Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
With a clenched jaw, she grabbed the head and stomped into her room. Shimmying the window open, she inhaled the cold, lavender and rose-tinted air from the gardens, before throwing it out, watching as his shocked expression rolled over a patch of grass.
Meow.
“Duke!” She spun on her heels, a sense of calm washing over her for the first time since she’d woken in Nathaniel’s arms. He darted to her feet, then pounced into her arms. She closed her eyes, pressed her cheek to his body and said, “I have had an awful morning.”
Purrs vibrated against her throat.
“I’m okay,” she lied, when a well of emotion rushed through her chest and into her eyes.
Damned, she hated how easily she cried when the person she was feeling such pain over likely felt nothing.
Nathaniel had said such beautiful things to her, words that she had foolishly clung to, and had meant none of them.
He says he cared, but did he even know what it meant?
How could he? He was still willing to hold her to their agreement if she lost. What he didn’t know was that if that happened, she was going to fight until the very end.
She had the magic of her entire bloodline and the knowledge learned from all her studying of the grimoires.
He was toying with her all along and like a foolish little lamb she had wandered into the wolf's den and lain down on the altar.
Well, no more. To Hell with him.
Petting Duke’s head, running her thumb between his ears, she said, “I need your help again. You are the only one I can rely on.”
He let out a soft meow, his paws kneading her arm.
“I need to find a spell to help me evade detection.”
Duke looked up at her, yellow eyes closing in a soft blink.
A knock resonated on her door, and she froze, Duke’s tail wrapping around her wrist.
“Hello.”
“May I come in?” a honeyed voice asked before swinging it open without waiting for an answer. Standing in a full-length olive house dress with a thousand ruffles, wearing her hair in two golden braids hanging in loops over her ears, was Katherine.
She had hoped it was Hartley arriving with her breakfast.
“Hello, Katherine,” she said wearily, trying to force a smile. She had helped her at the ball and brewed the potion that removed her hex.
“Don’t sound too pleased to see me,” she said, waltzing inside, her layered skirt twirling around her ankles. She lifted a small vial of purple, shimmering liquid clutched in her manicured fingers and smiled. “Especially when I have something that can help you.”
“Did Nathaniel send you?”
“He doesn’t know I’m here,” she said, brown eyes darkening. “I want you to win tomorrow. For all our sakes.”
“What do you mean by all our sakes?”
Katherine leaned over the bed, stretching her legs. “If you lose, Nathaniel will sacrifice you and he, along with Alexander, will become mortal again. I can’t have that.”
“Why do you care? He has been threatening your family,” Charlotte stated, placing Duke on a chair in the corner. He coiled himself up, but kept his yellow eyes fixed on Katherine, who sat across from her on the bed.
“He is not the only one. The Avery family have my brother. They’re going to kill him unless I stop the ritual from happening.”
“Oh,” she said, trying to feign sympathy for Baron Ellenwood. “I’m sorry to hear it.”
“No, you’re not,” Katherine said with a shrug. “It’s okay. He isn’t a kind person, but he is to me, and he’s the only family I have left.”
Charlotte inhaled sharply, before huffing out a breath. She knew that hurt well. If it was Alice in his place, she’d do anything to help her. “I thought we killed most of the Avery family.”
“There are hundreds, if not thousands of them. They’re the largest witch bloodline of us all and they heard what happened at the ball. They don’t want the curse broken, so they asked me to help you.”
“Not kill me?”
“No. They don’t want Nathaniel’s wrath after what he did to his own mother.”
“What we did, Katherine,” she pointed out when she noticed her expression twist.
“Nonetheless, as long as you promise to leave London and go into hiding, they are happy for you to escape. Honestly,” she added when Charlotte arched a brow, disbelief written all over her soft features, “I am certain they will come after you eventually, but for right now, this is the deal they’re willing to make. ”
“Is that what that is?” Charlotte pointed at the vial in her fingers. “A way to help me escape?”
She nodded. “It’ll make your blood poisonous to vampires. It won’t hurt you.”
“I don’t trust you.”
“I know. I can see it in your eyes,” she said, her stare sharpening. “I do not blame you either, but recall, I did not ask to be here. My hand was forced.”
Shivering, Charlotte leaned forward. “What’s stopping you then from handing me over? How do I know the potion won’t kill me? I know about the spell on the entrance. You never intended to disable the Avery witches’ magic. Your brother was safe that night.”
“It didn’t mean they hadn’t threatened him, or me. Without him, I have nothing to live for. I did what I had to do .”
“I’m not taking it,” Charlotte decided, recoiling from the potion.
With an extended sigh, Katherine lifted it to her lips, swigging just a small mouthful. Charlotte watched it pass through her lips and into her mouth, leaving behind three quarters of the contents. “See. It won’t harm you. You may not trust me, but what other options do you have?”
“What will it do to Nathaniel?” Charlotte asked, hesitantly taking the vial in her hands, the purple liquid sparkling under the afternoon light spilling in through the window.
