Chapter 112 Death Sentence
❀ Maeve ❀
One second I was deep in sleep, my only canvas the dark drape of darkness.
Next, I shot awake, my eyes opening as though I had only blinked. My head was laid on a hard, familiar surface.
I stretched my legs and arms, a long groan of satisfaction pouring from my lips.
Nikolai’s chest was still beneath me, and as I traced the dips and swells of his sides, my lips curled.
No words were uttered, but I could feel the disbelief and shock coiled tight in his body.
My gums ached and there was a new, ever-present length pressing against my lips.
Vampire fangs? Dare I hope?
Since I was a born vampire, would my transformation be less complicated?
To be able to trace… gods, my heart pounded with excitement.
But I didn’t dare move. Nikolai was silent beneath me, his heartbeat ragged. Was he pissed? Disappointed?
Why wouldn’t he say something… the tension was killing me—
“What have you done?” His tone was steel.
I wiped the smile from my face.
As regal as I could muster, I pressed my hands on his chest to sit up, still straddling him.
My gaze immediately shot to his neck. It was bloody and red, but healed. From the amount of blood dried on his skin and spilled on the sheets, I’d been rough with it.
I jolted when our gazes met.
He was furious. Fists stil clenched above his head in the cuffs.
I lifted my chin. “There was no other way. You said it yourself. I had to get my powers or forever be at risk.”
Then I remembered something Vladis had said, and my ire built.
I glared down at him. “You knew I would want to mark you if I definitely knew it would awaken my vampire side. You knew marking you would work. Don’t deny it.”
His eyes flashed, and he suddenly jerked his wrists against the cuffs. “Release me!”
My hand flashed to his throat, claws out. “You forget who you’re speaking to,” I hissed. “I am your queen.”
He held his face straight, furious gaze burning into mine. “All I asked for was one thing. Trust. You chose to doom us both, and for what?”
“For what?” I let out a harsh laugh. “You basically kept me captive here! I barely defended myself from Lilith when she tried to kill me. If Drusilla or Vladis had had plots that required my early death, I’d be dead and you know it!”
“I told you to trust me!” he spat back.
I’d never seen Nikolai this enraged. Was it so bad to share a maybe curse with his bride?
“I didn’t do this on a whim, you know.” I slid off him, taming my hair with shaky fingers. “I’m not that careless. Besides, I already suspected completing our bond would awaken me.”
“I’m sure you know what happens next. How do you plan on surviving through the rage?”
I whirled on him to yell, “We might not even have it!”
“So your decision was hinged on a maybe?”
“Vladis told me there was a high chance we wouldn’t get it—”
Nikolai’s jaw slackened. “And you believed him?”
“Don’t look at me like I’m stupid!”
“You were careless,” he sneered. “Release me this instant.”
He gave another harsh tug on the cuffs, and while they didn’t break, the frame of the bed creaked sharply.
“Why?” I folded my arms. “So you can walk into the sun? Is it so terrible? Sharing a curse?”
“You should’ve talked to me…”
“Like you talked to me?” I was looking down at him now, tears stinging my eyes. “You never listen to me. You decide for both of us and somehow think that’s okay—”
“I had an antidote!” he bellowed.
His eyes were dark, veins standing out in relief.
His hands had started to bleed from his struggles. The sight of it made me pause. Riveted.
“What are you talking about?” I forced out, head pounding.
“A potion from witches across the sea. They’d seen enough similar cases to whip up a cure-all.”
My chest instantly lightened. I spread my hands in relief.
“Then that’s great!” I said, moving to release him. “Why didn’t you just say so?”
A cure? It seemed the goddess was looking down on me after all.
The cuffs fell open as I turned the small key.
Nikolai immediately stood up, looming over me. “Alas, it’s useless now.”
My mind blanked. “Useless?”
“They’d expressly said to take it before the bonding. Not during, not after. It was supposed to be a preventive, not an entire cure.”
My brows tightened as I stared at him. My heart sank slowly. Inch by tortuous inch.
“Wait. You had this cure, for how long?”
He was pulling on the shredded pieces of his shirt. The light was harsh on his skin, making his face look more wicked. Lethal.
“I’d planned to give it to you tonight, but you left that message about needing me. To talk. To hold you and remind you you were loved.” He pinned me with a look so stark I took a step back. “I was going to trace back for it at just the right moment.”
I clasped my hands together.
It couldn’t be.
Had I made a grave mistake?
By not sharing my plan and desire with Nikolai, I’d ruined our chance, perhaps the best and only chance we’d ever get.
I squeezed my fists.
“Where is it?” I demanded. “It could still work. Bring it to me.”
“Can you hear yourself?” he chuckled. “Bring it to you? Am I just one of your subjects then? To be used and discarded, undeserving of even a proper apology?”
“I did this for us, Nikolai!” I raised my voice. “How was I to know you had a plan? You always leave me in the dark. I had to do something.”
“Don’t.” He turned away as if it pained him to look at me.
Hands in his hair, he gripped until the roots must have stung. “You did this for you. Not me. For your wolf. You’ve always wanted to learn to trace for one reason only. Now you can.”
When he began to step away, I jumped to grab his hand, but ended up going too fast.
I struck him with the force of a train, sending both of us to the ground.
Vampire speed. Even faster than a wolf’s speed.
We both stared at each other as we remained seated.
I held his wrist. “We both know you can’t forsake me, Nikolai. So stay, and let’s talk about this. Please. Give this a chance.” I pressed my hands on his chest. “Don’t you feel it?”
The bond was like a live thing. Electric and palpable.
I could feel him. His essence, his fears. His wants.
I was flattered to sense they all revolved around me.
Guilt lashed at me.
I’d made a terrible mistake.
If only I’d been open with Nikolai, we’d have had both the potion and Vladis’s word to go with it.
But now, it all hung by a thread. If Vladis was wrong… whether intentionally or not…
I shook my head.
Still holding Nikolai, I moved to cup his face… and recoiled.
“Are you okay?”
His skin was so pale it was ashy. His eyes more black than red. Lips pressed into a thin line, he grabbed my wrist in return. Tightly.
“I’ve never been so disappointed in you as I am now, Maeve.”
I gasped; his tone was so harsh.
“But right now,” he continued, grip tightening, “a hearty blood feeding wouldn’t go wrong. It might even soothe my rage.”
His tone was wrong. His eyes, his energy.
My stomach heaved.
Was this… the curse?
Vladis had been wrong.
“Let me go.” My voice was shaky.
I wasn’t feeling anything but fear and confusion. Maybe the curse would creep upon me slower.
Nikolai roughly pulled me into his chest and wrapped his arms around me. His breath tickled my neck.
Oh gods, was he going to drain me? He was insanely strong.
“How do you like me now? I’m yours to command, my queen.” His hands crept up my back, under my flimsy dress. “Your creature to do with as you please.”
His lips kissed my neck wetly, and he groaned.
My body felt locked within his hold. My chest heaved with panicked breaths.
If Drusilla got wind of this, she would kill us.
What had I done? As the last chosen heir… had I also doomed the kingdom?
“Nikolai, please…” I breathed, hyperventilating.
He didn’t respond, just kept sniffing me.
At that moment, I didn’t know which I feared more.
The degradation of our minds, or the death sentence I’d just signed us on.