Page 55 of Ashvale: The Vampire's Thrall

"Don't fuck with me. Speak."

"I'd hoped it wasn't true. I didn't think she would lie to me like that." A lead weight sank through my body, rooting me to the floor as Cal looked up and searched my face. "But I suppose I was just lying to myself—after all, you look so much like her."

If my heart worked, I had the feeling it would have been beating so quickly I might have thrown up.

"Like who?"

Cal sighed. "Your mother."

ChapterTwenty-Six

"Explain.”I didn’t recognise my voice and I definitely didn’t recognise the man sitting in front of me. The one who might be my... "Explain," I repeated with more emphasis.

"What do you want me to say? I fell in love with a woman who I think was just using me to get close to… Well, it doesn’t matter now. She told me she was pregnant, and for a while we were happy—but then she had an accident."

"She transitioned," I whispered and Cal nodded. “You?”

He nodded, watching me closely. "She changed after that. She told me she'd lost the baby and then she left. She had become... cold."

"You really didn't know?" Hayes said and Cal looked me straight in the eyes, the disbelief clear on his face.

"I had no idea you were alive, not until you turned up on my doorstep—and even then, I wasn't sure. You could have been anyone. It could have been coincidence."

"Who is she?" I sounded calm, which was a miracle, because inside I was a mess.

He shook his head. "She moved, just up and left. Changed her name, everything. I knew her as Isabella. I never learned of her sire line, some of the undead can be precious about the information."

I sat down heavily on the end of the bed. Was it possible for undead vampires to get migraines? Because it felt like I had the mother of them all brewing. "So what does that make me?"

Cal stood and approached me hesitantly, stopping when I stiffened. "Unique, as far as I know. It's not forbidden for a mage to be with a vampire, but it is frowned upon. Most of us dislike vampires too much to ever want to bed one."

"So I am a freak." I shook my head, standing up again, I needed to move. To run. "Half-mage. Half-vampire."

"You're the same person you've always been," Hayes protested and I laughed humorlessly.

"And who is that exactly? Because I sure don't remember."

"Leonora—"

"I need to get some air, okay? Don't follow me."

The door closed behind me and it felt strange, like the corridor should have looked different now that everything had shifted. It was just empty though, and it made me feel hollowed out inside. I instinctively turned to find the stairs and go outside, but stopped. I didn't think running from this was going to help. Forgetting about it, however, would absolutely help.

I turned instead in the direction of the library, hurrying along so I could hide between the stacks and find some text to bury myself in. Anything so I didn't have to contemplate what was coming next.

Cal was... I shook the thought away. Cal was Cal. My biology didn't change that.

The lights were low when I walked into the room, the smell of dust and paper comforting me in a way that made me wonder if I'd been a librarian or bookseller in my ‘human’ life.

I drew up short when I walked to the usual table and found Rowan there.

"Sorry, I'll just—"

"Wait, Leonora, you don't have to go. Not because of me."

We hadn't spoken about the kiss he'd given me after I'd nearly died from channelling too much magick. I guess I'd gotten good at avoiding the things I didn't want to deal with, I thought sourly. Though, admittedly, Rowan had shown no interest in wanting to kiss me again—probably on account of the murders I'd taken part in recently, or maybe it was because I was tied to his ex for eternity. A laugh bubbled out of me and I choked it down. Now wasn't the time for some kind of breakdown. I had the rest of my life to process my trauma, for now, I needed to get my shit together.

"Did something happen?" he said, taking a step closer when I didn't move and I shook my head, unsure what to say. I also didn't like how pro-Elowen he seemed to be. I didn't trust her and, by extension, I couldn't trust him. But I wanted to—god, did I want to.

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