Page 36 of Bartered by the Shadow Prince (Bargain with the Shadow Prince #3)

The Visitor

ELOISE

T he night I turned vampire, I was introduced to a world where my body healed more quickly than I could imagine, where I could run as fast as Damien, break a man’s bones with my bare hands, jump so high that a human might believe I could fly.

It didn’t take me long to grow comfortable with those powers, even if they did come with a price—my connection to my anchor wasn’t the same.

I couldn’t hear Phantom when the fox spoke to me, even when I had him in my arms. Something about my vampirism had made the link between us grow staticky, disconnected.

Now that I hang bleeding in the archway, as physically weak as when I was human, thanks to the poison Adril has fed me and lacking the connection to my ancestors that brought me magical power, I miss it all.

I miss the strength being a vampire blessed me with.

I miss the connection I had with the spirit world as a human.

I miss my life before this unending pain.

At Harcourt, in Night Haven, even here with Damien, every day I had my freedom was a good day.

Only two things hold me together. First, I am still me.

I am still the woman who left Tony, even when he threatened my life.

I am still the woman who marched into Night Haven and took on a vampire queen for my mate.

I am still the woman who refuses to die out of pure spite.

I did all those things without any power but my own will, and I can use that now.

Second, Damien will come for me, and when he does…

Oh, the wrath he will unleash. I look forward to the sound of heads rolling, the spray of blood across white walls, the screams. It’s this I think about as the cane whistles and cuts across the center of my back, then my butt, then the backs of my thighs.

I can no longer react to the pain. I’m too weak. Too tired.

Blood oozes down my thighs and pools at my feet.

“Are you ready to swear your fealty to me now, pet?” Adril asks from behind me.

He’s asked dozens of times, maybe hundreds of times, and my answer is always silence. This time, I have no trouble playing dead. I’m not even sure I’m fully conscious. I can’t lift my head.

The bloody cane clatters to the floor. “Fine. Sleep. Heal. We’ll start again first thing tomorrow.”

I hear his boots clomp out of the room. And then I’m alone.

Everything is pain. I weep until I’m out of tears, despair my only accompaniment. Adril is going to rest, and then he’s going to wake up and whip me again. He’ll whip me until I have no skin. Will it be enough to kill me? I don’t know. Where is Damien? Why doesn’t he rescue me?

For a split second, I have the unsettling realization that Damien would already be here if he were alive. Is it possible the hunters found him as well? If he is dead or imprisoned, it explains why he hasn’t acted. Maybe no one is coming for me. I could be Adril’s prisoner forever.

My breath catches at the thought. But I know in my heart Damien is alive. I would feel it if he died. Feel it like losing a limb. No. He is coming. I only need to…endure.

In time, I go numb to the pain, hang my head, and will myself to sleep. It’s hard with my weight hanging off my wrists, my arms pulling at my shoulder sockets, my joints aching, my blood still running. I drift in and out of sleep, my dreams rushing to Damien again and again.

I wake to the scent of tobacco smoke. It fills my nose, and I blink my eyes open. I haven’t smelled that scent since Earth, since I was a child. It reminds me of my father’s pipe. He didn’t smoke it often, but when he did, it smelled just like that.

I blink again and am sure there is a perfect circle of smoke in the corner of the room, lined with symbols that glow in the dim light.

I watch it hang unnaturally in the air for a time, and then a leg steps through, followed by a body.

A man is in the room with me, dressed in an extremely proper suit with a hand-painted silk tie.

He straightens the tie, and an amethyst the size of my thumbnail winks at me from his ring.

The man brings the pipe to his lips and, with a casual exhale, blows away the circle he just stepped through.

“By the mountain, what the fuck has happened to you?” he says in a decidedly British accent. He studies me through dark eyes.

I attempt to raise my head and ask for help, but I can’t. I’m too weak.

He approaches anyway and starts unbuckling my restraints. “Damn it all, these bloody elves. I’ve always detested this planet.”

I collapse into the stranger’s arms. This reopens already healing wounds, and I moan as he lowers us both to the floor.

I’m getting blood all over his designer suit.

His white shirt is smeared with it. Wait, he’s wearing a designer suit from Earth and he mentioned another planet.

“You’re from Earth,” I try to say, but it comes out Yourth .

“Bugger, they’ve done a number on you.”

