Page 237 of Bitten & Burned
Oh, for fuck’s sake.I peered around, finally finding the real Silas on a balcony above us, looking down from the vaulted ceiling.
I rolled my eyes. “It’s over. I’m here. And I have all my vampires with me. None of your little traps worked, not even that one.”
“I see I taught you well,” he countered.
“I learned well,” I corrected him. “And I applied what I learned well. As I do every day in my work.”
“Work that you wouldn’t have if it weren’t for me.”
I didn’t rise to the bait. “Give up. I’m never choosing you. I’d rather die than have to look at you.I’d rather live the rest of my life with this fucking sigil on my leg than breathe the same air as you.”
“Really? You hate me so much, you’ll throw away your chance at salvation?”
I laughed. “I know there’s no cure. There’s nothing you can do for me. You’re just trying to milk this for all it’s worth.”
He snorted. “I can offer relief.”
“If it comes with the expense of ever having to see you again, I’ll have to pass. Now give up. At least give me this.”
He smirked. “Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes,” I deadpanned. “That’s why I asked for it.”
“You’d like it if I gave up and turned myself in. So you could run off with your filthy vampires and let them do badly what I would doso well.”
“Ugh… You disgust me.” I wrinkled my nose. “Let me make this crystal clear: I will never be yours. Not in a million years. Not for all the money in the Verdunian Vaults. Not now, not ever.”
“Not with them in your veins, you wouldn’t… they’ve got you glamored.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Vael said. “Just because you’ve never had anyone who actually wanted you, doesn’t mean that’swhat’s happening here. Rowena doesn’t bow to magic; she wields it.”
“Doesn’t wield it anymore, does she?” Silas asked with an evil grin.
My temper flared, and I had to physically stop and take a deep breath. When I opened my eyes, I stared at him again. Silas smiled like he’d won something.
“How does that feel, Mr. Vexley? Knowing that since she has that sigil, she’ll never be as powerful a witch as she once was? Especially since that’s what attracted you to her in the first place. You’re a collector, just like your wretched little maker, aren’t you?”
“That’s not true,” Vael sneered, turning to look at me, “It’s not true, Rowena.”
“I know, Vael.”
“Enough talking.” Anton lunged forward, teeth bared.
“Ah, yes, the savage pretty-boy. Tell me, pretty-boy, how long before you gave her your blood, hm? I’ve heard tales. “Did it work? Did she open her legs after you opened your veins? Did that maker of yours teach you how to get them to beg for it?”
I blinked. That was the first I’d heard about Anton’s maker, and it clearly wasn’t anything good based on his reaction upon hearing it.
“He taught me ruin. He made me amonster,” Anton snarled before he lurched forward.
Dmitri grabbed Anton before he could pounce. “Shut your damn mouth or I’ll shut it permanently…” Dmitri hissed.
“Volkov. The wolf. The loyal dog who fetched the mongrel pup. Do you really think she’d stay with you if she had a choice?”
Dmitri didn’t say anything, even as Anton thrashed in his arms, trying to get at Silas still.
“Hold steady, he’s trying to bait you all. All he has are words,” Cassian interrupted, calm and cutting.
Silas moved a bit closer, looking Cassian up and down. “Thestrategist. The fallen general. Tell me, do you plan out her pleasure the same way you plan out your battles?”
