Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 107652 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107652 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
He sucked in a breath as if he knew I’d seen him.
The real him.
Seen his defeat and despair after fighting on his own for so long, chained to an existence he couldn’t end and couldn’t escape.
When he finally spoke, it was so low I almost missed it. “It’s not who I am,” he whispered, “But what they’ve made me.”
Something in my chest ached so hard, I almost doubled over.
He wasn’t just dangerous.
He was devastating.
I suddenly didn’t care if he never let me in.
I didn’t care if he kept his walls up and refused to trust me.
I couldn’t stay here—I couldn’t live with him and spend time with him and see him without doing something.
I’d run away from life because it broke me—he broke daily just to survive.
I would help him.
Not out of pity but because somehow, somewhere along the way, I’d started to want him.
And he deserved to have at least one person care, even if I was utterly powerless to get him free.
Clearing his throat, he looked away, breaking the spell and gathering his temper as a shield. “Leave. I’m going to bed.” Looking at me with hooded eyes that couldn’t hide the depth of his exhaustion, he added, “Don’t disturb me. You do, and the next blood you’ll be covered in is your own.”
On that pleasant farewell, he left.
Chapter Thirty
“WELL, WELL...YOU’RE STILL NOT dead.”
I sighed heavily.
God, not again.
Almost every day these two accosted me. And every time I had to put up with their prying questions and snide remarks that if Lucien didn’t kill me soon, they would.
“Shouldn’t you be getting your beauty sleep for an evening of stalking?” I asked with a tight smile, my fist snapping closed around the vial and tucking it behind my back as Evelyn and Lydia morphed out of the gloomy afternoon.
The bottle stung my palm as if it were venom, the red liquid sloshing with every tremble.
Even as stress made my head pound, the thought of drinking its contents...
I almost threw up.
Evelyn wore all black—no longer trying to hide her murderous intentions, while Lydia wore a slinky red dress, looking like the flames that danced in the gardens at night.
I needed a shower. A blazing, burning shower.
I swore a coppery tang clung to me, the splatters of Lucien’s blood on my dress thick in my nose.
The two girls smiled, their teeth blindingly white.
“Honestly, I have no idea what Lucien Ashfall sees in you.” Lydia drifted forward, circling me like a shark.
I wished Whisper had followed me instead of chasing after his master. On the days the panther escorted me back to my pavilion, these two never bothered me. But today...I had a horrible feeling my blood might be joining Lucien’s already covering me.
My headache increased to warning levels.
Evelyn drifted to a stop, smirking as Lydia continued to pace. “Are you really going to stick with the lie that you’re this rumpled and dirty from being his housekeeper?” Evelyn stabbed her finger into a particularly large blood stain on my chest. “Because we all know you’re serving him on your back.”
“Are you pregnant yet?” Lydia said from behind me. “You better tell us if you are because it might be the only thing that will save you.” Reaching between her breasts, she pulled out a tiny, jewelled knife. “We’re getting a little bored, you see.”
My breath caught in my throat; anxiety made me jittery.
I backed up, my spine colliding with one of the black torches that wouldn’t come to life until dusk fell.
Evelyn sucked in a breath, her eyes narrowing on my dirty dress. “Wait...is that blood?” Sudden ferocity filled her pretty face. “Whose blood? His or yours?”
“Might be the panther’s?” Lydia came to face me, eyeing up the red droplets I couldn’t hide.
Grabbing my arms, Evelyn twisted me left and right before shoving me around. “No wounds on you. So it’s his? That’s Ashfall blood covering you?”
My arms flung out for balance, the glass vial glittering in my palm.
“What’s that?” Lydia snatched my wrist.
“Nothing!” I cried out, my entire body flinching in pain as she dug her thumb into the webbing of my hand and pried the vial out of my fist.
Both girls swore under their breath. “What the fuck?” Evelyn spun to face me. “Is that his? Why do you have this? Did you hurt him and take it?”
My mind blanked.
I had no idea what to say or how to protect everything that happened between Lucien and me. If they knew he bled himself every three days and suffered the consequences, they’d burst in there as a horde and hurt him. I knew they would. But if I lied and told them I was the one who cornered him and made him give me his blood...how was that believable?
“I...”
“Tell us.” Lydia pressed her knife against my throat. “Right now. Or you die.”