I try to swallow, but my mouth is too dry. “Blood,” I rasp around my distended fangs.

The stranger draws back, then uses his fingers to pry my upper lip off my teeth. “Bloody hell! You’re a vampire! Tobias did not tell me that turn of events.”

Tobias? I draw in another long breath through my nose. The smell of pipe smoke is still the predominant scent in the room, but now I can also pick out the distinct scent of dragon.

“I’m Tobias’s brother, and I’ve recently learned that two witches in my coven conceived you with my blood in your veins. Tobias made it sound like you were human, though, with some dragon-inspired powers. When did the vampirism occur?”

My head rolls back on my neck, and I black out for a moment.

When I wake, he’s pulling down one of my lower lids.

“Oh dear, we do need to get you sorted, don’t we?

Unfortunately, I am not supposed to be here.

Traveling between my world and this one is a bit tricky.

Different gods calling the shots, I’m afraid, and Thanesia can be particularly cranky.

Fetching you someone to eat is out of the question.

I’ll have to give you my blood, although I must warn you, the effects of dragon’s blood on vampires are well-known.

It will heal you and make you stronger, but it’ll also leave you sozzled and with one hell of a hangover tomorrow. ”

I want to ask more questions about that, but I’m too weak. My head rolls back again, and he jostles me awake. “Uh, on with it, then.” He presses his wrist to my lips. “Can you bite, or do you need me to score the skin for you?”

I’m weak, but the scent of his blood under his skin awakens a surge of predatory energy, like a wildcat able to add a last burst of speed to catch the hare.

I strike, and I’m so hungry that I swallow twice before I even taste the blood.

Damien’s blood is exquisite. This is different.

This blood doesn’t awaken any feeling in me other than quenched thirst, but the taste is like nothing I’ve had before.

It’s how I would imagine gasoline would taste to a car, and it does to me what fuel would do to an engine.

I feel all my capillaries opening, and the itch along my back tells me my wounds are healing.

I release him and lick the wound closed the moment I can control myself. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“What’s your name?” I ask him. Tobias told me, I think, but I can’t remember. My mind is too distracted by the pain, the itch of healing, the warmth that’s starting in my stomach and radiating out toward my fingers.

“Nathaniel Clarke, at your service. As I mentioned, your mother and father were once members of my coven, the Order of the Dragon. Although, if you must know, those two did a good job of hiding you from me. Nasty surprise to find out now, when you’re in such a predicament and on a planet far less accessible than Earth.

It’s my blood pumping through your veins.

Did pump, anyway. It appears you’ve gone through some changes since you met with Tobias. ”

“It’s a long story.” Too long for me to explain right now. I have to get out of here. I’m in nothing but my underwear, and as soon as I am able, I stand to retrieve what’s left of the dress I was wearing.

“Are you feeling well? Do you need help with your balance?”

“My balance? Oh, because your blood is supposed to be intoxicating. I’m fine. I don’t feel anything but the healing.”

“Interesting.” He studies me as I zip myself back into the purple gown.

“I have so many questions for you,” I say. “About my power and your coven. How you met my parents… I’ve been trying to teach myself their magic, but everything went haywire the second I set foot on this planet.”

“Forgive me for not finding you sooner. Time flows at a different pace on my planet than it does on this one. Tobias shared who you were and that you might need me. I was quite attached to your parents, but they never told me about you. By the time I tracked you down on Earth, you had left to come here. Your friend, Moon?—”

“Maeve?” I correct.

He snaps his fingers. “Maeve. She told me you came to Tenebris. I’m supposed to tell you that she’s been trying to reach you with the Hitch and Cast spell, but of course, that won’t work.”

I shake my head. “Wait, the magic isn’t working for her either?”

His brows lift, and he pulls his pipe from his pocket, relights it with his breath, and takes a puff. The comforting scent of cavendish fills the room, and I instantly relax. “The magic works just fine. She just can’t reach you on this plane.”

“I don’t understand.” I slip in my own blood as I return to where he waits on the other side of the room. Gods, there’s a lot of it. It looks like a blood bag exploded in here. I’m truly lucky to be alive.

Nathaniel takes another puff on his pipe and loosens his tie. “If your friend Maeve is to be believed, my blood manifested in you as spirit magic—you channel the powers of your ancestors, correct?”