Page 71 of The Vampire Court
He doesn’t speak, though the muscle ticking along his jaw is answer enough. I drop my head, understanding. Saying he would be miserable would be an understatement.
Alaric shifts at my side, his arm flexing under my fingertips. He leans into me. The gesture sends a sensation of ease through my muscles. I wonder if he feels the bond too—the pull—or if he simply understands that this somehow comforts me.
“She knows you’ll protect me, so she’ll never stop using me against you until you either prove you don’t care what happens…” My stomach knots. I pull in a breath, waiting for a sign he doesn’t feel that way. “Or I die, and maybe not even then. You should consider—”
“No. Don’t ever suggest that again,” he snarls. “I would rather die than become her consort.”
My heart aches for him and the impossible situation he’s in. As long as I’m here, alive, I will be a weakness. I bite down hard on the inside of my cheek. Could I let him go, or am I too selfish, too?
We’ve tried to play the part of vampire master and claimed human while avoiding it, and in the end, we became precisely that. Now that it’s real, it has accomplished nothing. We are still in the heart of Nightwich after the two weeks of solstice celebrations with no hope of leaving.
I tighten my hold on his arm, squeezing. Alaric places a chaste kiss on the top of my head and pats my hand.
My gut feels hollow as the sense of an impending event grows, hovering over me like the movement of a shadow just beyond my line of sight. I don’t know what it will be or when it will come crashing down over us.
We sit in silence. I hate feeling powerless to help him. He has done everything in his power to protect me and continues to do so.
He deserves the same from me. I just wish I knew how.
I flick my gaze up and take in the sharp features of Alaric’s face—the tight press of his mouth and the slight crease between his brows. There are countless things we could talk about, but I think he needs this silence.
It pains me to admit it, but Cassius was right. I need power, and I will do whatever I must to gain it.
“I should leave,” he says after a while.
Reflexively, my hold tightens even when he doesn’t move. I force myself to release him. Straightening, I twist to look him in the eye and ask, “Will you come back?”
He lifts his hand and runs his fingers through my hair, stopping when his palm cups my cheek. I lean into the touch. “I will always return to you.”
Something inside clenches because what he says reminds me of his words from last night. The feeling is so overwhelming I don’t know how to respond. Warmth travels up my face and stings my face the longer he watches me.
“I can stay for a little longer.”
When I can’t take the intensity any longer, I shift and sit back, pressing my side into his. Alaric drapes an arm over my shoulder and pulls me into him. I breathe him in, letting my eyes slide shut.
* * *
My eyes flyopen at the sound of three swift knocks on the door. I blink, looking around. Alaric is gone, and I’m in my bed, covered by the threadbare blanket, eyes burning from exhaustion. The morning light is barely visible. I don’t remember falling asleep, but it can’t have been for long.
Alaric’s visit feels like a dream. I collapse back down on the flat, lumpy pillow, wanting to fall back asleep and remember the feeling of his hand on my face.
The door bursts open. I roll to my side, sliding my hand under my pillow, reaching for the dagger. Cassius strides in, stopping a few feet from the bed.
I relax back into the mattress and cover my head with the pillow. “What kind of monster enters a room like that?” I groan.
His clothes are simple compared to his usual style but no less immaculate, and his long pale hair is pulled back into a braid.
“Get up,” he orders, ripping the pillow from my grasp and tossing it. It hits the wall, falling to the floor with a muffled thump. Then, he does the same to the blanket.
Cold winter air wraps around me, and goosebumps form almost painfully over my entire body.
I roll over to my back and glare up at him.
“Get your ass out of bed.”
“The sun isn’t even up yet.”
Cassius takes two steps forward, the front of his legs pressing against the bed frame. He folds his arms and looks down his nose. “That is the point, little bird.”