Page 46

“Consumed in your dark thoughts, were you? Then time passed you quickly. ” She moved past me to the railing, her movements slow and sensuous. “How do you feel now? Hungry?”

“No. Dead. ”

“Then all is as it should be. ”

Cneajna was so beautiful she made me feel like an ugly little girl. Her lips were full and well-defined, her nose narrow and authoritative, and her sapphire eyes large and radiant. Staring into her face and truly taking in her features for the first time, I realized that this woman must have crossed over into the vampire world at a much older age than the other two Brides or me. Though she appeared very youthful, the maturity of an older woman was drawn into the delicate lines of her face.

“I was older than you,” she answered my unspoken question. “I was thirty-two years old. I did not have any children. My womb remained empty throughout my married life. That is why Vlad gives me the care of his Brides. To allow me children in this world where I did not have any in the mortal world. ”

“I have a mother,” I stated.

Cneajna’s jaw set, but she did not respond. She raised her head to breathe in the scents of the night.

I stared down at the wolves for a long moment. “We are like them. We are a pack of predators seeking out the weak. ”

Cneajna stood quite close to me. Her eyes did not rest on the wolves though, but on me. With a fine hand, she touched my shoulder. “Yes, we are. ”

“Why am I not hungry?”

“He has dulled the power of the hunger. ”

“So I will be ravenous when I do feed?”

“Yes. ”

“When am I to feed?”

“Soon. Tomorrow night, I think. ”

“If I refuse?”

“You will go slowly mad until the hunger consumes you. Then you will feed. ”

“I see. ” I pondered her words. “Then I will go mad. ”

Cneajna grabbed hold of my arm. “Do not defy Vlad. He will destroy you if he desires. ”

“I wish he would!”

“Perhaps that would be best. ” Elina emerged from doorway, dark and threatening.

“Elina,” Cneajna said in a low, warning voice. “Our time is at an end. We should go down to the chapel soon. ”

“Because of you we did not feed tonight,” Elina said to me. Her eyes

flashed fiercely and her teeth snapped together.

“Silence, Elina!”

I felt Cneajna’s power rush past me and over Elina. The dark haired Bride shivered and bowed her head.

“I will not feed. I will not!” I stomped my foot.

“You are such a weakling. I cannot understand why he wanted you. ” Elina sneered at me, her pretty face twisting into a mask of loathing.

“I wish he had not wanted me. I wish it with all my heart!”

Elina began to retort but Cneajna gave her such a fierce look she dared not continue. She shrank back a few steps.