Page 35

Chapter 34

Adeline

T he throne room was unseemly warm, and a droplet of sweat dripped between Adeline’s breasts as she made her way confidently through the crowd of vampires. When she swiveled her head, the world swam before her, shadows flickering at the edges of the room. She needed to eat, and she needed it soon, but she would rather feel dizzy than drink whatever mixture Erik had wanted her to consume earlier.

She felt like a trapped bird, her heart beating wildly against her ribs. The other vampires laughed and drank from golden cups and kissed and fucked and danced while she walked by with her hands chained in front of her. How they could feel good drinking that stale blood while underneath Erik’s watchful eye was beyond her; she preferred to have full control of her body, and right now, she fought against her urge to flee.

One foot in front of the other. He can’t win this time.

Adeline straightened her shoulders as whispers floated around her, their words weaving into her mind like snakes. The vampires’ eyes flicked to her chains, but her mind was a fortress, and they were unable to break in. She could pretend for the next two nights that she willingly conceded her freedom. She had to if she was going to outmaneuver her maker and help Juliette be free.

Conversations dulled as she walked by, and the eyes of the others in the room never left her body or her hands. Or her neck. A few of the younger vampires stared, and Adeline suppressed a smile. Her choice to leave her neck exposed and on display was working. Whether they made way for her out of fear or respect, she didn’t care. Her plan was working.

But then her eyes locked on a vampire whose stature and position to Erik marked him as second-in-command—Campbell. The closer she got to the front of the room, the more intense his glare became. The two of them had always been at odds. He was lethal, as most vampires tended to be when their place in the hierarchy was threatened. And Adeline becoming Erik’s mate was the biggest threat of all. But his lethality wasn’t the kind that would scare Adeline, because it came in the form of carelessness and privilege. Since he considered himself nobility when he was turned, it carried over into his immortal life in that annoying way privilege tends to do.

Don’t let him get to you, Adeline.

If she could ignore Campbell and stick with her plan, then everything would be all right.

Sow discord among them. Get them to turn on each other. Wear down Erik’s authority.

She stopped a few feet short of the table, and Erik finally looked up from the servant he had been feeding off of. No one else in the room had a willing source. Erik used to bring in living sources all the time when she had been here last. What had changed?

Erik twirled his finger at her, and she spun carefully. He frowned slightly at her crumpled skirts and tousled hair, but his pupils were blown wide from his latest feed, and lust poured off him in waves.

Adeline almost sighed with relief. The first test was done. Erik had trained her to always be impeccable, and now, showing up just slightly rumpled, planted a seed of doubt. She was not as perfect as he wanted her to be, and she smiled up at him, knowing it would throw him off.

But Erik’s eyes caught on something over her shoulder, and the room went still.

“Find something amusing?” Adeline refused to turn, but would know that voice anywhere.

Campbell .

He had a lack of interest in anyone lower than himself; he was known to always get what he wanted. From his brutal help in torturing Adeline when she had first tried to get away centuries ago, she knew his disdain for her came from a deep-seated jealousy. Adeline was far older than him, by at least several centuries, and her closeness to Erik caused her to have a lot of enemies—Campbell being the first in line.

He used to jump at the opportunity to put her back in her place, calling it his “game time.”

Adeline wondered if Juliette had been privy to his twisted games, too.

When Adeline didn’t take the bait, he asked again, “Do you find something amusing, Little Killer?”

If the room were alive, it would have gasped at hearing Erik’s nickname for Adeline coming from Campbell’s mouth. It was already an affront that he was speaking to her, Erik’s future mate, without first consulting Erik. But using the nickname Erik had chosen for her?

He must hate me right now. Good. She tried not to smile.

That century of freedom had brought so much clarity to Adeline that she wouldn’t buy into his intimidation so easily, not this time. She could dispatch him quickly. If he so much as laid a finger on her, he would lose his hand. But that wouldn’t work for her plans, so she let it go and pushed her rage down, far enough so that no matter what Campbell said next, she would not be triggered. She needed to save it all for Erik.

“Yes,” Adeline replied, still facing Erik. “I do.”

