CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
Ailsa
HIS OWN FAMILY.
The words hit me like a punch to the gut. I threw the covers off me and gathered my clothing off the floor, quickly pulling them on.
I needed answers.
Now.
I sped to the door and flung it open. I met Davien’s gaze and he blinked, looking to the floor.
“What the fuck is going on?” I demanded, looking between them.
Marlette glanced at Davien, a silent exchange of words took place until he handed me a card.
“What’s this?” I asked, waving the card.
“Read it,” Davien said, his tone more glum than usual. Almost defeated.
My eyes scanned the words on the card and then I froze, dropping it.
“Why?” I said, tone full of panic. “Why would he threaten to kill my sister? Why am I so important to him? What does he want with me? What aren’t you telling me, and why did you say ‘his own family’...”
Davien sucked in a breath. “We—I… believe that you’re part of the Adenauer family.”
I gaped at him. “What?”
“Most likely a daughter of Ademar or maybe even Vaughn… I don’t know why or how you ended up here, there are most likely bigger forces at play here, but you are undoubtedly a daughter of Adenauer from Arveri, the ruling family of the Vampire Lands in Tuiren.”
“I'm no one's daughter. No one's, do you hear me? I raised myself and belong to no one but myself.”
“I know it’s not what you want to hear. But you asked for the truth.”
“And suppose I did believe you. How long have you suspected this?”
He didn’t respond, instead looking back at the floor.
Rage began simmering in my blood and thunder crackled in the distance outside.
“How long.”
“From day one.”
I stared at him with widened eyes.
“The family resemblance is uncanny. True borns are incredibly rare back home, never mind here, especially ones as powerful as you.”
“But not powerful enough to stop him from stealing my sister.”
“He’s dangerous, Ailsa,” Davien said, looking at me in a way he had no right to.
“So you just lied to me,” I said, turning my back on him. “That makes you as bad as him.”
I began gathering my discarded clothing, pulling them on—not giving a shit about the fact they were covered in dried blood.
There was no decision to be made, no choice to be had.
I was going to this party of his, and I was going to get my sister back.
After that, I didn’t know. I’d cross that bridge when I got to it. For now, only one thing mattered.
Claire.
I heard the two of them mumbling outside. I didn’t care, they were probably just plotting to betray me some more. Making all the decisions about my life for themselves.
Davien entered the motel room a few minutes later, his hands in his pockets, shoulders slumped but no less hot.
I fucking hated that I found him attractive.
What I hated even more though was that his cocky demeanour had all but disappeared.
He looked frighteningly sorry. Like he gave a damn. Fucking wanker.
“I’m going and you can’t stop me,” I said, mustering all the confidence I had to the surface even though internally I was already breaking at the thought of Claire in harm’s way.
“I know.”
How dare he be so calm right now. He’d lied to me.
I shouldn’t have been surprised. It was my fault, I let my guard down around him.
Began to fucking trust him. “Oh you know, do you!” I shouted at him, unable to hide my hurt.
“Because you know me so well? Have you even been truthful about anything?”
My fist collided with the wall of his chest once, twice.
Again and again but it didn’t hurt him. Of course it didn’t.
He didn’t even react. He just stood there.
But I needed to hit something, needed to feel something other than the uncontrollable panic.
Tears began pricking at the edges of my vision as the panic settled in my bones.
What if they hurt her to get to me. What if they’ve already hurt her and she’s in pain while I’m what, sharing a bed with one of them. I swallowed hard against the wave of nausea that followed.
All this time.
And he’d known.
Davien swallowed hard, not moving, just letting me rage against him. He didn’t block me, didn’t even flinch. “I… I’m sorry.”
“I don’t want your fucking apology.”
The words echoed off the walls as I shoved past him, grabbing the nearest thing I could reach—a glass, a book, I didn’t even know—and threw it.
It shattered against the wall behind him, fragments scattered across the floor.
Still, he didn't move, he just stood there, taking it, his jaw tight, his gaze fixed somewhere just above my head like he couldn’t quite bring himself to meet my eyes.
A hollow, bitter laugh tore from my chest when I ran out of things to throw. Is that why he’d been calling me ‘princess’ all this time? Just poking fun at me, holding the truth right under my nose with me too dumb to understand.
“So last night was what?” I poked. “A chance to fuck a princess?”
He visibly recoiled as though I’d slapped him. “No,” he retorted instantly. “I… I lost control.”
