Page 116 of Chain Me

Old Friends

When viewed in the grim, overcast daylight, Gray Manor felt less like my old childhood home and more like a diving board extended above an unknown depth. Every inch we traversed would merely hasten the inevitable fall.

Yet a part of me knew deep down in my soul that we were bound to it. Even as the danger of the Grayne, and Mero, and Raphael, and only God knew who else loomed overhead…

Somehow, Gray Manor seemed destined to be where it all would end.

Dublin’s expression all but cemented that. He silently parked the car, his eyes a tormented silver—but above all, resigned.Whatever the witch had told him had sowed an air of surrender so alarming that I squirmed in the face of it.

It was the same expression he had been wearing the day before he’d vanished all those weeks ago.

Hopeless, vengeful, and cold.

Adara’s words resonated in my mind, a foreboding declaration.“He doomed you to a life that he will—at best—enjoy ten years of before you age and wither and die.”

His heavy sigh drew my attention, but he merely exited the car without saying a word. I remained seated as he crossed to my end of the car, but his hand extended before me was my only command to obey him.

I did, entering that drafty, unwelcoming home in his wake. I knew that its dull, dreary walls would never feel the same again.

The old Eleanor would have succumbed to the silence, allowing him to brood, and plot, and drift further from me by the second.

But I couldn’t.

“Talk to me,” I demanded as he started across the vacant foyer. “Please. Tell me.”

“What?” He turned and I sucked in a startled breath. Shadows enhanced the contours of his face, making him appear hollow.

He was before me in an instant, cupping my cheek in his palm. His mouth lacked its usual frown. All things considered, he looked more neutral than upset, but I could sense the tension lurking in his muscles. The dread.

Adara’s words had cemented something in him, making his posture rigid with resolve.

I could have danced around the topic, changing the subject to something trivial. Instead, I steeled myself against the discomfort and forced myself to meet it head-on.

“How much time did you barter for me? In exchange for Raphael’s protection?”

His narrowed eyes scanned my face with ruthless intent. “I’m not sure you truly want to know the answer to that.”

“Please,” I whispered. Though he was right.

“How much?” He stepped up to me, lowering his mouth against my ear. “Enough.” His hand twitched, hovering between us. Uncharacteristic hesitation kept the fingers suspended until, finally, they settled over my belly, remaining in spite of how I flinched. “Enough to ensure that neither Raphael or Mero—or anyone—will ever harm you.”

“Why?”

“What else was I supposed to do?” His lips grazed my jaw in an almost apologetic caress. “I tried to protect you on my own. I failed. Should I just sit back and let him…”

“What ifIsold myself to Raphael?” I countered thickly. “How would you feel?”

He laughed as if too stunned by the idea to take it seriously. Then his eyes narrowed into slits and I had enough sense to shudder. “I would kill you with my bare hands. Nothing would be worth anything he could offer.Nothing.”

Letting me go, he started across the foyer.

But I chased after him. “There is something you’re not telling me—”

“If I had turned you, would you have hated me?” He waited until I’d reached him and then flicked the curls back from my face, his expression unreadable. Regardless, I sensed he required an answer. The truth. “Would you have despised the creature you would have become? Something your sister had been conditioned to despise?”

“I…” Didn’t know. Mainly because that girl felt like a stranger now, someone I barely even understood. Fearful, doubtful, so determined to deny herself happiness that she’d preferred to await death instead. It had been easier that way; I could admit it now. No hope. No fear of the unknown.

No joy of what might come.