“Please,” Campbell drawled behind her shoulder. He swished the liquid in his cup and then drank what was left, slurping in her ear so loudly she cringed. “Enlighten us.”

Erik was silent, viewing the exchange between them with quiet interest, and she knew he wanted to watch the game Campbell was trying to play.

Fine, she could volley. If she could keep up the ruse well enough, Campbell would unknowingly give her an advantage.

“No.” Her voice was clear, strong. She wouldn’t give in. She was counting on her resistance to Campbell to thrill Erik. If she could get him to react emotionally, then she could have the upper hand, for once.

Campbell scoffed and stepped closer; she could feel his breath on her exposed neck, the rustle of his silken fabric as he lifted his arm, the way his hand hovered over her shoulder.She could have easily snatched it and broken his fingers, but she let him touch her. She let him stroke the curve of her shoulder. Erik’s nostrils flared, and his eyes turned stone cold.

Good , Adeline thought. Let him get jealous.

Adeline stood still as Campbell trailed his fingers down her décolletage, drifting closer and closer to the swells of her breasts. He wrapped his arm across her, his hand grabbing the chains that kept her bound, and pressed his nose into the curve of her neck. He inhaled, humming quietly, and pushed against her backside. His hardness pressed through her skirts.

Don’t move.

It was moments like these that made Adeline a deft killer. Her thoughts would detach from her body, and she would breathe into the discomfort of a stranger touching her, groping her, covering her in their putrid scent. Then she would strike.Her nicknames in the courts of previous kings varied from Black Widow to The Asp. She was as deadly as she was cunning, which made her the perfect political ally between the humans and her kind. Her skills were the product of centuries upon centuries of training, mostly initiated by Erik but also by watching how humans interacted.

Males in power were simple creatures. If she played to their egos, played to their desire to conquer and bed, then she could mold them in her hands like clay. Females, on the other hand, were much more complex, and it was during her years spent as a courtesan while still a young vampire that she learned the most about the power of words and body language. Especially when it came to the cutthroat politics of being in court.

And now, Campbell thought she was playing the game with him, but really, she was baiting Erik. She wanted to see how far Campbell would take this silly little power-play move before Erik snapped. Gauging by how hard Erik gritted his teeth, Adeline figured Campbell would meet his end tonight.

She was hoping for it. Because the vampires needed a hierarchy, and if she could get someone as feared and slimy as Campbell beheaded by his maker, it would stir the coven into such a frenzy.

Campbell pulled her to him, and she let her eyelids flutter closed as his hand slid up her neck and tightened on it. She leaned into her pretense, letting out a small gasp as the fingers of his other hand walked down to the cleft of her breasts. He breathed into her ear, and she could smell the fruity, metallic tang of blood mixed with wine emanating from his mouth.

“What I would give to lick the sweat off your body,” Campbell whispered into her ear, so low that only she could hear. She leaned back, her hand sliding between them. Her nails elongated, and she fought against her desire to slice into him. Instead, she stroked him, and he rocked forward into her. His hand tightened on her throat. “I would fuck you senseless. And while you lay there, with my seed spilling from you, I’d cut off your head.”

The entire room had gone silent, and Adeline swore they could hear her heart thrashing against the cage of her chest as Campbell’s hand slipped down the front of her body.

She silently egged him on. Lower.

“Enough,” Erik whispered.

Even with her eyes closed, she could sense the rage pulsing from her maker.Adeline opened them, but Erik wasn’t looking at her. He was staring at Campbell’s hands, which hadn’t stopped. Both of them groaned loudly when Adeline stroked Campbell through his pants. His hips thrust against her, but he held her steady with his grip around her throat.

His hand tightened, and she gasped for effect. He could easily tear her throat out, but she would withstand far worse if it meant Erik would snap. Campbell grunted in response, dipping his head to the crook of her neck.

“It should have been me,” he said and traced his tongue along the newly knitted flesh of her fresh scar. His breath coated her, and she swallowed a gag; it had become even more putrid in the last few moments. She closed her eyes tightly against the onslaught of rotten eggs that wafted from him. Had he always smelled this awful? “I want to watch the blade slice through your precious skin, watch as you writhe under the tip.”

