Page 37

Chapter 36

Adeline

A deline had little choice but to follow, especially now that Erik had a death grip on her hand. Her skirts trailed behind her, and she wished the floor would open up and she would be dragged down into the fiery underworld.

But no. Such was not her fate tonight.

Erik gestured for her to sit at his right, the spot reserved for his favorite conquest—her, always and forever.

Baiting Campbell didn’t work, and now she was beginning to question everything. How was she supposed to win against someone this conniving?

He snapped his fingers, and a side door to the left opened. Adeline couldn’t see who they brought in, but the clanking of chains told her it was most likely a food source. Her fangs came in since she hadn’t had real blood in a few days, but she shoved them back, refusing to give in to the barbarity of feeding from a prisoner.

“No,” Adeline whispered as an emaciated fae creature was brought forward. It was a test. Erik wanted her to fail, expected her to. The fae’s eyes were glazed over and vacant.

“No?” Erik turned to her, his gaze filled with rage. “You will feed from her, Little Killer, if you know what’s good for you. I will not be denied. Not now. Not anymore. Not ever.”

I hate that nickname. Adeline swallowed, unable to even get her fangs to drop. She was not his little killer anymore. She shook her head, staring at him the whole time. “I will not.”

He knew she hated being forced to eat because he was the one who used it to control her. It was one of his favorite ways to torture her after she had rebelled in some way. Tie her up, parade prisoners around the room, pick someone random, and then bleed them dry while he held open her mouth.

“Get a grip,” Erik snapped, and Adeline’s past tumbled into focus.

“Get a grip,” Erik had snapped. His palm met her cheek with a slap, but she couldn’t stop the tears. She was covered in blood, wishing she could go home, wondering where her mother was. Delirium set in, and she thought, for sure, she was back at the castle with her husband, the prince. The smarting of her cheek felt just like it had when he used to hit her, anyway.

But then the frenzy in her mind quieted. Erik told her that he came by the old mill where she had lived with her sister and mother, offering to take the sickest off the hands of the living. But when he returned to her home, she was gone. Eventually, he found Adeline weak and disoriented, resting under the boughs of a willow tree, close to death. He offered her eternal life, and she willingly agreed.

And that’s how Erik had warped her mind for centuries. He told her the same story, over and over, until his lies transplanted into her memories and took root. The fabrications had faded once she met Colin and was finally, blessedly, out from under Erik’s thumb. After Colin disappeared, something inside her unraveled, so much so that she could finally separate fact from fiction.

Erik bit into the creature’s neck. It flinched only a little as his teeth pierced its flesh, but then the glamour kept it from thrashing about. Her stomach grumbled. Sure, she needed her strength, but in no way was she willing to compromise on the last thing that made her different from the other vampires.

“Such a shame you refuse to get stronger,” Erik said, as if she bored him with her morality. He released the shackled fae. A trickle of blood trailed down his chin, but Erik didn’t wipe it away. It dripped onto his collar.

He doesn’t want me to be strong, though. She knew this in her core, some little voice that told her not to drink from the cup or the fae. That he was setting her up for a trap. There was always something else with Erik.

“I do, sire, but I crave fresher blood,” she said, her words hanging in the air between them. She needed to take control of the conversation and make Erik believe that she would do what he wished with little pushback. After all, he still liked a challenge, and she wasn’t quite ready to give him the satisfaction of breaking her completely. “This one is too weak.”

Erik laughed, a sharp sound that pierced the back of her head with images of torture. “My little killer is too good for this fae?” He gestured to the creature, whose blood ran down its neck.

Adeline fought against the tempting scent of the fae blood. Her fangs elongated, and her stomach rumbled. She wouldn’t give in.

“Before you arrived tonight, I was reminiscing about the days of old. How eager you were to be here at my feet like a good little dog.” Erik spat the last word, and she felt it land on her shoulder.

Adeline didn’t flinch; she didn’t even blink—she stared at the pulsing vein in his neck, fantasizing about what she could do to end his life.If she had a knife, she’d stab him in the neck and try to drag it down the front of his chest, yank out his heart, and light it on fire. Or maybe she would wait until he moved in to bite her neck and mate with her, then she would grab his jaw and rip it off.

The violent images soothed her, and she wondered if his blood would feel warm as it splashed over her.

He folded his hands underneath his chin. “You used to get me so hard, Adeline. No one has been able to do that quite like you.”

Adeline swallowed down the disgust creeping up her throat. Erik must think she was a tiny mouse caught in the teeth of the lion—but she was done trying to play dead. Too often, it had brought her back here. If she couldn’t figure out a way to throw him off his game and reveal what kind of cards he had, then she would have to try another way.

He smirked, liking her speechlessness. There was something else he wasn’t telling her. The edges of the throne room rippled, and shadows played at the edges of her vision. She closed her eyes and shook her head, and when she opened them again, she shifted to meet Erik’s gaze.

Erik raised an eyebrow, and a patronizing tone dripped from his tongue as he said, “I have learned so much since then. I hope you know that I never meant to hurt you. Everything I did, I did for your own good.”

Your own good. He loved using that phrase on her so much that she knew he thought it would bring her to heel again. But he was wrong.

“My own good,” Adeline echoed. A devilish thought crossed her mind, and she realized that she might have the opportunity to be done with him once and for all. She cocked her head, schooling her expression. If she was going to convince Erik that she was complicit in his plans, just so she could get close to him, she needed to believe she was compliant.

“Of course.” Erik reached for her hand, and she forced herself to keep it there when he patted the top of it. He looked out at the room beyond, his features hardening. “And for the entire coven. Juliette included.”

What could he possibly be inferring about Juliette? Adeline smiled at him and took a deep breath to keep her heart calm. She didn’t want Erik to pick up on her worry.

He continued. “Our ranks are weakening; the vampires no longer outnumber the fae. We are a dying breed, and our union will make us stronger than ever.”

Adeline stared at him more closely. At first glance, she didn’t notice anything different. His hair was perfect, he had gained his composure after dealing with Campbell, and nothing in his tone gave way to his internal thoughts. But then she saw it—his index finger lightly tapping his leg.

He’s worried .

She had been absent while she hunted the were-shifters, and the amount of interaction she’d had with other vampires had been minimal. The only vampires she had encountered had been at the drop-off locations for her shifter kills. At the time, she had thought it was because they were told to stay away from her, giving her a false sense of freedom. But now, she couldn’t help but think there was another reason why.

If Erik was worried about his brood, he must think that being mated to her would offer an image of stability. But she wasn’t going to heel; she was never going to roll over and finally take it. Because she was going to kill him. And she was going to enjoy every minute of it.

“Sire, if I may be so bold,” she said before she changed her mind. “I think we should move the ceremony up.”

The entire room went quiet. Erik twisted in his seat, his sharp features highlighted by the flickering candles above.

Adeline grabbed the goblet full of that coagulated, sugary blood mixture. As much as she wanted to gag, she held it to her lips and took a small sip. It was still as gross as the first few times she drank, but she swallowed it dutifully and then added, “Why not tomorrow?”

“I was hoping you’d say that,” he crooned, a smile on his lips and blood still staining his teeth.