Page 182 of Bitten & Burned
“It’s not neutral if you control the wards,” I hissed.
“You’ve never known what was good for you.”
“What?”
“That’s what youdidto deserve this. You’ve never known what was good for you. You constantly looked over me time and again. Back when you used to date your pretty boys and girls at the Arcanum, and now, when you take up with… gods, how many is it now? Five vampires? Why would you do that when I was right there? When I would give you anything? Everything! Together, do you know how powerful we would be?”
I set my jaw. I needed to keep him talking until Thalia got here. Maybe he’d leave, and?—
“Which reminds me… your companions. The ones you left in your apartment this morning? Mr. Vexley, of course, I’m surprised he let you leave to be perfectly honest. And the other one, what’s his name… oh yes,Quil.”
“What about him?” I asked, my jaw tight.
“Quil… Ashborne, isn’t it?”
My blood ran icy in my veins. I couldn’t even shiver.
“Yes, well, you do realize how utterly simple it would be to bring him back to the fold, don’t you? His family wants him back. They have a score to settle, a taint to purge. Now, I, for one, don’t really care about their little internal family squabbles, so I haven’t given them the signal to go through with collecting him.”
I bristled, rage burning hot and bright inside me. I stood, gritting out, “Leave him alone. Leave him out of this.”
I lurched forward to push him back, knowing I couldn’t do more than possibly move him out into the corridor, but I had to try.
My hands smacked at his chest.
Silas didn’t flinch.
He didn’t speak.
He just watched me with that maddening calm, like this had all gone exactly the way he planned.
I slammed my hands into his chest again with all my might.
He didn’t budge.
But the world did. It twisted around me at a dizzying pace.
It was like being yanked through a sieve—sound stretching, vision doubling, the floor collapsing beneath my feet.
My knees hit the stone floor. I couldn’t breathe. My hands wouldn’t move. My throat wouldn’t open. Every nerve in my body lit up at once. I was burning alive. I was being sliced open.
The last thing I registered was Silas’s voice: “I knew you’d risk yourself for that mongrel in your bed. You’re smart, but you’re too predictable, Rowena.”
Part Three
Twenty-Eight
NOX
Dun Drummond, Sol, Verdune
29 Ebry, Year 810
Pain.
Not sharp. Not clean. But everywhere.
My body felt too large for itself. My skin felt too tight. My blood was rushing too loudly. I couldn’t tell where the sigil ended and I began.
