Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 55221 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 276(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55221 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 276(@200wpm)___ 221(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
“A mate?” he asks, incredulity in his rasping voice. “A human mate?”
Valen twitches.
Gregor groans and lifts me from the floor, settling me sideways in his lap, his fetid stink making me gag. Gripping my chin, he wrenches my head toward him, his dead eyes staring into mine. “He didn’t just lie about your death. He betrayed me from the start!” His voice rises to a roar, an ear-piercing howl of rage that rattles some stone free from the ceiling, the rocks crashing to the floor.
I shake uncontrollably, my teeth chattering.
“Shh,” he coos, then clucks his tongue. “Shh, now.” He drags his fingers down my throat, lingering at my pulse, then lower to my chest. Resting his palm over my heart, he stares up at Valen.
“All for this pitiful human? You’ve given up everything. You’re still trying to shield your thoughts about her from me even now. Your feelings, though, they can’t be hidden any longer. You’re too weak. I can taste them.” He inhales through his rotted nose. “Love and longing. Desire. You want her more than you want to live, more than you’ve wanted anything.” He breathes out slowly, his emaciated body barely moving. “You killed my son for her, didn’t you?” he says it so quietly, almost sorrowfully.
Valen grunts, the sound close to assent.
Gregor’s gaze flicks back to me. “My son Theo was a god. A more perfect being never existed and never will again. Your pathetic human mind can’t comprehend what he was. His promise. His abilities. Your heart will never truly understand the pain of that loss.” He presses his claws into my chest, easily piercing the fabric and through my skin. “But I can give you an idea. Speak, now.”
I scream as he holds me still, his other hand at my throat, his claws embedded at the back of my neck.
“Why are you still here?” Gregor’s voice booms over me.
“My lord, I was simply awaiting your command,” Coal replies.
“Go, now,” he snaps, then gives me a skeletal grin, the scant flesh hanging on his face warping and stretching. “I have business here with this human. Valen’s mate.” His fangs lengthen. “I intend to make this last. He’ll hear your screams for days on end. He’ll listen to everything I do to you. And when his eyes heal, he’ll watch, too.” He presses his claws deeper, the tips scratching against my sternum, my ribs.
I scream again, the pain of it unthinkable, unbearable. Tears well in my eyes, my chin trembling, but I can’t escape. There’s no way out of his grasp. Fatima’s blade digs into my forearm, blood oozing from the cuts. It’s pinned between us, my other hand mangled and useless from the fall on the stairs.
“I was once told by an ancient that the suffering of one’s mate bestows the same pain tenfold upon the other. Mates cannot bear it. It drives them mad if they’re helpless to save the one their soul is bound to.” His black tongue snakes out and licks the blood and tears on my cheek. “Though I suspect he broke your bond, didn’t he? Rejected his claim on you to save you?” He nods. “I can taste it, the shattered link like burned blood. The same feeling I had when he killed my son. My precious child.”
“Theo,” I force the word out.
“You knew him? Yes.” He pulls his claws from my chest and licks them one by one. “Oh yes, yes you did. I remember now. Speak,” he commands. “Tell me about him.”
“He was cruel. Vicious. A horrible vampire who killed my friends and tortured my sister. I hated him. I’m glad he’s dead.”
He makes a rasping, wheezing noise. I realize it’s a laugh.
“He was born to rule you, that’s why you hated him. Lesser creatures always hate their gods to one degree or another, either borne of jealousy or helplessness.”
“I can tell you more about him.” I wriggle my hand, the blood making my grip on the knife slippery.
“Tell me about Valen.” He grins again, his dead eyes boring into me. “Did he promise to turn you?”
“No.”
The raw muscles on his forehead flex in consternation. “Is that so?”
“He never said he’d turn me. We never even discussed it.”
“Strange.” He slides his claws along my front and down to my thigh. “Perhaps he’s more like me than I imagine. He knows you’re weak, human. And even though you’re his Blooded mate, he would rather you die than carry on his line.”
Valen grunts, his body twitching.
“No need to deny it.” Gregor stabs his claws into my thigh.
I scream and writhe.
“It was a compliment, my Specter.” Gregor laughs.
“Another thing,” I gasp through the agony, through the searing pain.
“Do go on.” Gregor scrapes his claws along my femur. “So very entertaining.”
Another wail, tears blinding me. I can barely breathe. Darkness encroaches on my vision, but I shake my head, fighting it back. I can’t pass out. I can’t give up. Not now. If I do, Valen’s dead. I’m dead.