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“Oooh, someone got a life upgrade. Weird, how the parasite makes you feel as though you’re on top of the world, right? I can’t say I’m surprised to see you this way,” that was a lie, I waspissedthat she was standing before me, an equal to me, “But you’re wrong. Mercy, yourcreator, will always tell you where to go, and what to do. You are bound to her, serving her queendom.”

“She promised she would never take away my choice again,”

“Mercy is a liar!” I seethed, “She will give you pretty words and then take them from you. It’s the only way she knows how to live.”

I could see her contemplating my words. She seemed to almost believe them. Oh darling Cecelia, what did Mercy do to cause the waver in your loyalty?

“So what?” I hedged, “Did she send you here to kill me? Couldn’t bear to do it herself? I’m offended.”

“She wanted nothing to do with you ever again, Narcissa. You mean nothing to her.”

“Oh, on the contrary,” I tutted, “I think I mean everything to her. Cecelia, I have loved that woman for most of my immortal life. I will always be a thought in her orbit. You think she sent you to kill me so that you could feel powerful?”

I could sense that she wanted to answer, but her mouth pressed together in a straight line, and she pursed her lips.

“Mercy sent you to kill me because she couldn’t do it herself. I will always mean something to her, Cece. Whenever she is in bed with you, she will be thinking about me.”

Her face twitched, unwilling and unwanting to show me any emotion, as if I was the cause of her pain, and not the vampire we both fell in love with. The anguish on her face was plain as day, and I knew that no matter where we were, I would always know what to say to her to make her question the loyalty Mercy so freely promised. I almost wished that I had been given more time to speak with her without jealousy clouding my every thought; maybe if she had been like this, we would have been friends after all.

“We can’t let you live,” Cecelia said at last.

I sighed, tilting my head to rest against the wall again. I realized too late that it exposed my jugular, the neck an open space for her to do as she pleased. I sat there a moment too long, wishing and hoping she would just end it now.

“Stop with the dramatics. Of course you have to kill me. I would have been surprised if she let you keep me alive. I was once you, you know. I would do her bidding and kill her enemies. You are becoming nothing more than who I was, before you came along. Somewhere along the way, Mercy will tire of you and find someone new. Maybe you will be the next one in this chair, talking her next lover out of killing you, too.”

Cecelia frowned at me.

“You are an absolutely dreadful, terrible creature,”

“I hate to tell you this, love. But, you’re one of those dreadful, terrible creatures now, too.”

I was glad that it was the last thing I would ever say to her. I watched as fury erupted within Cece, rage and pleasure combatting one another as she raised her hand to my chest. I closed my eyes.

She dug her hand hard into my chest, breaking bone and wrapping her fingers delicately around my heart. I screamed in pain, it was worse than the turmoil that Mercy and I had been through together. I was taking breath after last passing breath, my eyes flickering as I went in and out of consciousness.

“You fucking bitch,” I heard her whisper as she twisted, and tore the organ from my body. If she knew what she was doing she would set my body aflame, crush the heart in her hands and leave me to disintegrate to dust. I had no doubt Mercy and that blood-sucking traitor Warren taught her well enough.

Things were fading, and memories shot through me faster than the speed of light. Was this what it was like, when they said your life flashed before your eyes when you were dying?

Cecelia smiled at me, a soft one that was meant to be between friends. I think we understood each other, in the end. That was what mattered.

The world was closing in around me.

I was living in a world of blackness.

49

MERCY

This was taking too long.

I shouldn’t have ever sent Cecelia down there to deal with Narcissa herself. She was still so new at this, and I felt as if I was someone else entirely, sending her without a guard.Or me. These decisions were unlike me, I felt like a part of me had been lost and I wasn’t sure how to get it back. Even Warren noticed there was something off, as if the person he had followed for so long was gone, and was replaced by someone he could no longer recognize.

He let me pace in the front room, conspiring with Henrik in a room not too far off, bodies too close to be considered just casual. I knew they were whispering about me. They gave me enough space to keep to myself, but didn’t stray too far. I was a wounded animal that was unpredictable. I doubt Warren would trust me to let me go off completely by myself again, from the shit I pulled with Carlisle. Remembering that moment of utter weakness made me wince. I now had an eternal babysitter.

It had been an hour before I felt her approach. Familiar footsteps came clicking against the floor. My pacing stopped immediately and I rushed to her as she entered the foyer. Warren was close behind me, leaving Henrik to make himself comfortable on the couch he’d claimed.

“Oh thank the devil, there you are!” I said in a relieved whisper. The air was still awkward between us. I wanted more than anything to touch her, to feel her and make sure it was really her standing in my home again. Instead, my approach stopped short, and I reached out pathetically toward her instead. She did me the decency of flinching at my attempted touch, too.