Page 58 of To Vanquish Darkness

By the time they reached their quarters, Amalie was barely able to walk on her own. "I still hate you." Amalie stifled a yawn as Theo stopped in front of her door.

"I know."

"The fact that you allowed me to kill you doesn't change that."

"Very aware." Theo dropped his arm, and Amalie reached for the knob. She turned it, then noticed that Theo was heading in the opposite direction of his room, his hands shoved deep in his pockets.

"You're not sleeping?"

He slowed, then stopped, turning back. In less garish lighting, the circles under his eyes were more obvious. He looked exhausted. He?—

Amalie froze.Has he fed yet?“Where are you going, Theo?”

Theo scrubbed a hand over his jaw. "I’ll come for you when?—"

"Theo, stop." Her pulse quickened. “Wherever you’re going. Don’t.” She didn't know how often vampires had to feed, buthe’d been there at the castle for at least twenty-four hours, and she’d seen his blood on the stone. His body had been through enough to hasten the process.

She hated where her head was going, but she couldn’t stop it. The idea of her allowing any other human to be attacked—to die. It was unthinkable.

"Drink from me," she said in a rush, and Theo stilled. "If you drink from anyone else?—"

Theo blurred and appeared in front of her, his finger on her lips. He shook his head slowly, then glanced down the hall and pulled her into his room.

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1836 NORTHERN NORMANDY, FRANCE

"I'm sorry," she whispered as Theo stepped back to lock the handle. "I wasn't thinking."

Theo pinched the bridge of his nose. "You don't seem to grasp?—"

"I do. I grasp it. The danger you've talked about."

"And yet I found you in the parlor. I found you alone on the roof."

Amalie swallowed hard. She didn’t need to mention the meeting with Marx outside her window. “I said I was sorry.”

Her hands were shaking. In the hall she'd blurted out those words, but now that Theo was there in front of her, she wasn't sure she'd been thinking clearly.

Her blood hummed under her skin. She knew what it felt like when his fangs pierced her skin. When his body was pressed up against her.

It was his glamour.What she’d offered was purely rational. Theo needed to feed. They'd already established that he could drink her blood without harming her, so how could she allow him to prey on another person? How could she allow another human to die when it would cost her nothing? It didn't matterhow much she hated him. She could endure anything to save a life, couldn’t she?

Theo met her eyes, his hands resting on his hips. His eyes flicked to her throat, and Amalie's skin tingled. She was instantly back in her bedroom, frozen as his fingers moved her hair from her cheek, as his lips brushed her skin, and all justifications dissolved behind a flare of carnal curiosity.

I didn’t drink.What would it feel like if he did? She clenched her jaw at the slow ache of longing. The sudden pang of desire.

An image of him hunting in the shadows, of choosing his prey, flashed through her head, and Amalie felt something primal rear its head. The idea of his mouth on someone else's neck sent a flash of ice down her spine.

Shame swirled in her gut. This was practical. A kindness.She didn’t want this.

"I can’t be gentle. You need to be sure." Theo's eyes locked onto hers.Had her thoughts been written all over her face?There was hunger in his eyes. Desperation.

She could turn back. Retract her offer. Instead, Amalie nodded toward the door to the hall. "Is it safe here?"

"Follow me." He strode across the room and opened a narrow door.

Blood rushed to her middle as Amalie slipped inside. Once she’d snuck into the back room of the abbey with Oliver Bland when they were supposed to be polishing the columns of the chapel. He’d shoved his hands up her shirt, and she finally worked up the courage to slip her tongue into his mouth. When he flipped her skirt over her hips, she thought she’d die from the ache between her thighs.

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