Page 35 of The Prince's Curse

There was a stream of muttered French from beyond the door that was certainly unflattering, but Julian ignored it and lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Was tonight a victory or a loss? He’d hoped for some flicker of recognition, but the mere fact that she’d come looking for him well before her birthday…no. There was no value in entertaining that foolish hope.

Chapter 8

KOVA

For once, Kova’s curse was a blessing. His encounter with his brothers had left him battered and bruised, his skin burnt and scraped by Shoshanna’s magic. And Armina had done her best to weaken him, draining him nearly dry to give her vicious apprentices raw material to play with while making him hungry and desperate.

But as long as she wasn’t pulling those little strings, he didn’t feel a damn thing. His body was heavy, and moving his fingers took a monumental effort, but there was no pain to drive him insane. Even the hunger was dull; he knew that he wanted to feed, but it was not the gnawing, living creature in his gut he’d once known when he was first turned. There was only the familiar numbness that had been his companion ever since he killed that cackling little apprentice all those years ago.

Lying there on the concrete floor, he smiled up at the dingy ceiling and thought about Lucia. Even that brief video, her image captured on that flat glass for just a few seconds, was enough to give him hope. He relished the memory of her soft smile, as if she heard something no one else did.

She was alive. She was safe.

Nothing else mattered now but making sure she stayed that way. Now, the only thing that bound him to Armina Voss was this damned magic. And if he could break through it somehow, then he was going to kill the bitch slowly to make sure she never got her claws in anyone again.

The basement door flew open, followed by a clatter of footsteps as three angry witches burst into their little homemade dungeon. Armina held Stella’s arm for balance, but her face was full of unbridled fury. “What did you tell her?” she snapped.

“Good evening, mistress,” he said with syrupy sweetness. The bindings, the stern voice in his head…they didn’t understand insincerity, it seemed.

She stalked toward him, and the sheer force of her power struck a chord of fear deep in his chest. Even weakened by whatever she’d been doing, she was a force of nature, an unnatural disaster waiting to ravage whatever dared to step into her path. “Get up,” she seethed.

Like little barbed wires tugging at his muscles, her words jerked him to his feet. Staring down at her slender frame through the bars, he realized how easily that thin neck would snap in his bare hands. “Is something wrong?”

“Scarlett is gone,” she said. “And I know you have something to do with it.”

“I told you everything that happened,” he said. Except for Lucia. It was a small blessing that she hadn’t realized Shoshanna had freed Lucia. Armina wanted to know about Julian, about the witch, where she lived, what it smelled like, everything about the witch. That overgrown ego had to know everything about the rival who threatened her reign over magic. It had never occurred to her to ask about Lucia, and he had fought back his tongue, telling himself he wasn’t lying—she merely hadn’t asked.

“Did she come back down here last night after I left you?” Armina demanded.

He bit his tongue, and then the searing pain erupted in his head. There it was, a gift only she could give. Fire licked down his spine, swelling in his nerves, making him feel as if he was burning alive. He groaned, then clenched his jaws until he could bite out, “Yes.”

“And what did you tell her?”

Lucia is safe. She is safe. She is alive and breathing and dancing and smiling, he reminded himself. Be smart. Stay alive.

“I told her I had hope things would get better,” he finally said.

“What does that mean?”

He just smiled, knowing his teeth were coated in blood. “Your spell keeps me from saying precisely what I mean. But I know you’re smart enough to guess.”

Fire flashed in her eyes, and his world went searing, atomic-blast white. When the pain settled, he found himself huddled on his knees, sweat and blood pooling on the floor beneath him.

“Get up and mind your manners,” she spat. Behind her, Stella stared in horror. Her pulse throbbed loud and fast, though she managed to stand perfectly still behind her mentor.

He slowly rose and said, “I could find her. She trusts me.”

“I’ll tell you what he told her,” a low voice rumbled.

Dread pooled in his gut, and he saw Armina’s gaze shift to the other cell, where the older vampire stood. “What did he say?” Armina seethed.

“He told her Julian Alcott would be at Underground Atlanta,” Shea said.

“You fucking prick,” Kova seethed.Be calm. Lucia is your secret.

The witch smiled and stepped closer to the other vampire. “Anything else?”

“Not that I recall,” Shea said. Then his voice ripped out in a sharp cry, which satisfied Kova more than he thought possible. The other man struggled to his feet and said, “Nothing else. She knows you’re hiding things from her, but he didn’t tell her what.”

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