Page 31 of Fated to the Vampire Prince
It wasn’t a miracle. It was magick. Sera’s numbing spell.
She was out there, somewhere, trusting me to be the older sister she needed. The full moon should be rising either tonight or tomorrow—depending on how long I’d been asleep. She would be able to recharge her powers and finish the ride back to Prideaux Hill safely.
His thumb stroked over my cheek as he continued. “You don’t need to be scared of me or these women. But you do need to be honest. If not with me, then with them, as to the spell used to bind the necklace. They can help you.”
Help me?
Whatever warmth had been building between us froze. He wanted me to be honest to a strange witch who likely conspired to murder my Gran? The ones who would kill Sera on sight? These were witches who consorted with demons, and everyone knew demons were evil and couldn’t be trusted. Bastien just wanted to learn more about my necklace and was manipulating my emotions to accomplish that goal. That’s all this was—skillful interrogation by a master of lies.
I gathered my nerve and pushed his hand off my face. “Those witches are evil, and their magick is rooted in demonic power. I want nothing to do with them.”
He growled low in his throat, but I didn’t flinch. I had to remain strong. “You will let them clean the wounds,” he said, rising to his feet. At his full height, Bastien towered over me. “If they fester, you’ll die far more painfully than if the choker had killed you.”
I scrambled to my feet, standing on the mattress to match his height, dropping the sheet I’d clutched in my fists. “Bring me a rag. I will cleanthem myself.”
He leaned in. Too close. His breath kissing my cheeks. “You are stubborn.”
I was painfully aware of what his closeness did to my body, and was helpless to stop my nipples from pinching against the cotton shift.
I set my hand on his hard chest and pushed him back an inch, relieving myself of his delicious pine scent, and the feel of his breath against my skin. “You’re the one who told me it was foolish to dabble in magick, Your Grace. Why should I allow more of it into my life?”
After a few tense moments where nothing was said and the only sound was our heaving breaths and the crackle of the fire, Bastien snatched up the cane he’d thrown and straightened his jacket.
“Protect whoever did this to you,” he said, wagging the end of his cane at me. “But the wounds must be cleaned, and Shreesawillbe the one to do it.”
Chapter 16
ètre mort de peur
CLAIRE
When he was gone, I snatched a pillow off the bed and hurled it at the door. I would’ve preferred to throw something much heavier at his smug face—like a sword. Too bad I didn’t have one.
Breath coming in short gasps, I reached for another pillow, intent on throwing something else, when my gaze snagged on the sash of my robe. It wasn’t tied the way I would have tied it in a simple bow. I lowered the pillow, my anger cooling into confusion. Slowly, I set it aside and reached for the knot, tugging experimentally. It didn’t give. I frowned, both hands working at it now, but no matter how I pulled, the knot held tight.
By Diana, it was the same kind of knot Bastien had tied earlier. Some knot surely designed to keep prisoners from escaping. Had he tied my robe a second time? I didn’t remember that. My stomach dipped.
What else didn’t I remember?
I grew restless the longer I tried to answer that question and came up with nothing, so I forced myself to get out ofbed, sidestepping broken shards of glass, splinters of wood, and porcelain dust, and lowered myself into the chair Bastien had occupied by the fire. Hugging my knees to my chest.
I reached for glimpses of what had transpired while staring into the flames. As hard as I tried, there was nothing. Nothing…except—I lifted a trembling hand to my mouth, delicately tracing the outline of my lips. There was no memory, only a strange feeling that we had… I shook my head and lowered my hand. No.No. That wasn’t real. I’d only dreamed our kiss. Yet, I couldn’t shake the strange feeling that his lips had touched mine.
A spark of something akin to excitement ignited in my stomach before anger had my hands curling into fists. I was just disoriented. Over the past five days, my world had turned upside down, and I was doing things I’d never dared to think about. Staying in a den of darkness. Rooming with a vampire. To make matters worse, I was failing at the one thing my family trusted me to do:spy on Bastien.
Just thinking his name caused a torrent of emotions to churn in my stomach. I knew I was supposed to be acting submissive and sweet, like a flower waiting to have its petals picked to lure him into trusting me—it’s what Mama had told me to do—but at every turn, I was failing at that, too.
Something about the man drove me mad.
Rubbing at my temples, I melted into the chair, watching the fire popping and hissing in the hearth. The wild flames made me think of my little sister. Sera believed in me. She believed I could discover the information necessary to destroy dark magick. And if she believed in me, I had to believe in myself. Besides, I’d learned a few valuable things.
A soft knock startled me from my thoughts. “I have your breakfast, Miss,” called a voice from the other side of the door. “And the treatment His Grace requested.”
By treatment, she meantblack magick.
My hand drifted to the lace choker once again. Bastien had demanded I eat and allow the wounds to be cleaned, and Mama wanted me to be compliant and meek, but doing so challenged everything I was taught about their kind.
As much as I wanted to send Shreesa away, I knew I couldn’t. I was already allowing a vampire to take what he wanted from my body, I supposed this was all part of my sacrifice. To be touched and prodded by enemies so my family didn’t have to endure such shame.
