Page 28 of Deadly Alliances

“Actually, that might be the wisest path to take,” Camilla replied. “Perhaps accepting his offer now, then allowing a slow rejection to occur would work out for the better.”

My throat dried and my sinuses sparked, causing my eyes to mist.You will not cry,I told myself, as if the command would actually work.

“Quite alarming, isn’t it?”

I whirled to find Marguerite in a lackadaisical posture in the Skye’s chair—her back against one of its arms while her legs dangled over the other.

“You!” I growled. “You’re doing this!” Marguerite’s special ability as a vampire was to invade the minds of others, to inject false scenes into their minds. And she was doing that to me now, I had no doubt.

She shrugged. “All I’ve done is tap into your past.”

“Thisisn’tmy past,” I said, pointing toward the dining room.

Marguerite swung her legs to the front of the chair, then leaned forward. “This isyourmind, Julian. I’m just here to watch.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Alice would never... This isn’t how it went.”

“Are yousure?” Marguerite asked, a seemingly innocent expression on her disgustingly pretty face. “If this really did happen, would Camilla or Alice have told you about it?”

Would they have? Camilla had been my sister in every way but blood, and my faith in Alice’s love had been the only thing that sustained me all this time. I refused to believe this was what happened, but hearing it was still heartbreaking.

Could Alice really not have loved me? And if she didn’t, what did that mean for Shea and me? Was I meant to be with her after all?

I immediately shut down those thoughts. I couldn’t afford for Marguerite to learn of Shea. In fact, it was a miracle she hadn’t dug her out of my mind yet. I had to keep it that way.

“You know what they say, Julian,” Marguerite said, bringing her face close to mine. “The truth hurts.” She raised her hands to the sides as she leaned back. “And this? Sure looks like the truth tome.”

I closed my eyes, wrestling between doubt and faith, no longer certain what was true. The world shifted around me, and I opened my eyes again, I was back in Marguerite’s quarters, my wrists still bound and my head still swimming.

She knelt before me again, pushing my legs apart and rubbing her hands up and down my thighs. “Why don’t you let me make you feel better, my love?”

I gritted my teeth. Even if Alice’s love had been a lie, and even if my heart didn’t belong to a certain witch, there was no way I’d ever desire this vile creature.

“I’m not in the mood,” I said flatly.

She leaned forward and put her arms around my waist, nuzzling her face into my unresponsive groin. “Oh, Julian. When are you going to realize that no one will love you like I do?”

“Poisoning me with copper, starving me of blood, and manipulating my memories is not love,” I countered darkly.

She sighed in my lap, then stood and cupped my chin in her fingers. “One day, you’ll understand why this was necessary, and youwilllove me. The sooner you do, the sooner your suffering can end.” She placed a kiss on my forehead and then vanished from the room, the door opening and closing faster than my foggy mind could keep up with it.

The silence that hung in her absence was the most painful yet, filled with the echoes of my doubt and despair. That vision couldn’t have been real, right? Alice would’ve never said those things. Right? She wouldn’t have gone through with our wedding if she hadn’t loved me, wouldn’t have stuck by me even after I was turned or used her magic to protect me from the sun.

No, that scene had to have been a trick. That was all Marguerite was capable of. She didn’t dotruth.

I just had to hold on a little bit longer. Shea and Caesar were coming for me. But I didn’t know how much more my jagged mind could take before it shattered completely.

Chapter 12

Arya

The morning sun was bright and piercing as it finally crept over the ledge of my open window to shine on my face. I’d been lying awake in my bed for some time, sleep continuing to evade me in this dreary place. Without classes to attend or tasks to perform, it was hard to develop any type of schedule here. There wasn’t really anything for me todo.

Except for be alone with my thoughts.

Hadrian was…different than I’d always imagined him. I could certainly see that he had darkness in him, but I’d also seen other things. Like the way he was with Alex, I could almost believe he was a loving human father. And the way he looked at me, like I was something precious to him, once lost and finally found.

What if everyone was wrong about him? What ifIwas wrong about him? I didn’t have the best track record for judgment.

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