Page 22 of The Vampire Curse

I raise a single brow. “Teaching her to dance.”

Lawrence throws his hands up and paces. “Demon shit, you know what I mean.”

I walk around him and turn off the phonograph.

“She is still unmarked,” he says quietly. “You haven’t even started the process. She barely has your scent on her and only because you touch her. Any vampire that comes within a foot of her will know.”

I keep my back to him.This again. He’s done nothing but hound me since the moment he arrived.

I look down at my hands and flex my fingers. The feel of her touch still lingers.

“You must mark her before the ball. I don’t care if she agrees or not—unless you’d rather see her ripped to shreds and feasted on.”

“No,” I snarl, rounding on him. My voice echoes off the walls, filling the room.

“Then mark her, even if you have to compel her into agreeing. Fuck, I will compel her myself if I must so you can keep your hands clean.”

His offer is tempting but pointless. I would have compelled her myself if the thought of doing that to anyone didn’t disgust me.

“That will not be necessary,” I say.

And now it truly won’t. Clara will not need my mark.

“I will not be able to keep this a secret from Elizabeth. You know that. She would have my head on a pike if I even tried.”

“I know.”

“Then, you’ll do it?”

“I will make sure that Clara is taken care of,” I say.

It is not a lie. I have every intention of making sure she is safe long before I must leave for Nightwich. It will be tricky, but it will work.

There is no other choice.

Chapter Eight

Clara

Kitty is engagedto a young man named Abraham Morgan. It’s a good, strong name, and he comes from a good family.

I’m stunned and so happy for her. I don’t know how she managed to secure the engagement. Perhaps they fell in love and his family overlooked the meager dowry I'd managed to save.

I clutch the letter to my chest and hurry down the hall. I want to write back and congratulate her.

I come up short as I go to round the corner that will lead to my rooms when I nearly run into Della, with Cassius and Victor a few paces behind her. While Victor shows no emotion, the smile on Cassius’s face borders on sensual in an unnerving way.

Della’s eyes narrow, glancing from my face to the letter I hold to my chest. I smile demurely and move to walk along the wall, almost expecting one of them to stop me, but they don’t.

Once I’m back in my room, I leap onto the bed and read the letter a dozen times over. Abraham, her fiancé from what I can tell, he is completely enamored with her. When she mentions him, her handwriting swoops more and has a hurried look to it. I can tell she is just as infatuated with him.

Soon, Kitty will have everything I’ve ever wanted for her.

And yet, under all my happiness, I can feel my heart trying not to break because I will not be there for the happiest day of her life.

A knock on the door startles me. Looking up for the first time since I sat down, I realize several hours have passed. The door opens before I can get up to answer it, and Alaric steps in, closing it quietly behind him.

“Are you all right, Clara?” he asks.