Page 3 of House of Crimson Kisses
Instead, I embrace the pain in my chest, which seems to build. What the hell is wrong with me that emotional pain would manifest like this? Maybe I need to see a doctor or a vampire specialist. Red broke me.
“I see. Well, who won?” I say, trying to push as much rage into my voice as possible. I need to be convincing. Honestly, it doesn’t take much to put the ire simmering in my gut at not being able to claim the win into my voice.
“That’s the thing,” Sadie signs. “The winner is staying silent.”
I do my best impression of a frown and play dumb. “What do you mean? No one knows? Of course they do. Surely Mother checked the amulet?”
Sadie nods. “There’s blood inside it. Someone found the dhampir and sealed their blood inside. It’s the most beautiful thing in the city. One of us won but is choosing to keep it quiet.”
Her eyes form slits as she tries to read my expression. Thankfully for me, my chest hurts enough that it’s a distraction.
“Was it you?” she says.
I laugh, a sharp nasty thing. “Sadie, please. You know exactly how much I want to take over from Mother. Do you really think if I’d won a round, I’d be keeping that quiet?”
Some of the tension eases in her shoulders, and it makes me wonder exactly how much she wants to win. Did I discount her as a competitor too soon?
“True,” she says. “I guess that means either Dahlia, Xavier or Gabriel’s partner must be the dhampir. They’ll need to keep an eye on them. The more trials we do, the closer we’re going to get to discovering who it is… and the more danger they’ll be in.”
That makes me uncomfortable. I hadn’t considered the consequence of protecting Red would mean putting others in danger. But if my siblings want to aid in protecting their hunter, that’s their problem. They’re all partnered with highly trained hunters who can protect themselves. They’ve all survived attacks so far. It will be fine. They will be fine.
Besides, I don’t care. My priority is Red, always. If there’s collateral damage along the way, too bad.
“That doesn’t put Red out of danger, though,” I say. “No one knows who the dhampir is, therefore attacks could come from anyone.”
She shakes her head, her lips pressed thin. “The Festival of Blood is coming. With how high the political tensions are, it seems like a bad idea for the festival to happen.”
“Slow down, too fast,” I say.
She tuts at me and slows her signing down. I manage to catch everything the second time.
“Shit. When is it?”
“It’s going to end up coinciding with the attempt on the boundary,” she says.
I knead my temples. “Well, Mother will need to work with the Chief to put extra security on. Though it could work in our favour as a distraction.”
Sadie nods. “That’s true. I hadn’t considered that. Well, I have business to attend to. If you find out which of them actually won, will you inform me?”
“Sure,” I shrug, knowing exactly who won and the fact I’ll never confess. She scans my face as if trying to find a lie.
I rub at my chest again, irritated at my weakness.
“What’s up with that?” she gestures at my hand.
“Nothing. Just chest pains. Probably the stress of the competition and knowing I’ve lost another round.”
“Is that so?” she signs, her eyebrow rising as she folds her arms.
“How is it you can still be sarcastic while totally silent?”
She laughs. It’s a whispery sound, like clouds and summer daisies dancing in the wind.
“It doesn’t appear to be stress to me,” she says.
“What makes you say that?”
She shrugs and steps off the porch. “I have to get back to the church, but I’d monitor that if I were you. Almost looks like you bound yourself to someone, and they tried to leave you. But you wouldn’t be stupid enough to do that, would you?” She steps away and outright winks at me as she turns around and saunters into the distance.
