Page 90 of Cruel Destinies

Piper narrowed her eyes at me. “Unless you’ve been sneaking away from here when I go back to your apartment to sleep.”

I had bought a mattress out of pity for my Initiate, who, during the first two nights, hadn’t slept well at all on my hardwood floor next to the fireplace. Since then, she’d slept better, but being out in the cold always seemed to put her in a sour mood.

“Hadrian’s monitoring this location,” I said. “I wouldn’t dare leave the station unmarked at this point. He’d have my head mounted to his wall of trophies.”

Disgust unraveled on Piper’s face. “You think he’d really do that?”

I shrugged. “Probably. But not until after drowning me for three years.”

The sun momentarily snuck from the clouds and illuminated Piper’s face. Her jaw dropped, as if a weight had been tied to her chin and suddenly released.

Raising my eyebrows and smirking ever so slightly, I said, “Are yousureyou want to become a vampire?”

She swallowed with difficulty, and her glasses fogged up as she let out a deep breath. After rubbing at them, her magnified-brown eyes looked at me. “Hadrian doesn’t trust you.”

I nodded. “That’s very apparent. Your very presence proves that. I’m sure he’s asked you to watch my every move.”

Her head bobbed softly. “Yes. He wants me to report anything I might perceive to be out of the ordinary.”

I swung my arms out and twisted my hips, putting myself on display. “You’ve been here ten days. Have you discovered anything out of the ordinary?”

“Well, there is one thing,” she replied, looking down.

A chill ran down my spine. I’d met with Shea yesterday to warn her about Hadrian’s recent interest in her, as well as to inform her about his new vampire-kitty, Rainbow. Had Piper tailed me? Had she planted some device in my clothing that tapped into my conversation? What had she reported to Hadrian?

I hoped my anxiety didn’t reveal any sign of guilt.

Piper looked me up and down with interest, and I straightened my back as she analyzed me. “How is it that you can survive in daylight?”

My worry melted away like snow in the spring.

“During my Vampire History classes at Heritage Prep, I learned that protective rings and bracelets exist that have been enchanted to shield vampires from the harmful rays of the sun, but they have mostly fallen into myth. The whereabouts of such trinkets are unknown, and you don’t wear any form of jewelry.”

I felt the weight of Alice’s brooch in the pocket of my dark slacks, and a sly grin crawled across my face.

“That, Piper Adams, is a story for another day. For now, all you have to know is that Hadrian selected me for this shifter-snatching jobbecauseof my ability to daywalk.”

I let my eyes wander as I turned away from her, allowing my relief to settle my nerves. I had enough going on with the topic of Shea to worry about Hadrian knowing about her. I hadn’t responded to Caesar. I couldn’t even imagine what that interaction was going to look like, especially since I was utterly incapable of making any decisions regarding Shea myself.

I knew how I felt about her. The feelings themselves were clear as day and sharp as a blade. Could she be right? Could there be a higher reason why she reminded me so much of Alice, and why I craved her so powerfully? Would Aliceapprove? And yet, the idea of turning away from my hopes of Alice slammed a giant wall down on my feelings every time the thought crossed my mind.

Movement at the stairs of the subway station pulled my attention away from my ruminations. People had been going up and down all day, but I couldn’t help but recognize the boy emerging from the stairway.

He looked the same as he had during the fight in the nearby alley. I was impressed the dragon shifter had survived the attack—I remembered the amount of lead the young man had been hit with. This time, he wasalone.

He was tall, bundled up in winter gear, but his dark hair was visible, and even from this distance, I could see his amber eyes.

“I’ve got eyes on one of Arya’s friends,” I said with a nod toward the station.

She followed my hard stare. “Is that the Dracul boy?”

“That’s him,” I replied, setting my jaw.

The young man was a descendant of the woman I loathed more than anything. In my opinion, the boy shouldn’t be alive—Claudette Dracul should never have been able to have offspring. Not after the unforgivable crime she’d committed against Alice.

I quickly corrected my thinking. This boy was not Claudette, and he had done me no ill-will. For all I knew, Claudette never even had children, and this was some distant cousin. But despite the boy’s heritage, I had no intention of snatching him.

“Tobias Dracul.”

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