by Ali Winters
“You were once,” she says almost wistfully.
“Was I?” I snap.
I am weary of this conversation. Every day, it’s the same thing—her attempts to seduce, threaten, and cajole me in some way to play the part she has designed for me, a fate I want no part in.
“Or was I doing what I needed to keep Rosalie safe?”
If my words hit home, she doesn’t show it. The rapidly changing moods are a part of her facade meant to keep me guessing… to lure me into obeying her every whim.
Elizabeth returns to stand before me, her face unnervingly calm. If anyone saw her for the first time, they would think she was sweet and worth protecting from the world.
“I will be more than happy to kill the little bitch for her crimes, if you prefer.” She bats her lashes. “I made the vampire laws, and I can change them. It is only by my grace that your murderous little human still lives, and it is only for your sake.”
I swallow thickly but don’t respond. Begging is precisely what she wants.
Elizabeth pulls back. “You have one week to decide if you would rather see your human killed or if you will submit to your fate and finally become mine.” She pats my cheek over the nearly healed cut and smiles like I am a misbehaving child. “I hope you enjoyed your night with her because it will be your last. She is to stay in the human quarters from now on.”
I snarl, snapping at her hand. She draws back, just avoiding my bite.
“Or would you prefer she stay in the dungeon? I do not have to let you see her again, so consider it a gift that I let her live.”
I rein in my anger, swelling the bile that pushes its way up.
All those years of letters urging me to participate in the claiming, her threats against Rosalie, and refusing to let Clara and I leave… it was all leading to this moment.
She knew I would never claim a human and discard them, as so many others do. She knew it would never be a casual decision on my behalf.
And with Clara finally marked—finally tied to me—I will still end up losing her, either by agreeing to become Elizabeth’s puppet, bowing to her every command or by her death for my continued refusal.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Clara
As soon as the door closes behind Alaric, I regret not asking him to send her away.
“Come now, darling. Let’s put the past behind us. We are together now, in this world.”
I drop my arms, my anger instantly replaced by shock. Shaking my head, I say, “We aren’t in the same world at all.”
Mother smirks, jutting out a hip. She’s nothing like the woman I remember. She was never warm, but she was also never this cold.
“I suppose you’re right. You decided to aim quite high with your choice.”
I take a step back, feeling like she punched me in the gut.
“Was it your aim to be sired by the crown prince?”
“I-I never asked to be claimed, nor did I want to be.” I stutter, finally managing to recover. “In case you forgot, your family thought you were murdered by the vampire who claimed you, and for you to insinuate that I am little more than a social climber—” I cut off, my emotions thick and choking. Tears burn the back of my eyes. Demon shit, it hurts to have the mother I loved and missed think so little of me. “I never knew who or what Alaric was until we arrived here.”
She gives me a look that I haven’t seen since I was seven years old and caught sneaking a snack when I was supposed to be in bed and lying about it. Her slender brow arches as she dips her chin.
She thinks I’m lying.
When I don’t relent, Mother heaves a sigh and rubs her temple with two fingers. “Clara, I’m trying, and I need you to try.” She drops her arms as if her intention has been clear from the start. “We can get to know each other again.”
I pace the room, working off some of the anger threatening to choke me. I need to think clearly.
“You can try all you like, but don’t ask me to pretend that the last thirteen years never happened.” My throat feels thick and dry as I fight the tears of frustration rising higher, nearly choking me. “Father lost himself in his drinking and gambled away everything we had.” I look down at my hands. “I learned to hunt and steal just so Kitty and I wouldn’t starve, and even then, there were times we almost did.”
Pulling in a breath, I hold it, doing my best to push my emotions back down. I turn around to face Mother again. It’s impossible to read her. The arrogant, condescending expression is gone, but in its place is one that’s more suitable if we were talking about last week’s weather.
“Kitty and I mourned you every day.” That simple sentence is all it takes for my emotions to push their way to the surface. “Didn’t you think to check on us, to make sure we weren’t struggling? Did we ever cross your mind even once?”
She opens her mouth.
I hold my hand up, shaking my head and stopping her before she can speak a word. “I already know the answer to that. If you had thought about us, you would have come home. You needn’t bother wasting your breath trying to build something you never wanted.” I drop my hand and level a glare on her. “So no, Mother, I don’t want to have anything to do with you. You had your chance and you threw it away to be selfish. You betrayed your family.”
She steps forward then, arms stretched out as if intending to wrap me up in a hug and tell me that everything will be fine, but her efforts have come too late.
Years too late.
“Don’t come here anymore. Don’t seek me out. Don’t send anyone to talk to me in your place. I never want to see you again.”
Tears build, swelling to the edge, ready to spill over the second I blink.
Turning on my heel, I stride across the room and out the door, slamming it behind me. I jog down the long corridor toward the stairs that lead to the human quarters. I blink, and my tears finally fall in hot streams down my cheeks.
Knowing I shouldn’t stray far from Alaric’s rooms, I stop at the top of the stairs and lean on the stone banister, gripping it until my fingers ache.
