Page 40 of Chain Me

“You claimed you wanted answers… Well, do you?”

Answers.That wouldn’t break my rule, per se. It would be harmless information I could choose whether or not to believe.

“Y-Yes.”

“Good.” He rummaged through a nearby sideboard. After withdrawing something from a drawer, he faced me again, revealing the object settled on his palm—a leather-bound book, dark with age. “You can start with this.”

He dropped the book onto the table, and I eyed it as one might a bomb.

“What is it about?” I scanned the cover, more puzzled than ever. “There’s no title.”

“Consider it part of a private collection,” Dublin explained, flipping it open to a yellowed page. “A ledger of sorts.”

He was right. At a glance, I could tell that it wasn’t a normal tome. It was handwritten for one—a series of lines penned in shockingly familiar script. Names and dates. Reading them, I felt my brow furrow.

“James, Agatha…Mary…Edward.” I met Dublin’s gaze, an eyebrow raised. “These are my ancestors’ names.”

“Yes.” The firm line of his mouth revealed not even a hint of his intentions. Good or bad. “Every last Gray for over three centuries. Dead, alive, or otherwise.”

“Ah…” I nearly choked. No wonder he knew so much about my heritage—he’d studied it. Though a better question was: Why? “So what am I, the tenth Gray to fall under your spell? What, do you keep a list of your conquests to reminisce over?”

As much as the thought irritated me to indulge, I couldn’t help but wonder if Georgie was written in his little book as well.

He raised an eyebrow. “You still don’t realize the gravity of what you’ve done, do you? Allow me to enlighten you, Eleanor, but most people—spinster or otherwise—do not sell their soul on a whim.”

“You sold yours to Raphael,” I pointed out, though I didn’t intend it as an insult. Going off his stiffening jaw, I suspected he took it as one anyway. “I just want to understand. Why?”

He made me sound so horrible for forging a contract—but what might tempt the infamous Dublin Helos to embrace virtual servitude?

“It wasn’t a decision I made out of boredom, I can tell you that,” he said coldly. I looked at his face and braced myself for one of his glares, but he wasn’t staring in my direction anymore. “And it certainly wasn’t one I took lightly, even now.”

“It’s not like I had a choice,” I said, eyeing my hands. They were shaking. “Not the first time, at least…”

Signing his contract had been a life or death decision then—mainly because, unbeknownst to me, he had poisoned me to the brink of death.

“I believe your lineage may provide answers as to this…situation,” he said, changing the subject. “See if you can recall any forebearer with an unusual legacy.”

“How would I know?” I asked.

He looked back at me. “I’m sure your parents, who gifted you a gravesite as a child, regaled you with plenty of tales of your ancestors. Do you deny it?”

My silence gave him my answer. He was right. In lieu of normal childhood games, Georgie and I had recited the names of our forebearers as reverently as schoolyard rhymes.

“Read,” Dublin commanded. “Scour your memories for any relatives that stand out.”

“You think this…” I swallowed hard, choking down the wordcancer.“This condition has something to do with my bloodline?” I could have laughed. It soundedthatsordid. Until I remembered my sister’s secret life, that is. I grimaced as the true depth of my ignorance resonated like a slap.You’re so pathetic, Ellie.“How?”

“I’m not sure.” He eyed me for so long that I felt numb when he finally turned away.

“You’re lying.” I wasn’t sure exactly why, which was the confusing part. But Dublin rarely backed down from a fight—unless he had more to lose by playing his hand. “I remember when you taunted me about knowing James, my ancestor, personally. But now I find out that you have a literal book on my family, and you’re acting like it’s just a normal way vampires pass the time.”

By tracking centuries of genealogy. For the fun of it.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“I have my own avenues to hunt,” he confessed without turning around.

“Like?” I sat forward as he crossed the room.