Page 105 of The Girl in the Forest

His voice was like warmly caressing silk, a fine wine that flooded my mouth with the taste of revenge. Sweet and bitter and justified.

“Your heart races. Your blood heats.”

The murmured words became a darkly compelling song that sang through my veins. That jumped and danced with seductive joy, enlivened my skin.

I burned with it.

“Your lungs fill with all the possibilities.” Barend took a single step, and yet I felt him closing in; the force of his will was like a finger stroking across my skin. “Power like you’ve never known. The ability to punish the abuser. End this threat to those you love. That’s what you want, isn’t it? To protect them? Let them live in peace?”

Julien’s foot jerked. A strangled sound came from his lips and when I looked at his strained face, I remembered… he’d said vampires couldn’t read minds. But they mesmerized. Liked to play with their prey.

“You want to turn me into what Amal refused to be,” I said, looking back at the vampire, watching the way his smile tightened while mine widened. “She refused to be an obedient weapon, didn’t she?”

“What about the man you love? Don’t you want to save him from his fate?”

I clenched my hands at the word love—a violation on the vampire’s lips.

“He inked his sigil on your skin—”

“Which you defaced,” I taunted, fighting the urge to cover my wrist, hide the damaged black wolf rune. “So much fear over meaningless ink. I’m supposed to turn to you now for protection?”

Ago hissed, but Barend’s delight was grotesque.

“He will battle her and lose. You will watch him die, knowing you could have saved him. Saved them all. I can teach you. Hone you into that weapon you want so desperately to be. You have enemies and allies alike who all want to use you. But what do you want? Amal destroys everything she hates—”

“No thanks to you—”

“You want peace and I’m offering it.”

“You want me to destroy for it,” I countered as energy swirled beneath my skin. I tightened my fists to contain it.

“Safety is fought for, earned. Never given.” The first flash of fangs from him, signaling impatience, or a growing loss of control. “Without my help, you, your friends, those you love—many of them will die. Accept my offer, and I’ll grant you a better chance at peace than you could imagine or achieve on your own.”

I shot a glance at Brin, who no longer sobbed. But she glared with tear-bright eyes that glittered with the same hot wildness coursing through me.

“Too bad I can’t trust you,” I said to Barend.

The vampire seized on what sounded like negotiation. He widened his hands with a disingenuous offer. “What can we do to earn your trust?”

I glanced madly around. When my gaze locked on Julien, what I remembered was the courtly humor, calling me my lady. Being afraid of Grayson’s wolf. The shelter I’d found in his arms while bedlam stormed around us. How quickly he’d offered to transport Miranda and Albert to safety when I asked.

Rusty iron bands clamped around his wrists and anchored his outstretched arms to the stone wall. The same for his ankles, but what turned my stomach was the dagger through his chest—he’d told me about being daggered by his sire as a punishment, and I hadn’t wanted to believe such cruelty existed.

But it did, and here I stood, pretending civility, negotiating with a monster, knowing deceit laced every word Barend said. But if he thought this was a negotiation, I would see how far I could push.

“Release Julien,” I said. “Then I’ll consider your offer.”

“He’s being punished for his betrayal.”

My chin lifted. I held Barend’s cunning gaze. “How much is trust worth to you?”

Barend motioned with his hand. Ago smirked and walked to the wall, moving so swiftly that I missed it, the flash of a second dagger, plunging deep into Julien’s chest.

Laura screamed. My mind blanked as Ago laughed and spun, yanking her by the hair hard enough to make her stumble. Levi struggled to force his body between them, but Ago lashed out. His boot smashed into Levi’s knee.

Levi went down with a thud. The vampire kicked him again, kicked his wound, then pressed another blade against Laura’s throat. The eagerness in his expression was stomach-turning. “I’ll carve her up while the boy watches. He’ll be next. The other faille… she might be useful.”

Blood marred Laura’s skin in thin threads. Levi was levering himself upright, using his good arm. His bad leg remained at an awkward angle; I wondered if his knee wouldn’t bend. Brin was sobbing, mindlessly wrenching at the bolt through her hand as if she felt nothing.

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