Page 114 of Chain Me
“A boy would just conspire with you,” I pointed out smugly. “But a girl? She and I can plot all sorts of mischief and you will be none the wiser.”
“As long as it’s healthy… As long asyouare healthy, I would take any specimen imaginable.” He looked so tired again. An ageless man, approaching my side, his hand outstretched for me.
I curled my fingers around his, marveling at the sensation of him. No fighting. No hating.
Tilting my head back, I eyed the sky, allowing him to steer me along in peaceful, beautiful silence.
But how reality loved to deny me. Within minutes, our haven was invaded and nothing could reclaim those cherished minutes.
“Eleanor.” Dublin tensed, yanking me against him.
I looked around, expecting assassins to lunge from the trees. Instead, I noticed a young girl dancing across the expansive lawn paces away.
Dressed in a flowing white frock, she was prancing with more energy than I ever could, darting around flower beds. Her features were delicate, her dark curls spilling down her shoulders. But her eyes…
They fixated on me as she approached and I shivered. A deep brown, they were as ageless as Raphael’s.
“I hear you’ve been looking for me,” she accused, wrinkling her nose at Dublin. Just beyond his reach, she stopped, her hands on her hips. A small strip of blue velvet encircled her throat, supporting a small silver charm that swayed against her pale skin. “Why? Do you think you can kill me, Cael? Torture me until I surrender to your bidding?” She giggled into a hand tipped with hot-pink fingernails. “Have you not learned your lesson after all these years? Maybe you will during the many more you have left to your debt? He’s been gloating, you do realize. He will never cease to own you.”
“Adara,” Dublin said tonelessly. Her name? Clearly, there was no love lost between them. He eyed her coldly, his eyes narrowed in disgust. “A rather unimaginative disguise, I must say.”
“You should try it sometime,” the girl countered, sticking out her tongue. She fingered the neckline of her dress. The white material formed a tight-fitting bodice that flared out over her waist—though at second glance it wasmostlywhite. Three small scarlet drops stained the very center of the bodice. “Young ones are surprisingly nimble. I may keep this form for good—”
“Why show yourself now?” Dublin demanded. “I do admit your stunt in France was impressive.”
She giggled. “Those old biddies do love to give a good scare. And I’ve always loved a good game of hide-and-seek. Don’t you?” She twirled in a circle, eyeing the skirt of her dress as it billowed around her. “And youplaywith ruthless intent. So much so that you miss the most obvious moves your opponent may make.” Skidding to a stop, she met my gaze and winked. “So wonderful to meet you again, Eleanor. Oh, do you not recognize me?” She raised her arms, indicating her dress. “I do appreciate your very generousdonationmy dear girl.” Her voice deepened well beyond the range of a child’s. Into a man’s, one brimming with suave charm and undeniably familiar…
I recoiled in horror, just as my gaze fell over the small splash of color on her chest once more. The three splotches uncomfortably resembled three droplets of blood. Like the ones I’d bled during my “meeting” with Gabriel Lanic.
“I so do love this as a fashion statement,” Adara chirped, sounding young once again.
In the flickering daylight, the nuances of her “dress” stood out to me more clearly. A slight design distorted the surface—one eerily similar to what might adorn the tablecloth of an exclusive restaurant.
“So, before you act upon that devious thought lurking in your brain, Cael, remember thatI already have her blood.” Her voice transformed again, expanding into the warning hiss of a grown woman. “I could kill her, as the young ones say, six ways from Sunday.” She licked her finger and lowered it to the reddish stains.
Darkness. Suddenly, I was lying on my back, blinking up at the sky.
“Eleanor!” Someone was holding me in his arms, cradling my head above the ground. “What did you do to her?”
“She’s fine,” Adara insisted. “That was merely a warning. Do play nice with me. I don’t want to hurt her—”
“So, what do you want?” Dublin demanded. “I’m sure that’s the only reason you’ve chosen to show yourself now.”
“What do I want?”
I looked over and found her stroking her chin, her gaze thoughtful.
“Maybe I want to see your face when I finally convey the bitter, cold truth I think you’ve known all along.”
“Your curse,” Dublin said coldly. “So tell me, what exactly did it entail?”
“What?” Adara shrugged her tiny shoulders. “You forget that this was never meant to be a punishment. At least not at first…” She smiled, teeth bared ferally. “It was a gift. Everything he wanted—life from death. There was a price to pay, of course. I’m sure you’ve already figured it out by now.”
Dublin said nothing, his expression drawn tight.
“Oh, youhave,” Adara deduced. She cackled with glee, clapping her hands. “That’s the whole bit of irony, I suppose—just as Mero intended. You see, the only way the curse would have ever triggered in the first place was if you tried to do something naughty, Dublin. Something, you swore you would never ever do.”
My mind spun with her words. Something in her mischievous tone made me recall something Dmitri said the day he barged into the manor in Italy.For all your loathing of the act, you must have feared for her life, I suspect. I’d heard Raphael tried feeding from her. That could… But that wouldn’t explain why she didn’t die. No. Though if you did try to turn her…