“Lost control?” I echoed, laughing to myself because if I didn’t, I think I might have tried to kill him.
He clenched his jaw, his eyes dropping to my lips then down my body as though he was picturing what he saw the night before.
“I’ve been in perfect control for centuries.
Unrattled by anything. Tempted by nothing.
But you—,” he shook his head and looked to the sky as though it might offer him answers.
“You get under my skin like no one ever has. I can’t stop thinking about you, worrying about you. I crave your attention.”
I laughed in his face, because what the actual fuck was he talking about? “You’ve done nothing but let me know how much you hate me these past few weeks. You’ve hurt me, taunted me, punished me, stolen everything from me.”
He audibly swallowed, and I watched as his Adam's apple bobbed. “I thought it would be easier if you hated me, if you felt like I hated you.”
“Why?”
“Because this wasn't supposed to happen. It can’t.”
“Yet it did,” I scoffed, turning my back on him. I couldn’t deal with his regret right now. I needed to get my sister back.
The need itched beneath my skin, restless, frantic. Every thought collided with the next—Claire, the Ninth, Davien, lies, betrayal, fear, panic—
I couldn’t breathe properly.
Couldn’t focus.
Behind me, I heard the faint creak of movement. He’d sat down. Calm and ever watchful.
Of course.
I paced the space back and forth, rattling my brain on what to do. How to get her back, how to do it without his help.
I’d teleported before. Could I teleport to her and out again?
But I didn’t even know where she was. Or how to access that particular power. Fuck my fucking life. I was so fucked.
Seconds turned into minutes, and I kept pacing, my breathing no less calm.
“Fuck, okay, listen,” he said suddenly, pushing up from the chair like he couldn’t sit still for a second longer, pacing the cramped space alongside me with a restless, agitated energy that felt unfamiliar on him.
His hand dragged through his hair again, jaw tight, eyes flicking to me and then away like he was trying to piece something together faster than his thoughts could keep up.
“What if I was to make a blood pact with you?”
“A what,” I scoffed, not at all liking the sound of that. Not one bit.
“A blood pact,” he repeated, slower this time. “I could swear to protect you, to aid you and… to never betray you.”
“Again, you mean.”
The jab landed.
I saw it in the way his shoulders stiffened, the way his gaze dropped a fraction of a second before he forced it back up to meet mine.
“Ailsa, please,” he said, and there was something raw in his voice now, stripped back. “I didn’t mean to keep all that from you. I… I don’t know what I thought to be honest. If I could undo my choices, I would.”
“But you can’t.”
“No,” he admitted quietly. “I can’t”
A beat passed, then he stepped closer, slowly, like he was approaching something fragile.
“So let me do this instead,” he said, his voice low but steady. “Let me swear my allegiance to you through a blood pact. Valerius is dangerous, so much more dangerous than you could imagine. There’s no way I can let you walk into that den of vipers alone.”
I looked at him.
Really looked.
He didn’t look like the man who had dragged me into this mess weeks ago, cold and unyielding and impossible to read. He was different now, tired maybe, frayed at the edges. But beneath that, he seemed… certain.
“Let me prove myself to you,” he said. “Let me protect you.”
“Why?” I asked, because why the sudden change in heart? “Why would you do that?”
“Because I believe in you,” his tone was so much softer now, quieter too, almost like he hated admitting that part out loud.
And fuck, despite every cell in my body screaming at me to not trust a word that came out of his mouth—something about the vulnerability in his expression told me he was being honest. He believed in me for some reason, probably more than I had ever even dared to believe in myself.
That part scared me more than anything, but Valerius had Claire, it wasn’t up for debate.
I was going to get her back, and I couldn’t be picky about help.
“Fine,” I exhaled. “But I swear to fuck, Davien, if you ever lie to me again you’ll wish you never met me.”
“Understood.”
No hesitation, no argument, just that.
“Good,” I muttered, scrubbing a hand over my face. “Because I have about a million questions but right now I’ll settle for just one.”
“Anything.”
“Why are you going against your own people?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him. “I know you’ve said you don't agree with them or whatever, but it seems like this is a huge risk to yourself.”
He stilled for a moment. Actually stilled, and I thought he might not answer, falling straight back into old habits. “They’re not my people,” he said eventually. Something in his tone made my stomach drop. “I’m a spy.”
My mouth fell agape as my eyes widened. “Sorry—you’re a what?”