Chapter 90 Violation
❀ Maeve ❀
Never breaking eye contact, I reached out to grasp a sturdy beam resting just beside me.
The wood was polished and long. It dragged against the floor as I approached her.
I was calmer than I expected, with one mission in mind.
“Ever been staked before?” I asked conversationally.
She tilted her head, fangs bared in an infuriating smile.
“Can’t say I have, no.” She leaned against the fountain, her hand skimming the slowly flowing water.
Anger spiked.
All I felt was violation.
She’d dared to encroach on my space for no reason other than to goad me. To insult me.
I aimed the beam like a spear. Just before I swung, I realized I didn’t have the same reservations as Nikolai.
I could kill Lilith.
A brutal yell tore from my lips as the beam whistled toward her chest.
She smirked, letting it get within inches of her skin before tracing.
I already had another weapon in my hands—a glass flowerpot.
Lilith reappeared directly behind me, just in time to catch the glass with her face.
Soil and shards exploded, but I didn’t turn away.
I savored the rage in her expression, the blood-red of her eyes swallowed by brown sand.
Her skin split and bled freely from multiple cuts.
Then she swung.
Instincts flared, a growl thrumming in my throat. I dropped into a three-point stance, dodging her fist.
“You rangy dog!” she shrieked.
I rolled away from a vicious kick of her sharp heels.
“It’s wolf, leech,” I sneered.
Throwing both feet, I aimed for her torso—but she traced.
Before I could regain my bearings, she materialized behind me, connecting a nasty right hook to my head.
My vision spun.
I heaved, coughing blood onto the ground.
Lilith cackled, circling me. Her silk dress gaped with holes, stained with blood. Still, she carried herself like royalty.
“You’re nothing,” she spat. “You may be the spawn of Lyssa, but you’re a disgrace to her legacy. You should run and hide in shame.”
“So you can take my man and my position?” I pushed myself upright, my wounds healing with supernatural speed. “It’s okay to dream big, but sometimes you should apply wisdom. Both of those things are unattainable for the likes of you.”
“The likes of me?” she barked. “I am a warrior. A woman of beauty, grace, and power—”
I raised a hand, expression twisted in disgust. “Please spare me the promotional material. You’re the help. Nothing more.”
Her lips quivered, joints popping in her neck. Claws flared as she charged.
I sidestepped, bringing my knee up toward her chest—
She vanished.
Pressure exploded in my back. I flew, crashing into the fountain already decimated by the beam.
I barely missed the broken point of wood, almost impaling myself.
She didn’t give me a moment to recover. Fists flying, she giggled with glee as she pummeled my face, chest, head.
Growing weaker, I raised my arms to block her blows, but she was so fast she blurred.
Is this how I was going to die?
At the hands of a jealous vampire bitch coveting my mate?
One that said mate refused to terminate to keep me safe?
I was on my own.
The reminder ignited a rage I’d never known. A ball of heat, eviscerating every other sense, burned in my chest.
With a savage scream, I drove my claws into her eyes.
Lilith howled, stumbling back.
Her hands, already bloody from beating me, grew slicker as she clutched her face.
“You sniveling bitch!” she screeched, swiping blindly with needle-like claws. “I’m going to make you pay. Tear you apart so slowly you’ll rue the day you were born!”
“That’s just the thing.” I rose with jerky movements, my spine snapping into place. “If my existence undermines yours, then surely you can see you’re the pathetic one between us.”
I gripped a particularly large shard of glass.
Beheading was the only way to kill a vampire besides the sun.
Then I looked up.
Dawn was coming fast.
Lilith would perish today.
She backed away slowly, her eyes regenerating. She cocked her head, orienting herself by sound.
“Think whatever you want,” she sneered. “The fact is, you don’t belong here. I heard you can’t shift, and you don’t even have discernible vampire traits. You’re a freak.”
She was baiting me, trying to make me speak.
So I stayed silent.
I moved toward her on soundless feet, glass gleaming in my hand.
Between her regenerating eyes, the approaching dawn, and the weapon I held, the morning could go either way.
Then I faltered.
My hand shook.
I’d never killed anyone before.
I was about to—but could I?
Nausea twisted my gut.
Lilith swung her head side to side. “Do something, mutt. Are you really such a coward?”
She would kill me without remorse. Without regret.
So why was I hesitating?
Why wasn’t she tracing? Her desire to murder me must have been overpowering.
The sky brightened further. I stood directly before her now, breath held, glass raised.
One slash to her throat.
Two strikes to decapitate—
I let the glass fall, choosing to let dawn finish the job.
She jumped back at the sound of shattering, claws glinting.
“You don’t deserve a quick death. I can’t wait to see how Drusilla punishes the help for laying a hand on the queen.”
Lilith rubbed at her eyes, red pupils nearly reformed.
She laughed.
“You have no confidence in Nikolai, do you? I noticed you said Drusilla, not him. You know he’d never harm a strand of my hair.”
“Only because of Drusilla. It’s simple math.” I brushed my skirts smooth.
Blood on the floor began to steam in the morning light.
“This only confirms my suspicion,” she purred.
“Of what?” I asked flatly.
“You’re the weak link in the Crimson line. Lyssa would never have let me live. Neither would any self-respecting, capable Crimson.”
“Accusing me of having a personality?” I drawled. “Fitting, since the only reason you were stupid enough to challenge me is because you have none of your own.”
Her skin began to burn, peeling back like scorched paper, yet she stood impossibly straighter.
“Enjoy the fantasy while it lasts,” she said calmly. “But know this, no one will surrender Veilmoor into your lap to ruin. At best, you’ll be puppeteered. And I almost wish you that fate.”
With a low, mocking chuckle, she traced.
My shoulders slumped as the warmth of dawn spread, light creeping over the carnage that had once been my sanctuary.
My eyes burned, but I refused to cry.
As I surveyed the destruction, I replayed my hesitation.
She was still a threat. Still malicious.
I’d had my chance, and I’d wasted it.
Why?
Because I wasn’t afraid of Drusilla.
I was afraid of who I’d become if I crossed that line.
“Your Grace?” came a hesitant voice. Then a gasp. “Oh gods, what happened here?”
Jessica rushed into the greenhouse, circling until she stood before me.
“Your Grace, you’re bleeding!” Her hands fluttered in panic. “I’ll call the guards!”
“No,” I rasped. “Don’t. If they didn’t come earlier, they were diverted. This was a setup.”
Lilith must have engineered it by stripping Nikolai’s mansion of protection.
Another oversight.
He hadn’t banished her from our space.
She would always be a spider on the wall.
The dam broke.
I turned from Jessica, shoulders shaking as I cried.
The tears burned hot, turning red as they struck the floor.
“Your Grace…” Jessica whispered, lost.
“Leave me,” I snapped.
I collapsed against the peonies, petals soaking up my grief.
Doubt. Fear. Loneliness.
The hollow ache of two incomplete bonds split my chest wide open.
Much later, when my sobs had quieted and the sun warmed my back—I realized Jessica had never left.