Chapter 103 A Secret Shared, A Weapon Earned
❀ Maeve ❀
I landed in a stumble, tripping over my billowing skirts.
Just as I knocked into a hard surface, I spun around with both arms raised, claws slicing the air with a yell.
A low chuckle reverberated behind me. “Be at ease, Maeve. I do not will you harm.”
I blinked to get my bearings.
Vladis had traced me to an office setting. The windows were open wide, allowing bright silvery moonlight through.
Several candles, instead of lamps, provided more light.
My gaze snapped to him. He stood at the other end of the table I’d crashed into.
A glass bowl full of some milky seeds had overturned.
My stomach tightened. The milky things were… teeth.
I stood up straighter, my voice firm. “Why did you do that? I hate getting traced without my consent. Take me back at once.”
The smile on his face faded. “Be at ease,” he repeated, this time threateningly.
I swallowed.
Here I was, trapped by a significantly older immortal who could trace, in a strange location. What were his plans for me?
A familiar scent caught my attention. I turned my head at an angle behind me.
Lilith.
She stood still as a statue in the far corner of the room, dark clothes blending with the shadows.
The only thing visible was the round white of her face and her glowing red eyes.
When our gazes met, she tilted her head. She eyed me as if I were virgin’s blood.
My skin prickled. They were going to kill me.
“Think very carefully about what you’re about to do,” I growled at Vladis.
He blinked as though confused. “I have. And I’m sure it is the best course.” He gestured to a chair. “Please, sit.”
Sit? And do what? Pen down my last words?
“Just get on with it,” I snapped, my wrist fluid and ready to defend to the death. My fangs lengthened with a sharp prick in my mouth.
Lilith pushed off the wall and walked to a decanter right beside me. “The girl thinks you mean to murder her.”
“It would seem so,” Vladis responded sadly. Then to me, “I have no intention of hurting you in any way, Maeve. First, let me apologize for taking you without your permission—”
“Then what did you take me for?” I cut in. “Do you want me late to the ceremony? I can see you’re both dressed—”
“Lilith won’t be attending,” he smoothly interjected. “I must have a word with you now. Not a moment more.”
“And you couldn’t have told me last night when you were stalking me?”
His fangs flashed in a lopsided grin. “Privacy concerns.”
How he could switch from lethal to conversational was beyond me.
This office was heavy with an almost occult energy. And the fact that he was here with Lilith? Jessica had been right.
I gave another flitting glance around for anything that could help me.
Two Crimson vampires would overpower me. I couldn’t even pretend otherwise. If they wanted my head this moment, they’d have it.
The fact that I was still breathing meant they didn’t want to kill me. Not yet, at least.
It could also mean they needed something from me. But what?
I stepped back, keeping them both in my sights.
Lilith had completely healed from our last fight, but I was content knowing she would never forget it, even if no scars remained.
I decided to play their game.
“What do you want with me then?” I asked, spine straight.
“I won’t take much of your time, don’t worry.” Vladis walked to the wall, tracing a portrait with his fingers.
I followed his movements while keeping Lilith in my field of vision. Her eyes remained locked on me.
“Many of your predicaments have come to my attention, and I will not stand aside knowing I can ease you of at least one.”
My heart thundered.
Why would he want to help me? I’d be a fool to trust his counsel.
“I appreciate your well wishes,” I said evenly, even as my mind raced, “but I have everything under control.”
“Do you now?” Lilith drawled. “In your veins runs a curse. In your heart, an ache. Unlike the lord steward here, I won’t pretend to wish you luck.”
“If all you’ll do is echo obvious facts, I’d prefer you keep your lips sealed,” I snapped.
Lilith hissed.
Vladis chuckled again. The sound slid over my skin like hot ink.
He stopped before a portrait, speaking without turning. “The issue of contention is your dormant vampire side.”
Ice washed over my body.
On the wall were three life-sized portraits I hadn’t paid attention to before. Now that I had, I saw the likenesses of the Crimson royals.
Drusilla. Vladis. And… Lyssa.
It was like looking in a mirror—except where my hair was platinum silver and wavy, Lyssa’s was pitch black.
Full. Heavy. Dark in every sense of the word.
Her face was mine, but with long, protruding fangs. Her brows were creased as though the portrait had been painted in her anger.
My mother.
My vampire side.
The former queen of Veilmoor.
I fought to control my breathing.
“I know of a way to awaken your blood,” he murmured beside me.
When had he moved so close?
My eyes remained fixed on the wall.
“This isn’t about acceptance. The stone chose you. But have you chosen yourself?”
I dragged my gaze away.
“If you truly want to help me, then get on with it. I don’t like suspense.”
“It’s something you already know—or suspect. Something you’ve been taught to fear and avoid.”
I stared at him. Silent. Expectant.
“Mark your mate.”
A pin dropped.
He was right. I had considered it.
But I’d wondered—what were the odds that the same ritual that awakened my wolf with my Lycan mate would work with my vampire mate?
And then Drusilla had revealed I would curse my vampire mate if I bonded with him.
Lilith clinked a glass against the decanter.
“If he’ll let her,” she snickered. “What man would willingly contract a curse?”
Vladis turned to her.
The look he gave made even me shiver. Lilith’s lips downturned as she retreated to one of the open windows.
“Are you certain that will awaken my vampire side? And how would you know?”
“I know. And Nikolai believes it.”
“H-he does?” I stuttered.
“He confessed you’d do anything to mark him if you were certain it would work. He didn’t look pleased by the prospect.”
My heart clenched.
“There’s one more thing,” Vladis continued.
My mind felt fractured, stretched too thin—but curiosity won.
“What?”
“There’s every chance that even when you bond your mate and awaken your powers, the curse will not follow.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“When Lyssa was injected with the Curse of Wrath, it was formulated specifically for her. It was most potent because it was intended.”
“That’s not proof—”
“If you truly carried the curse, it would have manifested at birth.” His eyes honed. “You were afflicted when you inhaled her blood because the curse was in her—not you.”
Hope bloomed in my chest…
No. I couldn’t afford to fall for this web.
“I don’t trust you.”
He laughed, deep and throaty.
“As you shouldn’t.”
He placed a hand on my shoulder, steering me toward my mother’s portrait.
Her eyes were painted so deftly they looked alive. She glared at me. I stared back, fear and awe tangling with yearning.
What would it have been like to be raised by her, before the curse? Or even after?
Who would I have become?
“My sister ushered in a new era,” Vladis said softly. “She paid with her very identity. Her life.”
We stared at a woman stolen from the world.
“When I first saw you, my undead heart rocked in my chest,” he continued. “I swore I would redeem myself to her through you.”
I flexed my claws.
Right then, I knew he was lying.
Evil radiated from him like an affliction.
“I wish I’d met her,” I murmured.
“You would have loved her,” he smiled. “She was glorious.”
And by glorious, I knew he meant during her massacres.
I’d had enough.
“The ceremony,” I muttered.
“Of course.”
I walked to the door—then stopped.
He tilted his head, expectant.
I hated needing him.
“Will you please trace me to the ceremony?” I ground out.
“Of course.” He traced the short, walkable distance to me.
Show-off.
Lilith watched from the window.
“Remain scarce,” Vladis ordered her.
I couldn’t help myself. “Why?”
He looked down at me, amused.
“Because Nikolai will take her head for laying a hand on his queen.”
I glanced back at Lilith. Her eyes were slitted, fists clenched.
Nikolai had known about the attack.
But would he really keep his word this time—and kill Lilith for me?