Page 149 of Claimed By Fangs and Darkness

Conrad swirled his whiskey. “Who is the man with black hair and blue eyes?”

47

EVIE

My heart tumbled. I opened my mouth, but Conrad spoke again.

“Juliette provoked you at dinner. That girl tends to know things she shouldn’t…”

I didn’t say anything. It was safer that way. I focused on my irritation with Juliette instead of my fear of being caught in a lie.

One more visit. I had one more visit to gather just a shred of evidence that could be used against these sick fucks. I lifted my gaze above Conrad’s shoulder briefly, toward the desk with loose papers strewn about.

When it was clear I wasn’t going to answer him, Conrad spoke again. “Did it feel good to kill your parents, Evie?” he asked. “To murder your entire coven?”

I frowned, my fists tightening.

“Is that why you’re so high-strung? Are you terrified of revealing that underneath the innocent exterior you’re as bloodthirsty and vengeful as the rest of us?” Conrad flashed his fangs, a shudder of pleasure rolling through him. “Whatever happened to the Whitfield family, I wonder? Did that feel good too?”

Both Conrad’s and Aster’s questions and self-indulgent monologues were designed to make me doubt myself and my family. They wanted me to see the world as they did: a place where morality was relative and the born were its natural rulers and nothing any mortal did could ever truly matter. We were nothing, and they were everything.

The only life in which I was free and protected was withthem.

“There you are.”

Aster entered the space, gaze darting between Conrad and me rapidly. He didn’t hide the slight downturn of his lips.

“Come, Evie. I have more dazzling on the agenda,” Aster said.

He beckoned me like I was a dog. Conrad smirked as I stood. He twirled a hand. “Nice chatting with you.”

Aster’s fingers brushed the small of my back. He regarded me possessively, relaxing once we were out of Conrad’s sight.

What strange primal urges from men pretending to be gods.

Juliette was nowhere to be seen.

Aster showed me books he’d found for me, gifts that corresponded with information I’d let slip about myself. He took me to a room with a telescope, where he guided me to look at the stars. He named them, and he spoke of mysticism and astrological correspondences.

He overwhelmed me with depth and philosophy and literature and cosmology. He dug for information, imbued his words with humor until he finally succeeded in making me laugh. When I did, his entire face lit up.

As I laughed, I imagined how it would feel to bathe in Aster’s blood while Vesper tortured Conrad nearby. Kylo by my side, showing Aster who the fuck already owned my body and soul.

It was nearly time for me to leave when a party formed downstairs. Music and dark magick echoed off the castle walls. Icould sense a sickly, powerful energy nearby as Aster walked me back down.

Before we joined the bodies cloaked in fineries, clinking flutes of elixir and feeding from beautiful mortals, Aster stopped me.

“Stay with us. Don’t go back,” he said, twirling me to face him. “This will all be over soon. And if you want to build a better world, we can together. I will value and honor your input; you have my word.”

He read the hesitation in my features before I could voice it.

“I’m scared of Juliette,” I said, the most convenient and realistic excuse at my disposal.

Aster shook his head in frustration. “Give her a chance. You two have more in common than you think. But I willnotchoose between you, nor will I allow either of you to hurt each other. Is that understood?”

I forced myself not to react to Aster’s sternness, the utter insanity of the life he thought he could manipulate me into accepting. I nodded.

“I need more time to think. Could we meet again Friday?”