Page 48 of Bitten & Burned
It was over before I knew how to stop it. My mouth slipped from his wrist, blood on my tongue, my lips, my chin—his blood. Their blood. It tasted like nothing I’d ever known, and far too much, as if it would never truly leave my mouth again.
I swayed, half-sinking to my knees. Vael caught me by the wrist—the same wrist he’d drunk from moments before. His eyes—warm, golden—were wide, stunned. He looked at me like hedidn’t see me at all, but, instead, something lurking behind my eyes. Like, he didn’t recognize me. Horrified.
“Vael?” I rasped. My voice sounded wrong—hollow, full of echoes that weren’t mine.
Behind him, I felt them all. Cassian’s quiet fury was like a brand on my shoulder. Anton’s wild delight beat at the edges of my mind. Dmitri’s weight was trying to cradle me even as I fell. And Quil—oh gods, Quil—a bitter laugh that tasted of rust and ruin.
Vael’s grip tightened. Too tight. He leaned in, nose brushing mine. For a moment, I thought he’d kiss me again, soothe me, tell me I’d done well.
But then his lip curled, fangs still red from my blood.
His hand released. The ground rushed up, hard and cold, and I landed in a sprawl at his feet. The cold leached through my knees into my bones, a dull throb ripping up my wounded leg.
“What did youdo?”
Eight
WHAT DID YOU DO?
Kravenspire, Sol, Verdune
14 Ebry, Year 810
“What did you do?”
It wasn’t a question—not really. It was a curse, spat between clenched teeth.
He dropped my wrist—not gently, as if the contact burned him now. My arm fell with me as I hit the marble, my wounded leg taking the brunt of the landing. Without thinking, I went to cushion the landing, calling up a bit of magic from Inera.
But instead of landing softly, I landed hard. The fact that I’d forgotten that I couldn’t access Inera’s magic stung almost as much as the way Vael had dropped me.
Pain flared hot and bright, flooding my vision. Blood still dripped from the half-healed bite, each drop marking the floor like a tally of mistakes.
What did you do?
My heart thudded against the inside of my ribs, too loud, toofast—theirs now too. The marble floor was still biting cold through my palms, my leg screaming from the fall.
I could feel it: Cassian’s tight-lipped disapproval. Not at me—at Vael. He stepped forward, putting himself between us without even trying to hide it.
“She didn’t do this alone,” Cassian said, voice iron. “Don’t speak to her like?—”
“Don’t defend her!” Vael snarled. His eyes flicked to the others. “We were careful. We planned—I…” He poked his fingers into his chest, hard enough to thump. To bruise. “Iplanned. I did…everything… for you, and this is what you do? How you repay me? You bind yourself to my entire coven?”
“Vael—” I whispered. But it was as if I’d said nothing at all.
“I planned,” he hissed, his eyes red as unshed tears sparkled in them. Anger. Rage. The sheer force of his will? Kept them from falling.
I flinched. Recoiled as if he’d cut me. I reached for my wrist, the one he’d held and thrown. I wrapped my fingers around the wound to stop the bleeding. My chin quivered, but I didn’t look away from him.
He finally looked at me then—really looked—and something in his face cracked when he saw me flinch. His hand twitched, as if he might reach for me, but then he didn’t. He couldn’t. The words were already out there, hanging between us like poison. His jaw worked, but nothing else came out. My tears fell, unbidden. The silence was palpable.
“Oh, you planned,” Quil laughed. It was an ugly, sharp sound, like glass breaking. It punctured the silence, left a gaping hole that he readily filled with more poison. He pushed off the wall, stalking closer, every step dripping scorn. “I told you. I told you she’d ruin it. Look at you now: so fucking certain you could keep your neat little bond,” he jabbed a finger at Vael’s chest, “yourbond, and now we’re all shackled to her. A fucking infestation?—”
“Quil—” Dmitri’s low rumble was a warning, but Quil shrugged off his restraining hand with a snarl.
“No. Let him hear it. Letherhear it.” He turned towards me now. His dark eyes bored into mine, dark and shining. “I warned you. I said you’d bleed into everything. Now you’re in us. In me.” He tapped his temple, teeth bared. “Congratulations,Witchling. You’ve got your claws in the monster now, too.”
Maybe Quil would make me regret it. Maybe it’s what I deserved. Being stalked like an animal—by an animal… Maybe it’d be quick. Maybe it wouldn’t. But it didn’t matter. I wouldn’t still see Vael’s face. His hurt. His pain. ThatIcaused. No one else.Me.
