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But there was none of that here as Lorenzo gritted his teeth, a vein popping from his neck. “He’s doing everything he can to establish the CEG as more than a reputable guardian service. Unlike you, who has lost her sense of duty to go play house with an egotistical vampire Regal.”

Katerina.

My fists tightened as a raging fire burned beneath my chest. “What did you just say?”

Choose, choose, choose.

He didn’t budge.

My voice grew louder. “Say what you actually believe, Lorenzo! Tell me how much of a fucking disappointment I am to you and how blinded you think I’ve become!”

Your hunger has grown.

Shut up.

“I’ve seen the two of you. The way you look at him. The feelings you think that Sephtis kid has for you. It’s all a farce. You’re nothing more than another plaything to him, Katerina.”

It’s not just me anymore.

“And you’re not?” I shouted,hervoice like an echo. “All you do is follow Lace like a lost puppy in hopes he’ll praise you. In hopes that he’d give a shit about you like you do tohim!”

No.

A rush of adrenaline spiked through my veins and then suddenly stopped, the weight of it pressing down on my stomach. The lines between Lorenzo’s eyebrows relaxed. But something clouded his gaze. Was it the realization that I was similar to him? Hatred for the thing he hated about himself? Pity that I was worse than him?

The hunger has claimed you.

“Nina. . .”

“Don’t talk to me!” I said, forcing my feet away, far from him. Far as fucking possible before it all came crashing down.

His expression dimmed as he remained still, my body sprinting before my mind could stop me. Or beforeshecould do anything.

What had I just said? What hadshejust done? The moment replayed in my mind with such vividness that it blurred my surroundings. I stopped in the underground passageway, the darkness sucking me deeper into the abyss that my words had gouged. The words that had changed Lorenzo’s expression in seconds. Ones that struck a nerve we had promised we’d never bring up.

Had I really said that?

Yeah. I had.

But he used my feelings for Alek against me. Why couldn’t I do the same? He practically threw them at my face with the excuse that they weren’t real. Wasn’t it fair?

The sorrow clawed through me, tears burning against my eyes. But they stilled ashervoice pestered like a fucking swarm of flies.

Katerina, accept me.

No.

It would all end if you’d do so.

Hervoice was a sudden force that slithered across my body and numbed my skin.Shewas the fire that blazed in my chest, expanding without a way to extinguish it.

You want them all dead.

“Shut up!” My voice bounced against the walls and echoed down the passageway. I quickly cupped my ears until I couldn’t hear the ringing that took over. “Shut up, shut up, shut up!”

Please.

Choose.