Page 87 of The Prince's Curse

“Very yes,” she said solemnly.

He laughed. “And would you like a repeat performance of my head between your thighs?”

At that, she giggled and said, “Very, very yes. If you let me do the same for you.”

“I can live with that,” he said. He was quiet for a moment. “Do you trust me?”

The mirth evaporated from her expression, though she didn’t look upset. “Not entirely, but please don’t be upset.”

“I’m not,” he said, though it still stung to hear.

“It’s just that all I heard for ten years was how bad the Auberon vampires were, especially you. There’s a voice in my head with a lot of practice,” she said. “But I also know what I’ve seen of you for the last few days. And…that part of me trusts you. Do you trust me, even though I hunted vampires and tried to kill you?”

“I do. It’s hard to overcome what you’ve been taught. And I know you only want to do the right thing, or you wouldn’t have been so adamant about helping Kova.” He glanced at her, hating to break the spell. “Is Kova all right?”

She nodded. “Paris insisted on locking him in until the spell is broken. Kova agreed. Shoshanna and Misha have been trying to analyze the binding spell so they can break it.”

“And has everyone treated you well?” he asked sternly.

“They have,” she said. Her brow furrowed, as if she’d heard something, and then she smiled again. But now her expression was strangely brittle. “You should probably get dressed. Now that they know you’re awake, you’ll have to get back to work.”

He sat up and took her left hand, remembering how he had placed that ring on her finger so long ago. Her eyes drifted to his hand, then back up to his face. “I don’t want to leave this room.”

A smile tugged at her lips. “Then…maybe we can come back,” she said. “After you do all the hard work of being the Elder, of course.”

“You promise?”

“I promise,” she said.

Chapter 21

This had been the strangest week of her life, so it shouldn’t have been too startling to walk around Infinity like she was a card-carrying member. Months ago, this had been practically an impenetrable fortress for the Shieldsmen to attack.

And now, she was sauntering down its dark-carpeted halls, listening to the vampires gathering downstairs. She even had her own little bedroom in the basement, austere but clean. Beneath the smell of cleaning products and fresh paint lingered the smells of smoke and blood, though she couldn’t be entirely sure it was real, rather than her own guilt.

One of the women had brought her a duffel bag full of clothing and toiletries, which was a blessing after realizing that everything she owned was in Tante Mina’s house, which was certainly barred to her now.

She’d taken her time showering and dressing in a black ensemble—her benefactor had a monochrome selection—but hadn’t been ready to step into the main hall just yet.

While Julian had been recovering, she’d taken a brief excursion outside and down the street to pick up groceries. The vampire diet didn’t work for her, and she needed proper food. But on her first trip back from the nearby grocery store, she’d frozen at the front doors to the club.

In her mind’s eye, she still saw the bloodstains,still saw the still forms of the guards she’d targeted, one having never even drawn a weapon, the other with a gun lying useless at their side.

That was her assignment. Jonas Wynn called the shots, and Mina made sure she was the one in the high perch. Only an evil person would serve someone like Eduardo Alazan, Mina had told her later.

But she’d pulled the trigger, had known exactly what she was doing. She knew that one twitch of her finger had put the end on a person’s life, and she’d been okay with it back then.Maybe they were human, but they were monsters by association.

But now…

Walking these halls, she couldn’t stop thinking about those two. Even the exuberant pleasure of being withJulian could only push it back temporarily. Now that she was more and more enmeshed with the Auberon, she found herself looking back on everything, all of her actions and beliefs built on lies.

What if the Auberon weren’t what Mina said? What if they were a family who cared about each other and cared about humanity, at least in the abstract, enough to try to protect them from monsters like Carrigan Shea? What if their security had just been decent people who thought they were doing a good job to collect a paycheck? And she killed them in cold blood.

What the hell did that make Scarlett?

Her phone rattled across the countertop, and she grabbed it to find a message from Olivia Pierce, who sent out commands to the Shroud. She’d been added to the group chat, so it seemed.

Olivia

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