Page 105 of Blood as Sweet as Roses

Damien frowns at her. “Amrita, I’m not…”

“Thank you!” she answers cheerfully. Then in a blink, she disappears, vanishing into a cloud of violet smoke.

“She…left her phone?” Lexi says, holding up the glittery purple iPhone.

Celine opens the wooden box. “Wait, everyone. There’s another piece of paper in here…”

She pulls out another roll of parchment, then hands the box to Renata, who pulls out another roll.

“There must be one for everyone,” Amara Moonfall says. “One scroll for every secret. Keep passing it around.”

The box goes around the table, each person pulling out their scroll.

“Mine doesn’t have anything to do with OanaorCedric,” Amara sighs, reading the small scrap of paper in her hands.

“Neither does mine,” mutters Renata, although her eyes stay fixed on the words in front of her.

“My scroll does,” says Damien, his expression dark. “It just says, ‘Oana knows your intentions.’”

“Mine says the same, about Cedric,” Celine adds, crumplingher scroll in her fist.

“That doesn’t bode well,” Murad mutters, taking his scroll from the box.

Then he hands it to me.

I take the tiny slip of paper. It’s thin, with curved, elegant writing.

There are only two words on my paper.

The worst two words I could imagine.

My scroll reads,

“It’s her.”

CHAPTER 37: WHEN WORDS FAIL

Crimson

I take a heavy swig of distilled blood from my glass, but it doesn’t revitalize me the way I desperately need it to. The bartender refills it immediately without asking, or making eye contact with me. I’m sitting at the sleek bar of the Respite’s renowned restaurant-lounge, so I suspect he’s used to serving vampires, but I’m aware that I still have a chilling affect on most living humans, regardless of their familiarity with the magical world.

Perhaps I should go down to the vampire club, hidden deep under the hotel. I’m sure there would be plenty of breathers willing to offer me their blood. It would satisfy my bloodlust and distract me until the dawn. But somehow, I can’t work up the heart.

The other option is to go back down to my suite. But I’m concerned I would run into Paige, and I don’t know what I’ll do if I see her. I’ve spent my entire vampiric existence in the shadow of that prophecy, telling myself that it’s nonsense, that I could never fall for a living human, and would certainly never allow myself to be undone by one.

I’ve spent so long being careful…rotating the humans I drink from, focusing on the vampire politics of my clan, keeping every human at arm’s length.

How did she get in? How could this have happened? I was socareful…

I just thought that, with Xavian gone, I could finally allow myself a respite. A moment of connection with someone. It’sbeen incredibly difficult these past months to settle into my new role, and I made the mistake of allowing myself to lean too much on Paige.

If she loves me, will it mean I’ll lose her?

Will it mean I’ll come undone?

“Is the blood that terrible?” asks a cool, sly voice.

Celine sidles up to me at the bar, leaning against its polished surface. The other customers and staff move even farther away than they were before.