Page 83 of Xantera
I will.
Then I’m gone.
The days here blend together. Floor after floor, room after room, I keep exploring. The higher I go, the smaller the bedrooms become—and the more statuesque I find the Chosen Ones lying in their beds.
On the topmost floor, I find most of the rooms empty, and the few people I do find are so rigid under their sheets, with the faintest, slowest heartbeats I’ve ever witnessed, that it takes me minutes to even be certain they’re alive at all.
While there’s been no sign of my mother or Diggory, I won’t give up until I’ve searched every room in this godforsaken palace.
I take my meals in my room, thanks to Eleni, to avoid running in to any of the vampires in the dining room. But asking her any further questions has proved fruitless. She doesn’t make any more attempts to communicate with me, despite my rambling, and I’vehidden the necklace away from her in fear that she’ll feel obligated to turn me in to the Guardians.
Most importantly, I haven’t run into Arad—well, until today. My first Sanctuary Sunday as a Chosen One.
Even though I can sense him as soon as I open my bedroom door, I still gasp when my eyes find him comfortably splayed out in my armchair in the corner.
A sharp pain of fear cracks inside my stomach, but I won’t be the first to speak—because I know as soon as I open my mouth, I’ll keep pushing. And even though I didn’t promise Lucan anything, my heart still wants to be good for him.
I wish he were here now. It takes everything in me to keep my eyes trained on Arad and not glance at my mattress, where the necklace is hidden underneath.
Arad’s crimson eyes lazily take me in, his elbow perched on the armrest, his fingers pressed against his disturbing smirk.
“I require more blood, Saskia.” His voice slides into the air between us, more soft and soothing than the angry way his face contorts at the sight of me. “And I don’t like having to wait.”
“You’d think someone who’s supposed to live forever would have a little more patience,” I dare to say, striding over to the edge of my bed with my head held high.
My confidence wavers when Arad rises and situates himself next to me on the mattress. It dips deeply from both our weights, and I have to lock up my muscles to avoid falling into him.
I bite back a gag when his fingers skim down my arm until he grips my wrist and pulls it to his freezing cold lips.
I jerk my head away, refusing to watch as those fangs pierce my skin and the suction tugs at my arm. Instead, I let my mind wander to the only one who makes any of this bearable.
Lucan checks in with me every night to make sure I’m okay, but my poor attempts at flirting to get him to stay go absolutely nowhere. Each time he leaves me again, a new weight seems to drop into my stomach.
I miss him. And I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t want him this much. Because if I ever do find a way to escape, I’m still going to turn to stone, and Lucan will blame himself—even though he shouldn’t. I don’t want to go back to the way I was before, blissfully ignorant.
So if I have to endurethisas a means to an end, then so be it.
After Arad retracts his razor sharp fangs from my vein, his tongue swipes along the two reopened wounds along my inner wrist. His pleased hum vibrates up to my shoulder before he releases me.
“I want this more than once a week, Saskia,” he says, dropping my arm back to my side. He doesn’t let go, though. His thumb rubs a circle over my pulse, and I imagine vomiting all over his lap. “But at the same time, I want to savor you.”
Actually, good thing Lucan’s not here right now to overhear this.
Scoffing, I wrench my arm away. “And if I refuse? What? You’ll throw me over the Wall?”
“Don’t tempt me,” Arad replies smoothly.
My heart ticks against my sternum as Diggory flashes through my mind. Maybe, if I can get Arad to keep talking… “I thought only prisoners go over the Wall. That’s what they teach us in school.”
“Prisoners are disposed of,” he says, “in any manner we see fit. The Wall is just my favorite option.”
I briefly wonder if anything that comes out of his mouth is ever the truth. My anger hardens. “What happened to all of those Chosen Ones who lie in bed all day? Which option is that?”
Arad sears a look into me, his pupils like pinpricks that make me want to shutter my eyes. I resist.
“If they want to laze around in bed all day, then who are we to stop them? It’s their choice. They don’t have to explore the palace.” He pauses briefly to lick his lips. “Unlike you. I’ve noticed you’re taking advantage of your freedom. Tell me, Saskia, what’s your favorite part of your new home?”
The way he sayshomemakes me shudder, as if what he meant was graveyard instead. But an idea pops into my head, so I force my mouth to move.