Adeline closed her eyes again, willing herself to keep going despite the very real fear that Erik and Campbell would carve into her again. What if things didn’t go to plan, and this was to be her life forever, constantly pleasing the next power-hungry male?

Not if I can help it, she swore. I would rather die again.

Fangs scraped against her skin, and her stomach sank at the thought of vampires feeding from each other without a mating bond. The implication had always been that it created a sickness of the brain. But as Campbell inhaled, pressing Adeline closer to him, she braced herself for the sharp prick of teeth and the feeling of being fed from—something she hadn’t experienced since she had turned.

Being turned was a sensation she never wanted to endure ever again. She had felt a pain in her body as the blood left it—so excruciating that she wept and clawed at the stranger who drank from her neck. She had torn into his hair and clothing, trying to fight her way out of his grasp, until she slipped into a muted darkness. And then, instead of pain, her body had been alight with desire. She woke with her lips around someone’s wound in their arm, moaning into him. Then she tore the clothes from her body and drove down on top of the strange creature whose hands roamed her curves with sick pleasure.

She could clearly remember the words he whispered: “I finally have one of you dans la f?ret . And I will have all of you soon, too.”

Adeline remembered when the burning desire had subsided—like the blindfold had come off, and she could finally see clearly. The scent of pine and wet earth filled her nose with a sharpness she had never known before. Varying shades of green took on more depth. Even the wind that caressed her naked body felt different. She was covered in their blood, and as her body came down from the high, she slowed her movements. That’s when she realized she was staring into the eyes of the strange creature who had visited her family at the old mill. She had found it odd; his words suggested he had coveted her his whole life. But she had never even met him before. Her mother had told her only what he looked like.

Erik had kept his hands gripped to her waist, his eyes fused on the curves of her body and the way her breasts rose with each jagged inhale she took. He forced her to stay on top of him until he reached completion, leaving bruises on her hips in the shape of his hands that lasted for days. She had never felt more disgusted or confused.

As soon as he rested, she grabbed her clothes and ran, not realizing what she was, that she had died and now lived life as a vampire. That she was a threat to everything with a pulse. A few days later, she accidentally killed her first human by drinking too much of their life source. Unbeknownst to her, Erik watched her from the shadows the entire time, only stepping forward when she wept in the woods, holding her fresh kill.

Then he told her an elaborate story about what had happened.

She had been so close to death when he found her under the willow tree. He was her savior , he insisted over her tears as she clung to the innocent life she had taken. He had done it for her own good , of course. Her mother had promised her over to him; he had bought and paid for her. Her mother would live a life of riches, but Adeline could never see her again. It was the price to pay for immortality.

If only she had known then that nothing Erik ever told her was true. It took her finally having the tiniest bit of freedom while she was hunting were-shifters for the spell to break.

I will bathe in his blood. I will kill him. I will kill him. I will kill him. She repeated it over and over in her head now, determination washing over her as Campbell’s teeth pricked her skin.

He pulled back, clicking his tongue, then purred, “I want to consume you, and I know you would be so good.”

Adeline shifted in Campbell’s arms so that her lips were close to his ear. Her chains pulled tight, and she resisted the urge to wrap them around his neck. She whispered, “But I’m not .”

“I can tame you,” Campbell whispered into her hair. He spun her around, grabbed her throat, and stared into her eyes.

Tame me? She met his stare head-on, despite the worry coursing through her. But his gaze was locked onto her cleavage, and she knew, in that moment, that Erik would kill him for his lusting over her so openly.

Something brushed past her ear, and she stumbled forward as Campbell was yanked away, his nails gripping her arms, scratching her skin as he was lifted into the air. The key Juliette had tucked away slid down her scalp. Adeline reached up with her chained hands as subtly as she could to tuck the key back, but she fumbled and it fell into her palm.

Erik’s hand was clamped around Campbell's throat.

Adeline brought her hands in front of her, gripping the key tightly.

He stared down at Erik, a sneer on his face.