It’s stupid to allow her to crawl under my skin. She hasn’t been my mother since the day before she willingly left with a vampire.
The mother I loved is dead. She died thirteen years ago.
I brush my hands over my cheeks, wiping away the tears when the door opens.
My heart stutters, afraid she will come looking for me to continue that useless conversation. I search frantically for a place to hide without going downstairs and end up ducking into the closest alcove with the strange bust of the unknown woman.
Crouching, I cling to the pedestal and peek around, watching to see where she’ll go. It’s like salt in a wound to watch her leave without even looking for me. She doesn’t scent the air, doesn’t look to see if I’m even around.
She just leaves, head held high, as if she doesn’t have a care in the world. I could have remained standing in the middle of the hall, and she wouldn’t have noticed.
One more traitorous tear slips out. I roughly brush it away with the back of my hand. I don’t move even after she’s gone or when my legs begin to cramp from the half-crouched position.
I turn my gaze on the bust, examining the lines of the flawless stone. This is the statue from my dream, but this time, I’m awake. I lick my lips, wondering what would happen if I moved it, to see if it really was a dream or—
“What, or rather, whom are you hiding from, little bird?” Cassius whispers into my ear from behind.
I jump, nearly hitting my head on the curved arch that houses the statue.
“Are you following me now?” I snap, irritated he caught me off guard.
Cassius laughs and snatches my hand, dragging me out into the open. I stumble forward, bumping into him. He hooks my arm in his and presses it tightly to his side.
Cassius starts walking, pulling me along. I dig my heels into the floor but can’t find any leverage barefoot.
“Let me go, vampire.”
“I told you; we w
ill be spending a lot of time together from now on. That doesn’t stop just because Alaric finally finished marking you.”
“I’m sure he’s capable of watching me without your help,” I grind out, pushing on his arm with my free hand.
He stops walking, loosening his hold on me. I rip my arm free and look up at his face. His dark gray eyes cloud over. He watches me with those large, sad eyes. “Is that why I found you hiding alone in the hallway?”
Cassius grabs for my hand again, but I pull it out of reach.
“Stop looking at me like that, and leave me alone,” I snap. I don’t want his pity. I want to be alone. I turn, heading back toward Alaric’s room, but he catches my wrist and swings me back around. “If you keep pulling me around like that, I will punch you in the throat.”
“I’ll try, but I won’t make any promises,” he says, chuckling. “Anyway, I have something better to show you than dusty, old sculptures of people no one remembers.”
“I’m not interested,” I say. “Learn to take a hint.”
Cassius smiles widely, showing off his fangs. “You can hint all you want, but that doesn’t change my duty.” He tugs me closer, lowering his voice and winks. “But I can make it work in your favor.”
I narrow my eyes, suspicious and yet curious at how he thinks he’ll be able to do anything that I might consider helpful.
“Trust me, little bird.”
I snort. His eyes and smile widen at the sound. “You know I don’t trust you,” I say. “We already had this conversation, and after what you did—”
Cassius presses a finger to my lips, silencing me. If he tries to tell me to put the past behind me, I might be tempted to draw my dagger on him. My fingers twitch.
Instead, he says, “I know. I know I will have to earn your trust, and I am also well aware that it may never happen, but I might be the only other vampire in this city who doesn’t thirst for your death, so you might as well come with me.” He motions toward the empty room. “Unless you would rather remain locked up in the room for who knows how long?”
“Fine. Show me whatever it is,” I say. Pausing, I eye him up and down with a heavy sigh. “And this better not be a trick, or I will—”
“Kill me?” he asks in a tone that almost sounds… hopeful.
“Yes,” I say slowly.
“I count on it.” Cassius grins.
Vampires are so strange. I press my hands to his chest and push him back a step.
I let him lead me back through the hall and down the main stairs then through the corridors.
As we walk, I lose myself in thought, going over the conversation I had with mother. I wish I’d said more; I wish I’d said less. There are a thousand ways that could have gone, and none of the ones my mind can come up with would leave me satisfied.
Halfway down a flight of stairs, I stop to look around. The stairwell is dim with a musty dampness to the air, and the lighting is spaced farther apart, making this area darker than the main halls. Ahead of us is pitch black.
“Where are you taking me?” I move up one step, backing away from Cassius.
“You’ll see.” He jerks his chin and pulls a torch from the wall. “I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise.”
He continues walking. After a few heartbeats, I follow, not wanting to be left alone in the dark.
The torch in his hand blinds me to our surroundings.
When we come to a stop, he looks over his shoulder and offers me a large grin before pushing open an old door. The wood is cracked and warped from age.
A smile tugs on my lips. I know this place.
Using his vampire speed, Cassius enters and runs around the room. Light flares to life, bathing everything in an orange glow. The floor is mostly open, with weapons stored against one wall that glint with the light of the flickering flames.
Cassius stands in the doorway, looking like he found a stash of hidden treasure. “Well?”
When I don’t answer, he takes my hand, pulls me in closing the door behind us.
