Page 55 of Deadly Alliances

He laughed, again seeming pleased with my reaction. “No. Betrayal such as Julian’s deserves a punishment worse than death. Which brings us to your next assignment.”

The muscles of my chest squeezed, threatening to crush my ribcage. “Oh?”

“If you can perform the daywalker spell, I assume you can also undo it,” he said, his tone leading.

“I—I imagine so,” I said, unsure where he was going with this.

“Good. Then you won’t have any issue stripping Julian of his daywalking abilities.”

I forced myself to blink to keep my eyes from widening.

“He has a gift, one that he’s refused to use to its full potential and that he no longer deserves. While I’m eager to possess such power, I need to know you can be trusted first. This is how you’ll begin to prove your worth.”

I nodded. Okay, this wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t like he was ordering me to hurt Julian. It was just a harmless spell, and one I could always reverse later.Stay calm, Shea.

“It would be my honor to do whatever you ask of me.” I knew I was laying it on thick, but Hadrian seemed to be gobbling it up, so I was just going to run with it—especially when catering to his massive ego was blinding him to my inner turmoil. “Are wedoing this thing now, or do I have time to prepare?”

“Do youneedtime to prepare?”

I shrugged, feigning nonchalance. “There’s not a counter-spell in the grimoire. I’ll have to improvise based on what I do have. Enacting the daywalker spell is pretty complicated, but reversing it shouldn’t be nearly as hard.”

Hadrian cocked his head curiously. “And why is that, exactly?”

I shrugged again. “I guess because magic is a funny thing. A vampire walking in daylight kinda goes against the rules. It’s like putting in a cheat code. It’s going to take more to work against nature than it would to reset it to the way it’s supposed to be.”

Not exactly true. Witches did a lot of magic that went against nature. But Hadrian didn’t need to know that. As it was, I hoped my knowledge of the language would allow me to take away Julian’s daywalking ability, but only temporarily. Assuming neither of us caught on fire in the process. Spell manipulation wasn’t exactly reliable, as I’d learned the hard way a few times.

Hadrian nodded. “Well then, let’s test this theory of yours out and see if we can’t make a daywalking vampire just a vampire again.”

He stood, and I followed him out of the nightmarish taxidermy museum, my mind racing in a thousand different directions.

He was taking me to Julian. I wouldn’t have to spend hours and risk exposure trying to find him. The anticipation of seeing my beautiful vampire’s face was bittersweet.

Because I was going to have to use magic against him—not harmful magic, as long as I translated everything correctly, but still magic that was meant to negatively impact him. If Hadrian viewed this as a form of punishment, I trusted his sadism.Would Julian be upset with me?

Hell, what if Julian was so far gone that he slipped and exposed us both? What if I was walking right into my own execution?

Hadrian stopped in front of an elevator in the lobby, and I was so stupidly grateful that my throat tightened. After all the damn stairs, an elevator was a truly beautiful site, and in my current vulnerable state, small comforts had a monumental impact.

He slid his keycard through the slot on the wall, and the silvery door sprang open as if it had been waiting for us. I took a spot in the corner, leaning against the railing. My heart was already racing, so it didn’t much matter when the door closed, and I realized I was trapped in a small space with the most dangerous vampire in the world.

And the elevator seemed to take forever. Even Hadrian started tapping his foot. No doubt with his speed, he could’ve taken the stairs and beat me to the top. As much as I didn’t want to do this, I was desperate to see Julian, to know beyond doubt that he was in one piece.

When the elevator finally stopped and the doors slid open, I eagerly followed him out and—ah dammit, not another stairwell! This one was wider than those down below, and I assumed it led to one of the many towers crowning this place. I appreciated that Hadrian was preceding me at a human pace rather than using his vampiric speed, but I couldn’t tell if that was out of gentlemanly respect or the desire to keep me in his sight at all times.

Parts of the wall of the stairwell were eaten away and covered over with thick black tarp. I’d heard three towers were destroyed, the walls stripped away like magic, making them unlivable for vampires. I had to hand it to Tobias—he’d dealt the vampires a heavy blow before fucking things up entirely.

At last we emerged from the winding stairs, and I tried to catch my breath quietly as Hadrian led me to a room with an open door. Hadrian knocked on the frame to announce his presence before stepping inside.

I entered the lavish bedroom, marveling at the silver and purple decorating the space. It was so different from the rest of the citadel—and definitely a far cry from the Dursley style broom closets they called the Initiate bedrooms. Obviously, one of the vampires stayed in here.

“Hadrian, I’m honored.” The stunning creature who I now knew to be Marguerite, walked up to us in a slinky black gown, air-kissing Hadrian on either side of his face.

Hatred for her simmered inside me, my hands clenching around the straps of my bag. I knew at least half a dozen spells I could use on her right now that would at least deeply wound her if not kill her. But I’d promised Caesar I wouldn’t be foolish, and doing anything to this succubus right now would be the dumbest fucking thing in the world.

“Ah, and you brought the witch.” Marguerite set her sights on me, and I mentally slapped the sneer off my face, forcing my lips to spread in an amenable smile. “I think you and I are going to be fast friends.” She winked at me.

Not in a million years, you evil, heinous bi—

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