Page 105 of Claimed By Fangs and Darkness

My body was still. I absorbed every slip of information, ignoring the sickness in my gut and the shame lodged in my throat.

Would I have fallen for this if I’d never killed my coven? If I’d been sent to live with Aster instead? What about if I’d met Aster before Kylo, before I’d learned what true love was? At what point in my life would I have been too vulnerable and unable to resist Aster’s meticulous, predatory methods of control?

I felt the weight of my collar, the reminder of Kylo’s devotion. His unselfish, steady, nurturing love. And beneath the glamour, I connected with the mark of the clan and my connection to Hekate.

The magick that had protected me before I’d ever known the protection of a man.

“Do you still read?” Aster asked.

I nodded. “Of course.”

He smiled as if he were winning. Like he’d already won.

He continued to make small talk, never once mentioning the turned. I attempted two more careful attempts to discuss Juliette and what was happening in Etherdale, but Aster shut the conversations down and swiftly redirected to more questions aboutme.

At dinner, I sat with him on one side of the long dining table while Juliette and Conrad sat on the other. For a moment, it appeared as though Juliette was on the verge of tears. Her hands were in her lap, her eyes empty. But in the next blink, she was smiling and staring creepily at me once more.

The born were on their best behavior as delicacies were served and blood was poured. Not a single human looked less than happy and radiant as they served the vampires.

I’d seen the born when they weren’t civilized. The way they fed recklessly, tossing dead humans to the side once drained.

That was what my brother’s assaulter Vernon had done the night we ran. He’d laughed and cursed, as if it were a harmless mistake to kill the woman in his arms. A witch elder had said she was a whore, anyway.

I wondered if this table thoughtIwas a whore.

Every once in a while, I’d catch a vampire staring my way, and the answer was obvious. The downturn of their lips, the smugness in their eyes. The disdain mixed with tinges of curiosity and hunger.

Aster wouldn’t even be interested in me nor Juliette if we had been full-blooded witches. It was our humanity that made our blood so unique and special to the born. They wanted to suck out our innocence until we were just as empty as they were inside.

I managed to eat, still refusing to touch any liquid other than water. I nibbled on the small plates of artfully arranged meats and vegetables drizzled with rich sauce.

“Do you enjoy dessert, Evie?” Aster asked.

Juliette watched me from across the table. Every time Aster asked me a question, she stopped whatever she was doing to listen, to absorb.

“As much as the next person, I suppose,” I said, refusing to give a genuine answer.

Aster twirled one of my strands of hair around his fingers, testing me. I fought the urge to pull away. “I’ve always loved your blonde hair. It’s even prettier now, more complex. Just like you, dear.”

I stared at him. Then I raised my gaze toward the clock over his shoulder. I only had thirty more minutes until I needed to be out of here and back with Kylo.

Otherwise, he’d come for me no matter the consequences.

“Stay for dessert,” Aster said, his voice a low caress as he leaned closer. “Then I can walk you out.”

I nodded and sipped from my glass of water.

On the other side of the table, the born were laughing about some elite sporting tournament I’d never heard of. They were discussing betting strategy, throwing out monetary sums most mortals couldn’t even conceptualize.

Music danced through the space. Elixir and alcohol flowed freely. Everyone was relaxed in their warm bath of hedonism and apathy. No one mentioned war.

A human girl fell into a vampire woman’s lap. The vampire locked eyes with me as she fed from the young woman’s neck. She winked.

Aster frowned at the exchange, shifting closer to me. He asked again about what I liked to read, and I begrudgingly offered a few titles.

He smiled. “I’ve read that series.”

I couldn’t help the flash of surprise in my features. “Really?”