“Why did you bring me here?” I ask.
“You don’t seem surprised.”
I press my lips together to stifle a laugh. “No. Alaric brought me here when we first arrived. We trained… until everything happened.”
Cassius deflates, and I almost feel bad. He crosses his arms, muttering under his breath, “Of course he did.” He straightens, his smile reappearing, though this time, it doesn’t reach his eyes. “I suppose it doesn’t matter. We’re still going to use this room.”
He circles me as he talks. Stopping behind me, he rests his hands on my shoulders and brings his mouth close to my ear. His warm breath glides across my skin.
“I am going to train you, little bird. You can’t expect to protect yourself against every vampire like you did with Victor or by being compelled into killing one. Or…” Cassius pauses dramatically. “By luck.”
I shrug him off, stepping out of his grasp.
“Alaric is already training me,” I say.
It makes me uneasy having him step in to take Alaric’s place in anything, even this.
True, we haven’t actually trained since the first few days here, and so much has happened since then. I hardly see him anymore, and I have to wonder if that will change because of the mark.
Cassius watches me closely.
I shift under the weight of his gaze. “Why are you doing this? This doesn’t seem like… you.”
He steps closer. “You hardly know me, Miss Valmont. How can you presume to know if this is like me or not?”
He has a point.
“Then why are you doing this?” I ask again.
“I have my—”
I cut a hand through the air. “Forget it. If you’re going to give me the same non-answer, you might as well save your breath.”
He shrugs, unbothered. “Do you want me to train you or not? Because I can guarantee that Alaric’s mark isn’t enough to stop others from trying to kill you.”
I bite down on the inside of my cheek, debating. On the one hand, it would be stupid to refuse. On the other, he’s not Alaric, and that bothers me more than it should.
Cassius circles around to the weapons, picking one up, examining it then setting it back down.
“All right,” I relent. Weariness from the day settles heavily between my shoulders. I don’t want to argue anymore with anyone. I turn and trudge toward the door. “You can train me, but I’m tired and want to—”
“Dodge,” Cassius’s voice booms from the far end of the room.
I scrunch my brows, not understanding as I turn back toward him. It takes entirely too long to process the lightning-quick movement of his hand as he lifts something. Firelight glints off polished metal.
I feel the whoosh of air and the sharp sting on my ear before I can react. The thunk of a weapon comes from behind as it embeds itself in the wooden door at my back.
Clapping my hand to my ear, I drop down into a crouch, hissing through my teeth. I look at my hand. Blood coats my fingertips.
Cassius’s boots stop inches in front of me. He kneels and roughly tilts my head to the side, prodding at my ear to assess the damage.
“You can’t trust anyone, and you must always be ready,” he scolds.
“We’ve already established that I don’t trust you.” I suck in a sharp breath as he presses his palm to my ear.
Red light encircles his eyes as he pulls his power to him then into my injury. Like the last time he healed me, it burns like hot metal on skin, though the pain seems distant, less intense than last time. Cassius releases me before I can pull away.
He holds his hand out to me. I take it and let him pull me to my feet. I tug on my hand. “You have a really bad habit of holding on too long.”
“And you have a bad habit of walking away when we aren’t finished,” he retorts, relinquishing my hand.
With a hand on my lower back, he guides me from the training room and out into the hall. We walk in silence as he leads me the wa
y I’d come with Alaric that first day. Instead of continuing to the third floor, he guides us out into the servants’ wing.
Cassius gestures toward a door. “I will come for you every morning, and we will train for three hours before breakfast.”
“No,” I say when I recognize the door. “I’m with Alaric. He marked me.”
“I am sorry, Clara, but you are to stay here.” He averts his gaze, and to his credit, he seems genuinely sorry. “Queen’s orders.”
I shake my head, mumbling under my breath, “The mark was supposed to fix things.”
“Usually, it would,” he says. Lowering his voice, he inches closer, too close. I feel suffocated by his presence—trapped between him and the wall. “Elizabeth may have allowed Alaric to fully mark you and to stay with him last night, but that is where her generosity ends. The consequences of doing other than what I tell you to will send you back to the dungeon, and that’s if you’re lucky enough to live.”
“This is your reason,” I say, and it’s not a question.
Cassius nods, reaching around me to open the door to the tiny room. Without another word, he turns away, and in the blink of an eye, he is on the far end of the hall.
He pauses, looking over his shoulder before disappearing around the corner.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Clara
Tap, tap, tap.
The sound is so quiet I almost dismiss it as the familiar sounds of the servants’ quarters at night, when it’s busier than the day. The night is nearly over, but there’s still an hour before dawn.
After a moment, the sound comes again. The lock rattles. Then, the door inches open, creaking lightly on the hinges.
I slide my hand under my pillow and wrap my fingers around the hilt of the dagger, being careful not to make any sudden movements.
Peeking through my lashes, I keep my breath slow and steady. It’s so dark I can’t make out much more than the size and shape of the man inching toward me.
I prepare to attack—tension coiling in my muscles.
“Clara?”
