Page 43 of The Vampire Curse

I shake my head. “I am curious, though I suppose you are right—it doesn’t matter.”

“Good,” he says.

“Except…”

Lawrence throws his hands up, allowing the curtains to drop back into place over the window. “Exceptwhat, Alaric?”

“Elizabeth is a creature of habit and Victor struggles daily to control his bloodlust. He killed a young woman that first night after I explicitly forbade any of you from harming the humans in this area. And every time we feed in town, I am almost always forced to clean up his messes.”

Clara had been too nervous, too inebriated to notice that the poor girl at Victor’s feet was dying a slow death and begging him for it. I don’t want to think what her reaction would have been if she had realized the truth.

“It was only one—”

The excusatory behavior sets my teeth on edge. “These humans volunteer their blood and they do so with the understanding that their lives will not be in jeopardy at the hands ofanyvampire.”

“Who cares if a human dies every once in a while?”

“I care,” I grind out. “Do you know how many humans I had to compel into forgetting that she volunteered? I made her family think she ran away with some boy, and then compel enough of them into believing this boy existed.”

I sigh and rub my forehead, using so much power to compel so many of the villagers took its toll.

“You care so much for these humans… you and your sister. I will never understand.”

I scoff. “Is there a single one of you who would? I’m surprised Elizabeth hasn’t forced my hand before now to participate in her ridiculous claiming.”

Lawrence swivels around so fast, the rug under his boots twists from the force of it. He stomps toward the desk and splays his palms flat on the surface of the desk, looming over me. “You know why she hasn’t.”

My nostrils flare, but I say nothing.

“If you were anyone else, she would have.” Red encircles his irises. On the opposite end of the room, Arinah lets out a series of high-pitched squeaks at the sudden pull of power he draws from them. “She wants you. It's the only reason she allowed you to sire Rosalie and allowed her to lower herself to feed on animals without killing her for the insult,” he spits the words. “It is theonlyreason why she has never forced you to act like what you are.You are her—”

“Don’t,” I say lowly, but there is a threat in that single word. Enough for him to understand and bow to my authority.

Lawrence straightens and looks down on me with pity. “You will give in to her one of these days, and it will be sooner than you think, now that you have claimed a human.”

He turns away and walks to the fireplace, Arinah skitters over to him, crossing the mantel. He coos an apology for taking power without warning.

I lay my hand on top of the paper I had flipped over. The hidden side bares my secret—Clara’s name written across the top, followed by line after line of words I wrote and crossed out… over and over. Unable to figure out what I want, or should, say.

Nothing. I should say nothing. Writing would be pointless. I doubt she would waste her time writing a response, let alone read it.

I claimed Clara knowing neither of us had wanted it, and she had made it clear from the start that she did not want to be here.

She left, and all I had to do was say the words that granted her the freedom she desired.

I crumple the paper in my fist and fling it into the flames. It catches immediately. Lawrence and I watch it burn until there is no trace of it left.

“You let her go,” he says as he continues to stare into the flames.

It isn’t a question but a statement. One I know better than to confirm or deny.

“She will not return.” He faces me again. Arinah moves from one of his shoulders to the other, their little pink nose and long white whiskers twitching. “You know it as well as I do.”

“That remains to be seen,” I say.

He is right. I was a fool to think otherwise, to think no one would notice. Cold resolve settles in my veins. It numbs my mind, my body, my heart.

I should have compelled that command upon her, but I didn’t want my last act to be one of control. Besides, compelling her would have been pointless. Clara made it no secret in the six weeks she spent here that she wanted nothing more than to leave and return home to her sister.