Page 126 of A Vow of Shadow and Blood

“It matters to me,” he says softly. “Adina, I will burn this entire realm and every vampire in it to ash if they even think of harming you.”

“That’s the bond speaking.”

He shakes his head. “No, it’s not.”

He moves to take a step forward, but I raise a hand to stop him.

“Don’t.”

Before he can say another word, I bolt out of the room. This is too much. The bond between us is clouding things and making us act foolishly. He’s a vampire, and the more I learn that he may not be the monster I thought he was, the more my feelings and the bond get blurred. And if I’m going to save Willow and make sure that Tori didn’t die in vain, I cannot allow him to cloud my judgment. I will not allow myself to feel these things. It goes against everything I have ever believed. It’s a betrayal to every human who has ever died under the watch of a vampire, and I can’t carry the weight of that on my shoulders. I cannot be a traitor to my people.

“Tell me again about the first time you spoke to the boy?” Iza’s words pull me from my lingering thoughts. Ever since I left Karius in his study, my mind has been stuck on what he did and everything he said after. A strange feeling keeps twisting inside of me, and I don’t know whether it’s normal. I have spent the last year of my life killing vampires to keep my sister alive. But the idea that someone would kill someone simply because they hurt me is leaving me with feelings I can’t explain. I’ve always been the protector. I can take care of myself and everyone around me. I’ve never been the one being protected, and deep down, I think I might like it. Maybe I even need it.

Vincent wasn’t a threat to our bond. What he did happened so long ago that I hadn’t even thought about it until I saw him again at the welcoming meal. And how on earth did Karius know thathe was the one who had burned me? The questions swirl in my mind, and I’m ashamed to say that with them, Karius is firmly at the center of every thought.

“Adina.” I jump at the sound of my name. My eyes find Iza’s blue orbs on me, worry marring her beautiful features. “Are you ok? You seem distracted.”

Now that is an understatement. She has the shadow prince on her mind, my dear.

Stay out of my thoughts!

“Yes, I’m fine, sorry. What were you saying?”

I scoot forward on my chair, leaning against the makeshift desk in her room. The others still don’t think that it’s safe to return to the library, given what happened, and I hate to admit that I agree. If the impures can really hide in plain sight, then it makes it next to impossible to trust even a single human that we come into contact with. Julian could be controlling any of them. He could be using them to spy on us. Until we know how to handle him, we’ll have to start taking precautions.

Iza had the brilliant idea of Finn creating a similar mixture to the one he made for Willow, but one that can be ingested rather than the drops that Willow had to put in her eyes. She’s had the kitchen staff slipping it into every meal the humans consume, but I’m afraid Finn can’t keep up with the demands of how much is needed.

“I need you to tell me word for word what the impure said to you the first time you saw him.”

I nod, but I can’t deny that the whole thing freaked me out, and I’ve spent every day since trying to forget about it. I still sometimes have flashes of his voice as he trapped me in Karius’s brother’s old room. There was something otherworldly about him, something that made me feel strange. Yet, there was an odd part of me that also wanted to feel it again. To unpick it and understand what it all means.

“I don’t remember it all. It was like he was speaking in riddles, mostly. He said something about me being exactly where I was supposed to be.”

She nods, scribbling notes on a small pad. I try to think back, but memories of Karius finding me that day keep intruding—how he pressed my hands to the wall above my head, his breath brushing my lips.Focus.

“He said something about tasting the essence of home.”

Her head snaps up at my words, and her eyes widen.

“What?” I ask.

She jumps from her chair and races over to where she has a stack of library books piled beside her bed.

“I need to find something,” she mumbles as she throws books down, getting deeper into the pile.

I watch in silence as she finally finds the one she is looking for, opening it and flicking through pages as she makes her way back toward me.

“Here. I’ve got it.”

“What?”

She hands me the book, pointing to where she was reading. I lay it down in front of me, my eyes scanning the short passage.

Many no longer believe in the gods, and the loss of such beliefs has allowed the demons that once walked amongst us to become mere myths, too. People no longer fear the monsters of the past, but they are still among us. They may not be able to create from the earth like the gods, but they can distort that which is already made, infecting things with their very essence.

I look up at Iza. “So, you think that these things are infecting people? I thought it was magic?”

She shakes her head, and I can see the excitement in her eyes.