Page 30 of House of Crimson Kisses
“And what if we’re not in second place? What if we don’t win the next trial?”
Her face hardens. “We have to. Everything relies on the next trial, Red. To protect you, we sacrifice this round, but the next one is vital.”
I shake my head. “The risk is too great. What if Cordelia takes points away from us as a punishment for not giving her a winner? I need that cure for Amelia. I have to win.”
“I need to win as much as you do, or I’m never going to belong in this city. You think I don’t want this just as much as you? I already have plans drawn up for how I’m going to shape Sangui City. There’s so much I can do. I can bring equality, peace, stop the constant civil fighting between hunters and vampires. I can make those on the periphery feel wanted.”
I take her hand. “Then we claim the win we deserve and put ourselves in the lead.”
She flings her hand out of mine. “WE CAN’T. Don’t you get it? This whole thing is about finding the fucking dhampir. Finding you, for fuck’s sake.”
“What if it’s not me?”
She glares at me.
“Okay, fine. But what if there’s a way to give it to one of the others? What if I can get rid of it?”
She shakes her head. “You might not want this responsibility, but it is yours. And you’re going to have to face that reality if you want to get through this. But that’s why I’m trying to buy you time. If we give up your identity now before you’ve fully transitioned into this new dhampir, before we know what you’re capable of and what it really means, all we’re doing is putting you in danger.”
“Danger? You do realise I’m a hunter? I am more than capable of keeping myself safe?”
“Who had to run into the sun, pull you into their house and feed you half their blood to save your life?”
“Wow, Octavia. Low blow,” I snarl.
She huffs at me and starts pacing around the little room we’re in.
“We should never have bonded,” I say before I can stop myself.
She stops dead. Turns to me. “Don’t say that. That is the second time you’ve expressed regret, and each time it’s like a knife wound.” She pokes her chest.
I snort. “Why? It’s the fucking truth. Oh, and by the way. The reason you can’t compel me anymore is because of the bond. A piece of your soul is attached to mine. So I suppose that’s one good thing to come out of this. I’m no longer subject to your whims anymore. You can’t control me the way you do everyone else.”
“It’s not about control, Red. I was trying to protect you.”
“I can protect myself. It wasn’t your fucking decision to make.”
“GODS,” she shouts. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her truly lose her temper.
I shake my head. “What are you hiding from me?”
“Nothing you want to know. Be careful what secrets you uncover, Red. Not all of them are truths you want to hear.”
“Don’t you get it? If you don’t tell me, we’re never going to fix this.”
She smiles, soft. But it never reaches her eyes. And instead of resolving the fucking issue, she changes the subject.
“We need to come up with an item we tried to get into the amulet. Otherwise, when everyone else tells them the thing they tested, we’re going to be screwed. Cordelia is going to be pissed that there’s no winner.”
Irritation flares in my gut, but she’s right. This is why I dragged her from the bar. So I comply, and we brainstorm ideas for items that seem logical and believable enough we would have thought to test them. We settle on the most plausible thing we can think of.
* * *
One of Cordelia’s staff appears in the doorway. “You’re required,” she says.
We follow her down several hallways, tracing our steps back the way we came, when I stop suddenly. Outside the castle window is a mob of people.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
