Page 18 of House of Crimson Kisses
“We should talk,” she says.
And then her expression hardens into steel and my stomach swirls with bile.
“This,” she gestures at the vampires, “doesn’t mean anything. Just because I didn’t want you to die doesn’t mean I forgive you.”
And then she’s off, marching down the tunnel back to Sangui City, and I’m left standing alone staring after her, wondering how the fuck I’m going to resolve any of this.
Chapter8
RED
“Red, this isn’t helpful,” Octavia says as she catches up to me.
I managed to march quite a distance from Octavia before she caught up.
“Did you check the desiccating bodies for evidence?” I say, unable to keep the shittiness out of my tone.
“Yes, nothing, unfortunately. They were clean. We need to talk this out because we still have to work with each other to win the trials.”
“You think I don’t know that?” I say.
“Look, it changes things, you knowing who you are. But we’re bound now. As far as I can tell, we’re not going to be able to exist that far away from each other.”
“Biggest regret of my life, knowing I’ll have to spend the rest of it in the same fucking city as you. At least I know I’ll be moving to the other side of it.”
Her features harden, but she chooses to ignore that comment.
“I can still protect you, but we need to put it behind us.”
“Put it behind us? Protect me?” I scoff. “Are you even sorry?” I say, scanning her face for a sign of regret.
I find nothing. “Oh my gods, you’re not, are you?”
“If you’re asking me whether I’d make the same choice again…” She falls silent, her mouth making fish shapes in the air.
I throw my hands up. Still, she doesn’t answer.
“How could you hurt me like this?” I whisper, my voice cracking on the words.
I storm off, leaving her in the tunnel behind me, knowing full well that she’s more than capable of catching up. But I’m dizzy. My arm is killing me where he tried to yank it out of its socket, and my head is fuzzy with a thirst no normal human should feel. I hate that I’m going to need to dose in order to get home. We tried withdrawals, lower doses but more consistent, and I hoped it would work. It hasn’t. I’m worse than I have been in a long time, and I don’t think it’s just that I’m an entire day out from having had any blood.
I cough once, twice.
Everything goes dark.
I’m on the floor.
Octavia leans over me.
“Mother of Blood,” she says, leaning down to give me a hand.
I smack it away and get up. “I’m fine.”
“You collapsed.”
“I’M FINE.”
She kneads her temples like I’m the problem stressing her out.
