Page 49

Chapter 48

Adeline

T hey danced. Or rather, Erik held Adeline firmly against him as he dragged her across the dance floor. Her feet were leaden, not quite healed from the spinning earlier, so she let him pull her around while she thought about how to get out of this and what the fuck Erik had up his sleeve. There was nothing delicate about the way he held her, either. His hand grasped her lower back, but he dug his fingers and claws into her side. She was grateful for the protection her corset provided; otherwise, she was sure his claws would have punctured her skin.

Erik spun her around and around. The music picked up the tempo, and so did their movements. The room spun with them, and soon she was too dizzy to make out who surrounded them.

The sludge she drank earlier swirled in her stomach, too, and it took everything she had to keep herself lucid.

“Adeline, keep up.” Erik’s voice was full of disdain.

She said nothing back. He continued to berate her over and over, and soon, she found herself agreeing with his words.

“I have always been so disappointed in you, Adeline. Time and again, you have let me down. Do you know how sad it makes me when you refuse to live up to your full potential? You have never let me drop your hand in this lifetime,” Erik drawled. “Always needing me to hold you up, support you, take care of you. It displeases me that you have never been a true creature of the night.”

A creature of the night. Those words were so familiar.

Erik whirled her again, and her shoes filled up with more blood. She stumbled a little, and Erik dropped his hands, throwing her out into a spin with disgust.

“Pathetic,” he said before he pulled her back in. “If you had shown even an ounce of resolve, you could have been my queen. But now?”

She swayed loosely in his arms. I would have been a queen.

But once upon a time, when she was still a human, she had forsaken that decision. She had chosen to ride her horse back home to her mother and sister and forsake her life as a royal. It was a decision she never regretted. And she would make that choice again, without hesitation. She only wished that she could be back there, with Leda, listening to their mother’s stories.

As Erik spun her, the room blurred, and the pain in her feet became unbearable, so she let her conscious mind go. And then it hit her: there was a memory lodged deep within her, one that she had kept hidden for so long, one that she finally released.

“Once upon a time, there was a lonely princess.” Her mother’s patient voice filled the quiet room. The scent of drying herbs and boiling dandelion tea floated in the air.

“Mama, I have heard this one already,” Adeline whined. Leda nodded her head in agreement.

“Not like this, so listen,” Aurélie said, staring into Adeline’s eyes with a ferocity she had never seen before. Adeline sat up straighter but still doubted this story would be different from the other fairy stories her mother had told. Once the two girls were settled, Aurélie began again. “Once upon a time, there was a lonely princess. She wasn’t just a princess but also a creature of the night. She could hold the darkness in one hand and the light in the other. Where she walked ? —”

“How is that even possible, Mama?” Adeline asked.

“Because it’s a story , Adeline,” Leda said, gripping her rag doll tightly to her chest. Leda loved these stories and devoured them each time their mother told them.

Aurélie nodded. “This lonely princess had the power of both light and dark. But she was forced to walk where the darkness would follow. Cursed to walk the earth alone, she was a creature caught in the twilight of the world between worlds. Until she met someone who was both the light and the dark, as well. She met the Moon.”

“But the moon is in the night sky,” Leda said.

Aurélie sipped the tea, her blue eyes flitting between both girls. She waited patiently until finally, Adeline spoke.

“The moon shines in the night sky, so it must be of both the light and the dark.” Adeline looked at her mother expectantly.

Aurélie smiled and said ? —

“Adeline?” Rolf asked, his strong arms wrapping around her. He held her still in the center of the ballroom.

She shook her head, reality slowly filtering through the fading memory.

A creature of the light and dark.

Her moon was here. With her. Relief filled her body. Maybe it had all been a horrible nightmare after all. She tilted her chin to take him in, reaching up to remove his mask. But before she could, he turned his head and kissed the inside of her palm.

She sighed.

Rolf’s amber eyes stripped her bare despite the layers she wore. She was exposed to him to do whatever he wanted to her. And she wanted him to do whatever he wanted to her, just like back in her bed.

She looked around then, trying to find a place for them to go. Somewhere discreet. Somewhere, Erik wouldn’t find them. But the ballroom was empty. The lights were still low, but the vampires were gone, and the musicians were gone, their instruments resting on their chairs. Only a solitary chandelier cast light—the rest of the room was full of shadows.

She grabbed his hand and led him into a dark alcove.

“Rolf.” She beckoned him into the shadows of the ballroom. She didn’t care who looked; she just wanted to be with him again. And here he was, in all of his wild glory.

He followed her diligently and then, at the last minute, spun her around, pinning her against a column. Anticipation and desire wrapped around her, tightening inside her chest. His arms framed her in, and his broad shoulders filled her vision. He leaned down to kiss her.

His lips tasted like wine and something else sweet, and his tongue tentatively explored the seal of her lips, teasing her mouth open. He held her tight, half supporting her in his strong arms, which was a relief since her feet hurt for some strange reason, and she didn’t want to put all of her weight on them. The soles of her shoes felt wet, as if she had stepped in a puddle.