“It’ll render him unconscious, only for a couple of hours but it will give you enough time to get away.”
“How long does it take to work?”
“Not long, so you need to take it right before you are caught.”
She turned it in her fingers, before sliding it between her breasts and out of view. “I’ll only use it if I have no other choice. I plan on not getting caught.”
“Of course,” Katherine said, not looking convinced.
“It should go without mentioning, you will need to ensure he bites you for it to work, but with the bond being so strong, that shouldn’t be a problem.
Don’t worry,” she said when the burning question sparkled in Charlotte’s eyes.
“It’ll hit him almost immediately after biting you and then you can run.
Alexander won’t stop you. He, unlike Nathaniel, has a big heart. ”
“What about the death hounds patrolling the borders?”
“I’ve got them under control. Just make sure he bites you and escape through the back entrance to the patio.
I will meet you there with enough money for you to get out of this city.
” She stood and glanced at Duke, before walking to the door.
“I must go. Best of luck, tonight. Just remember, don’t take that until he catches you. ”
She nodded and watched Katherine leave. Saving her brother was motive enough, but she still didn’t trust her. The potion was a last resort. She was going to find a spell to help her win first.
As soon as Katherine’s footsteps faded, Charlotte turned to her grimoires, placing herself down on the bed to sift through the brittle pages.
Hours passed with little disturbance, other than Hartley, who she was relieved to find was okay, who brought her some toast with various jams and marmalade.
By the time she’d found a spell that could help, the light behind the drapes had already faded. Midnight was just a couple of hours away.
“Duke!” Charlotte exclaimed from her place on the bed, legs crossed behind her, lying on her front with fingers guiding over symbols and incantations.
“It’s concealment magic that will mask my bodily sounds, breathing, footsteps, and anything other noise made by my body to anyone else’s ears.
If I can layer it with a cloaking spell for any scents, then I should be able to evade Nathaniel.
He’ll be counting on his inhuman hearing and sense of smell to find me. ”
Duke meowed and her shoulders slumped. “I cannot do it just yet. I need the element of surprise and it’s only an incantation. I can perform it during the countdown.”
His yowl shuddered through her. Duke was right. It was risky, but she had no choice. Grateful to Katherine, who she had learned about layering spells from watching, she flicked between the three pages and worked on her intonement of the words to ensure she got it right.
By the time she’d practiced it a few times, there was a knock at the door, this time from Alexander who entered holding a simple ivory dress with sheer sleeves made from voile, and a gold and ivory mask of a lamb.
“How theatrical,” Charlotte said, and Alexander smiled.
“He had it made just for you.”
“I’m certain he did.”
“We usually wear masks of lions and deer,” he explained, placing them on her bed. “How are you feeling?”
“Much better from the hex, but still a little discomposed.”
“I am not surprised.”
Slowly, she lifted her gaze to meet his, her heart pounding. “Do you truly think he will kill me?”
His lips fell into a hard line. “I cannot stop him.”
“If you could?”
“I am content being a vampire, at least, for the rest of your lifetime.” He pulled a bottle from his pocket filled with crimson, complete with a tiny stopper covered in red wax. “This is for you. It’s my blood in case you are forced into performing the ritual.”
Her lips fell open. “He will hurt you if he finds out you gave this to me.”
“I do not care,” he said and she leaned forward and hugged him.
Once she pulled back, she said, “Won’t that affect the ritual’s outcome?”
“I do not know. None of us do but if it does, I will not be upset. We are survivors, Miss Lovett. Take it only if you must.”
“Thank you.” She pushed it beside the other bottle, concealed from his view. “I truly believed he felt something for me.”
“I think he does,” Alexander confirmed, making her heart jolt.
“I thought you said it was a bond?”
“It’s more than bloodlust,” he confessed. “I’ve seen the difference in him, but it doesn’t matter what he feels for you. He’ll still kill you anyway.”
“Why?” she asked breathily.
With an incredulous stare, he said, “Because, that is the price of being loved by death.”
Her heartbeat tumbled over itself. Loved? He did not—could not. Love had no place in murder or ritualistic sacrifice.
With a strained smile, he added, “I shall meet you in the ballroom.”
Her mouth dried. She barely managed a nod before he walked out, hesitating at the door before disappearing.
With a heavy heart, she pulled on the dress, the neckline so low it revealed her cleavage, and secured the mask to the top half of her face.
Chewing on her lip and running her fingers through her curls to tame them, she looked at her reflection in the window, her stomach dipping when the room behind her was empty. The demon was gone and she still didn’t know who let it out, or if she accidentally had during her memory loss.
With a shake of her head, she dismissed those anxious thoughts.
She had to focus. It was almost time to face Nathaniel.
A spike of adrenaline washed through her, and she wetted her lips, contaminated with thoughts of being caught by the devil wearing the mask of a wolf, imagining pulling it down to kiss him, so he could devour her once more before she met her death.
Maybe she’d gotten it wrong. Perhaps she was the one who was in fact obsessed.