Page 29 of The Book of Blood and Roses

“Cassie?”

Her voice is distant, yet somehow near at the same time.

“Go away,” I manage to say. The bath has gone cold, but I can’t move, my bones heavy, melting into the porcelain shell of the tub.

“Please.” Astra’s voice is tight, much closer now. I can feel her breath on me. “Cassie, please wake up.”

I do, blinking as I find her leaning over me, face too close to mine, metallic breath against my lips. I’m not in the bath, but in my bed.

“Must have been a very low concentration,” Astra says, one hand on my cheek, her skin cool and smooth.

“Low?” I croak, and I don’t sound like myself.

“Vampire venom is deadly,” she says. “And quick.”

When I was first recruited, I spent months poisoning myself. One small dosage at a time, my own personal attempt at mithridatism. But clearly all that work was for nothing, because the venom has taken a real toll on my body, weighing down my muscles. My period cramps just add an extra layer to the pain.

“If it had been a higher dosage, you wouldn’t have made it home.”

That word,home,is so incredibly strange. So out of place.

“It’s too hot,” I whisper, head thumping. The curtains of my bed are open already, but she pulls them further apart. Then she unlocks the shutters and opens the window wide. Wind blows in, making a mess of Astra’s short and carefully styled hair. Why is she here?

“I have to cure you now, before it’s too late, all right?” she says, and I blink, staring at her.

“Cure me?” A panic the likes of which I’ve not felt in years seizes ahold of me. “If you bite me I—”

“I’m not going to bite you,” she says, dumbfounded. She vanishes for a moment and reappears with a dagger. “I’m going to pour a few droplets of my blood onto the wound,” she says.

The wound burns, and I stare at her, my eyes wide. “No, you’re not.”

“My blood has healing properties,” she says, aggravated. She puts the dagger down. It’s close enough for me to grab it. I can still defend myself. “It’s an antidote for practically every wound and poison you can imagine.”

“I’mnotbeing turned into a vampire,” I snarl, and my hand is close, so close to the dagger.

Astra sighs again, shaking her head. “I—You do realise you wouldhave to die first for that to happen, right? I’m trying to stop that from happening!” She twists the hem of her shirt. She’s nervous.

“Why?” I ask.

“What?”

“Why do you want to help me?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do?” she says. “Just because you think I’m a monster, doesn’t mean I actually am one.”

I think I’ll recover naturally—but what if I’m wrong?

“Please, Cassie,” she says, leaning over me again, her brows knotted tight, as though glaring will somehow convinceme.

I have to sayno.

Just the thought of her blood mingling with mine makes me want to throwup.

“Are you sure it won’t kill me?”

“It won’t,” she whispers.

Clouds clear, revealing a full moon. A crow flies past our window, joining the murder that lives on the branches below. “All right, then,” I finally say. The moon’s silver glow shines on my bed, covering us both.