“I crave you, Adeline,” Rolf slurred into her mouth. Or maybe it was her head swimming with delirium that made everything sound mushed together.

“You crave me?” Adeline whispered as he planted sloppy kisses on her jaw.

“I do, I always have,” Rolf said. He held up a key and slipped it into the lock on her cuff.

The chains fell away and she gasped. She was finally free! Her hands moved without restriction, and it felt so good that she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close again. He pressed his nose to the side of her head. She melted against his wide chest.

“You smell like him,” Rolf growled.

“Smell like who?”

“Your maker ,” Rolf practically spat. He consumed her exposed skin with his mouth like a man starved, and she felt her entire body melt into the support behind her. Her legs grew weak, her stomach tightened with anticipation. She didn’t care if anyone else was around; she needed him like she needed air. He started untying the ribbons that kept her dressed.

“What is this?” He hissed, pulling away his hands with a grimace.

Her head swam with desire, but she blinked and focused on his fingertips, which looked burned. “I don’t understand?”

“No matter,” he growled and leaned forward. “I need you.”

His lips trailed up her neck, and she heard the laces being sliced. The ties fell away as Rolf let the outer garments slide into a puddle at her feet. She stepped out of them willingly. Then he bent down on his knees and untied her shoes. They made a suctioning sound as he pulled them off carefully. His hands trailed up her legs to her upper thighs, his fingertips grazing her hot center. She moaned loudly as he grabbed the tops of her stockings and unrolled them, peeling them off her wet feet.

Then he stood and stared at her. His eyes raked over her chest as it rose and fell with labored breath. She was flushed, and the look in his eyes told her he knew that she wanted him. They crashed together again, lips meeting lips as her hands wove into his hair and his fingers undid the laces of her corset.

“No,” Adeline panted. “Leave it.”

Why can’t he undo my corset? She knew there was a reason, but she had forgotten what it was.

His hands stilled, but he had loosened the corset enough that an object slipped through. Something clattered to the ground between them, but before she had a chance to look, he grabbed her chin and devoured her once more. Their teeth knocked together, and Adeline slipped her tongue inside Rolf’s mouth, playing with him, teasing him.

But then her tongue grazed something sharp. She pulled away.

“What—” She couldn’t finish her question because Rolf ripped the necklace from her throat.

“No scar,” Rolf said, almost in awe. “How is that possible? Unless…?”

Her head swam, but she reached up to her neck and tried to trace where Juliette’s knife had sliced her open. It wasn’t there because of Rolf.

But Rolf had seen her neck heal with his own eyes.

He would know she had no scar.

“I need more, Rolf,” Adeline said. “I fear I am still not well.”

“Take it,” he said, his voice low and sincere. He held open his collar with his right hand.

Adeline blinked a few times, but the spiderweb scar wasn’t there. She frowned but leaned in, her fangs elongating as she opened her mouth and pressed against his skin.

But she couldn’t bite. The lack of scarring tickled something in the back of her head.

She pulled back.

“Take what you need, Adeline,” Rolf said.

“I—can’t,” she replied.

“Can’t? Or won’t?” And before she could answer, Rolf had her pinned against the column again. One of his hands held her up by the throat and the other held her shoulder down. “Then I will.”

She thrashed against his hold, squeezing her eyes shut, knowing deep down that something wasn’t right.

Adeline had shared more with Rolf than she had with anyone for hundreds of years. He was like a hammer—all it took was a simple tap from him for the outer shells of her protective barrier to shatter into a million pieces. Fate had led her to his doorstep, even in whiteout conditions. Her soul had known she was safe with him from the moment she opened his door. Her heart had called out to his for a hundred years, if not more, and finally, they were together. And nothing would take that away from her.

We are mates .

The blurriness cleared for a moment as a voice screamed inside her head: Rolf wouldn’t do this!

Her eyes flew open.

He wouldn’t, because he wasn’t Rolf. Not-Rolf’s hand tightened on her neck and her claws grew to sharp points. She scratched and clawed and kicked, but he held on tight. He shook her and growled, her head tossing from side to side. He opened his mouth, fangs sharpened to a fine point, and time slowed as he leaned forward to bite her neck.

This isn’t how I die. Not tonight. Not ever.

Adeline held her breath, but the bite never came. She watched, in awe, as thick, shadowy vines laced with thorns writhed and climbed down from the ceiling and up from the floor. A humming filled her head. Her chest tightened. Her fingers tingled. It felt like a hundred years of pain vibrated through her.

I can hold the darkness in one hand and light in the other.

Summoning the last of the strength she could find, she wrapped her left hand in Not-Rolf’s hair and yanked his head back. He screamed as shadowy tendrils snatched him backward. Free from his grip, Adeline slid to the floor, her bloody feet unable to hold her upright.