the Day Realm, betraying him.
Will he care that we might have a solution to the sunwalker spell? Will it be enough to keep him from exiling me? From killing me?
Sebastian looks at Elliot again. His upper lip snarls, and his hands finally lose their battle.
As soon as they clench into fists, I move by instinct, stepping to place myself between the two men.
Elliot’s reaction is immediate. His hand leaves mine, brushing my hip as he steps forward, back to my side.
The men stare at each other for a long, impossibly silent moment. No one is breathing.
When Sebastian finally speaks, it’s not to Elliot. His attention shifts back to me, eyes wild with an unreadable emotion.
“You’re sure?” he asks.
My lips part, but I’m too stunned to speak.
Of all the reactions I expected, this wasn’t one of them.
I had already accepted he would be angry and likely violent.
I had braced myself for the possibility I might have to hurt him to protect Elliot and myself.
I would never injure him, not seriously anyway, but there was a chance he would never forgive me, all the same.
“I’m sure,” I say finally.
Maybe I imagine it, but I let myself pretend his expression softens.
“Fine,” he says. He looks back to Elliot, and now I’m certain I didn’t imagine it. One look at Elliot, and the hardness is back. The slight curl of his lip, the narrowing of his eyes. “I have killed many people, Lyrie.”
“I do not doubt that,” Elliot says, impossibly calm.
“I would not mind killing you.”
“Master—”
“I do not doubt that either,” Elliot says. Then, tipping his head slightly, he adds, “I won’t give you a reason.”
It isn’t until now that I realize how much I wanted—maybe even needed—this.
I’m not fool enough to believe Sebastian sees me as a daughter, but a part of me will always see him as a father.
Regardless of titles, he’s the only person who has ever seen the darkness in me and smiled.
Even as a traumatized fifteen-year-old, I found peace in his house of horrors that I’d never felt elsewhere.
Sebastian looks away from Elliot. His green eyes pierce mine, filled with emotion I don’t know how to name.
“I do not forgive you,” he says. “Of all the things you’ve done, this is the worst.”
“Understood,” I say. “If it helps, the lead was successful. We found something big. It could make the difference—”
“It does not,” he interrupts. He looks behind himself, at the falling sun. The sky has darkened into a deep purple. Within a few minutes, we’ll be in complete darkness—and the vampires will be out for the night. When he faces me again, the snarl is back on his lip.
I keep my posture straight and do my best not to flinch under his unrelenting gaze.
I wait for him to speak again, but he doesn’t.
He turns on his heel and marches up the stairs, disappearing into the manor without looking back.
If I was a fool, I’d assume he stormed all the way back to whatever he’d been doing before this.
No. Sebastian Vulce, feared vampire king, is undoubtedly lingering at the door to make sure we come inside before night officially strikes.
“That went well,” I say.
“It did?” Elliot asks, so incredulous that I smile. I realize the expression is starting to feel more comfortable, more natural.
“Yes,” I say. I take his hand, squeezing softly as I pull him toward my home. “Very well.”
Elliot doesn’t respond at first, but he stops me before I enter. His gaze flickers to the closed heavy door, then back at me.
“To be clear,” he starts, lowering his voice. I smile, knowing Sebastian can still hear him. If Elliot becomes a regular visitor here, and I hope he does, he’ll have a lot to learn. “You’re telling me he could smell that we’re together.”
“More specifically, that you fucked me,” I say. When Elliot’s eyes widen, I grin. “Your scent is on me, inside me, and probably—”
The door swings open, and if Elliot’s expression was comically horrified before, it’s fully terrified now. He grabs my hand again, tugging me slightly behind him, squaring his shoulders. He’s taller than Sebastian, but he hardly looks intimidating.
“That is enough,” Sebastian growls. “Get inside. Both of you.”
I’m still smiling, but it falls the second I realize how empty the entryway is.
Usually, at this time of night, the main level of the manor is full of bloodthirsty vampires, rabid for a night of hunting and partying.
Instead, there are only five vampires here, and they’re the same ones I see at every clan meeting.
“What’s going on?” I demand. I release Elliot’s hand, brushing past Sebastian to stand in the center of the room. “Where is everyone?”
My eyes shift around the space, moving from one face to another.
They’re placed strategically, braced for conflict.
Beatrice and Grace stand at one hallway opening.
Milas and Amelia at another. Then Sebastian, squared near the front door.
Otherwise, the house is silent. There’s no sound of movement, even when I strain my ears.
I spin, facing Sebastian again.
“What happened?”
To my surprise, he looks irritated. Before he can utter a word, Grace laughs, and her pealing sound breaks through the quiet of the room. The tension ebbs out of Sebastian with that singular sound. Something about Grace has always done this to him.
“You think he had vampires running around loose while you were out there, unaccounted for?” Beatrice drawls. “C’mon, Cora.”
I whirl around, gauging everyone’s expressions. They all look amused, sharing glances like troublesome teenagers, giggling over an inside joke. They’re not geared for battle at all, I realize. They’re babysitting, making sure the exit is guarded against stubborn vampires.
I wasn’t stupid! I’m tempted to yell. I was safe, warded. I took care of myself. You didn’t need to look out for me.
But when I turn back to Sebastian and his scowling expression, I surprise us both by whispering, “thank you.”
“Go to your quarters,” he replies, voice strained. “Before I lose my fucking mind.”