“Do it,” he choked out. “Kill me for touching her. We all know you can’t stand to share the precious Adeline .”

Adeline stood as still as she dared, waiting to see if Erik was going to dismember Campbell in front of everyone or not.

No one spoke. No one moved.

Campbell looked Adeline up and down. Disgust pulled at his upper lip with a snarl, but then Erik’s nails elongated and dug into Campbell’s neck, choking him further. Blood leaked from the punctures.

“No one will have her,” Erik snarled. “No one except me. She is mine. ”

Adeline bit her cheek so hard it started to bleed, and she clenched her hand so tightly, the key dug into her palm. She was not property to be owned . She never was - not since she had been locked in a tower by the prince when she was human.

Looking back at her human life, she never wanted to belong to anyone in the world except her family. And then, as one does, she got older and the world around her looked different. What had once been a rosy, colorful life full of love and snuggles, age brought with it a different perspective. She saw that the magical soups that her mother often made were scraped together with last year’s stale harvests, how her mother stayed up well after the girls had typically gone to bed so she could darn their stockings, how the pots that they used to make music eventually turned into pots used to catch the rain from the leaky roof.

She told herself that was why she had married the prince when she had turned twenty-two—that she could provide a life of ease for her mother and a life of health for her sister. She told herself that he loved her since he promised she could return home to see them. It was the lie that kept her going until one day, the truth came out.

“No one will have you,” he’d told her on their wedding day. He was adamant that she remain in the castle, but later that week, she had gone down to the market with her maids. The prince lost his mind when he found out. He raged and ranted, worried his bride would be stolen from him.

“You are the most beautiful woman in the world, you are my wife, and the future mother of my heirs. I cannot risk you being taken and used against me. You will not leave this castle again.”

He set guards outside their door, had them follow her wherever she went, and increased the number of maids and ladies-in-waiting to attend her. She felt smothered, she was never alone. The days turned into weeks, the weeks into months, months into years, and still she was not permitted to leave the castle, nor was she permitted to see her mother and sister.

“You promised when we got betrothed!” She hurled a vase at his head, furious. “It was the one thing I asked for!”

“I do not remember making such a commitment,” he shrugged. She threw her hairbrush at his face. “You’re a madwoman. Beautiful but barren, deceptive, and mad.”

“Then let me be crazy with my family,” she seethed.

“Never,” he replied. “I paid for you, you’re mine. And you’re mine until you give me an heir.”

“I will never! I’d rather die!” She screamed back.

He called in the guards, who shoved her into the northernmost tower. As the lock clicked into place, his voice carried through the door as he said, “If I can’t have you, then no one will.”

Trapped but finally alone, she longed to be saved by a knight in shining armor, like the stories she had read as a child. But, soon after, the prince and his whole family had died from the sickness that swept through the lands. The castle was in mourning, but that night, the lock at the bottom of the stairs was left open. She fled from the castle, heading homeward—the only place where she truly belonged.

After Erik turned her, he told her she was free to live her life as she wished. Until she tried to leave Erik’s side.

Now, once again, she was coveted by powerful men.

“I will deal with you later,” Erik said, his fingers gripping Campbell’s neck until he gagged. He stared down at Erik with defeat, knowing he had been beaten. He let Campbell go with a flourish, and the vampire fell to the ground. Erik licked some of Campbell’s blood from his fingers, humming with delight while he sucked. His eyes flared with rage, and he waved impatiently at Campbell on the floor. “Now, go.”

Erik walked over to Adeline, his eyes scanning where Campbell had touched her. She tried not to let the disappointment that he had let Campbell go show in her face. It would have been the perfect way for her to sow seeds of discontent within the entire coven. She was sure Campbell was the perfect bait. She cursed internally at her stupidity, thinking she could get to Erik.

He was always twenty paces ahead.

“Come, Adeline,” Erik said and held out his bloodied hand to his future mate. “We dine.”

She refused to take his hand and gathered her skirts up, tucking the key into the folds while she did. Adeline had always thought that the immortality of a vampire's life meant that she was free of being beholden to men. But Erik was no man. He was a vampire, and she would always be his.