Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 50512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 253(@200wpm)___ 202(@250wpm)___ 168(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 253(@200wpm)___ 202(@250wpm)___ 168(@300wpm)
Luckily, the house is warded, so I felt fine leaving Aurora to rest for a few hours, especially after I cleared it upon our first arrival, ensuring the wards were intact.
I fully plan to wear her out again. And again. As many times as she wants me, needs me. I’m done pushing her away, and despite our conversation the other night, I know there’s no getting away from the gruesome end I’m careening toward. She accepted my reasoning, and that’s all I can ask for. Despite her pleas for me to cling to hope, she promised me she understood. It’s the only way I would continue to be with her, because the last thing I want to do is break her heart in the end.
I drink from the volunteer human’s wrist, taking just enough of his blood before pulling back. It’s the first time I’ve fed without Dagon watching from a dark corner, ready to haul me off should I drink too much. It’s not hard to pull away now. The human didn’t taste bad this time, and I can’t help but wonder if that’s because I’ve fed from Aurora, which would lean toward that mark on her neck being mine.
“Thanks,” the man says as he takes the cash from my hand.
I nod to him, and head out, sucking down the warm night air. Part of me feels content and settled in a way that no hunter in the midst of a war his brother started should feel. The other part is doing its best to remind me in all the ways in which I’m fucked. What kind of sadistic world do I live in where I’m mated while also most certainly approaching my death?
No, it’s not my mark. It can’t be.
Even the thought tastes like a lie.
I don’t want it to be Samuel’s mark either. I just hate that we’re fucked either way. She’s fucked if it’s Samuel’s mark, because why would fate do that to her? And I’m fucked if it’s mine, because I’ll likely die before I can give her everything she deserves from a mate.
I’ve read extensively on twin bonds between vampire children. It’s powerful as hell, and having it severed by one or the other is assumed to have dire consequences, even if there are only a few recorded throughout history.
I turn down an alley between two ancient buildings, lost in my thoughts as I make my way back toward Aurora’s home. She deserves a life with without war, without constantly worrying Samuel will crash into her world and uproot her again. She deserves peace. But if that mark is mine and we fully accept the bond? She’ll suffer when I die killing my brother.
“I knew it was the San Gimignano towers you saw earlier.” Samuel’s voice stops me dead cold. I blink a few times, checking to ensure my racing thoughts didn’t conjure him before me.
Samuel steps out of the shadows, wearing an immaculate black suit, his hands in his pockets, his eyes almost entirely blood red.
Nope, he’s definitely real. Adrenaline spears through me, but I stand like a statue, not wanting to trigger his flight response he’s been so reliant on.
“Have to love Italy,” he continues, smiling at me. “The people here taste better, don’t they?”
“How the fuck are you here?”
Samuel taps his temple. “Your shields are down.”
Fuck my life. “You’re spying on me through the twin bond?” I growl. “You haven’t done that since we were adolescents.” And he’d been the only one of us who could do it successfully. I was always jealous of that. I’d tried and failed multiple times in using it to track him down since his betrayal.
Samuel shrugs. “Desperate times.”
“If you wanted to meet up, all you had to do was ask.” Instincts have my eyes flashing to thermal. I’m fully fed and armed with four blades. I can take him down. I don’t reach for the weapons, not wanting to scare him into running again. I have to get closer, get my hands on him so that if he wends, I wend with him.
“Oh, come on, Saint.” He tilts his head. “Don’t pretend like you didn’t let those shields down on purpose. You’ve kept them in place for centuries. You did it as a peace offering. And I’m so glad you’ve come around. I miss you,” he says, sincerity coloring his features. “I miss my brother.”
I feel his last words like a knife to the heart. “We haven’t been brothers for a very long time. You imprisoned me. Starved me—”
“I did what I had to.” Samuel rolls his eyes. “You needed to understand my plans for us. For our future. You’ll get over the few months you lost when you have a sparkling eternity stretching out before you. Especially when I get my way.”
“Okay, fine. Forget what you did to me.” I have to keep him talking. Keep him here. I’ve never been so angry for not letting Dagon or Ajax tag along on a trip with me. “It doesn’t erase the fact that you joined forces with our enemy. With the people who want to eradicate our kind.”