Page 8

Chapter 7

Adeline

A deline straightened, trying to add more height to her stature, despite his broad shoulders and towering presence filling the room. Short she may be, she was still strong and had centuries of killing woven deep into her muscles. She clenched her hands at her sides so tightly that the tips of her fingers turned numb. His eyes flicked to her fists, and his lips quirked into a lopsided smile.

He leaned back and crossed his arms, but he was still too close, and his scent clouded her mind. Fresh-cut wood mixed with leather and tobacco floated between them, wrapping around Adeline, wanting to pull her closer to this stranger. She almost swayed forward, so drawn was she into this peculiar feeling. There was something else there, too, but her senses weren’t as heightened as usual, and she cursed the lack of healthy blood again.

If she’d had a proper feeding and not the measly little morsel of rabbit, there was a chance she could have killed him quickly. Yes, the garlic-laced blood did make her feel a little lethargic, but it wasn’t going to kill her like the fables of old said. That alone wasn’t enough to concern her.

It was the fact that he had called her a huntress , and that now he knew she could walk in the daylight when other vampires struggled. She should kill him. Letting him live to run his mouth at the tavern in the towns below would destroy all the work she had done to keep her identity a secret. And yet, she hesitated.

She relaxed her fists, and the feeling slowly returned to her fingers and hands. No, she shouldn’t kill him until the effects of the garlic had worn off.

“Why do most vampires have a hard time walking in the daylight?” His voice turned gravelly. She refused to be sucked into the sexiness of it. “But you do not?”

“I don’t have to tell you anything,” she said, dodging his question. How was he so calm confronting her? He was hiding something, and she was in no shape to get into an altercation with him. But she would love to sink her teeth into his neck and feel him struggle underneath her. “Besides, in a few days, if I am not returned safely, there will be hell to pay.”

“It’s not like I can tell anyone your secret, anyway,” he whispered, leaning close to her.

But given the chance, would you?

His amber eyes locked onto hers, and she had to peel her gaze away. She feigned disinterest, but her mind whirled. If he knew she was one of the Originals, he would not be pressing her this way. Besides, what did he stand to gain from knowing even more about her kind?

The sunlight couldn’t kill vampires, as the fables all said—fables she had started centuries ago to keep suspicions at bay. The vampires were just more sluggish, as if drunk and stumbling home from the pub. Their reactions lagged, their speech slurred, and they were far easier to kill. Adeline had been desperate to please her maker so much that, one night, she had planted a tiny seed of doubt in some impressionable young courtier’s head.

This was why Adeline was the assassin no one had heard of. Starting the rumors about the vampires only coming out at night was one of her greatest accomplishments. She prided herself on it each time she heard them. As her maker’s right hand, she was responsible for orchestrating so many political maneuvers through the centuries. Did an elemental king die under unusual circumstances? Did a human refuse to marry, take a female lover to bed, and was that lover rumored to control every possible political move? It was most likely Adeline.

Adeline was the biggest asset to Erik the Grey, her maker, and his quest for power since she was one of the rare few who could move about in the daylight, unaffected. It was her ability to blend into both the shadows and the light that made her his prized possession. But it kept her chained to him. For the last century, however, she had finally been able to taste freedom.

Adeline was so tired of that kind of immortality. Her entire vampire existence had been in service to males around her. Rage itched underneath her calm demeanor. She clenched her fists tighter, refusing to give in to the feelings, and breathed deeply to calm her nerves.

The world swayed slightly, and his scent tugged at something deep within her psyche. Her hold on reality was slipping, and she closed her eyes tightly, trying to regain her wits.

She was not going to go mad in front of this man.

When the cabin stopped spinning, he had taken a full step back from her. The air went cold without him so close, and she shivered despite her best efforts to control her body and the fact that a fire raged in the hearth. Adeline took another deep breath, and the aroma of pine now mingled with a crisp fruit scent. It opened up the floodgate of memories that swam in front of her eyes. Were they hers, or did they belong to the rabbit?

A dark, ancient forest, misty and shrouded in magic…

Hers.

Damn it all .

“What makes you think I’ll tell you anything else?”

Was her speech slurring?

“Call it a hunch,” he said, and it sounded like his voice was in three places at once.

“You fed the rabbit something else?” Her tongue felt sluggish in her mouth, as if a weight had been placed on it, and she couldn’t seem to get the words out. She rolled her tongue along her teeth. The man tilted his head, regarding her thoughtfully. He was chewing something, and when he exhaled, a perfumed breath escaped his lips.

Dried berries on the ground, littering the pathway home…

Was this the rabbit? No.

“Mm-hmm,” his deep voice flowed through her like water, caressing her while it pulled her under.

“Clever boy.” Her hand reached behind her, and she grabbed the lip of the sink. Adeline leaned back, letting it support her weight. The numbness had moved from her fingers to her wrists and now her forearms.

“I have dealt with your kind before,” he countered.

“You should be ready,” she slurred. Her coven would come. And then it would all be over, and her hard work would slip through her fingers once more. And then what would become of her? “The juniper won’t kill me, you know.”

She fell to the forest floor, screaming out for anyone to help her…

He chuckled, the sound vibrating down her spine. “Oh, I know.”

The man reached into a little leather purse tied to his belt, withdrew a handful of something, and placed it in his mouth. He chewed far too loudly for her sensitive hearing. Her knees shook, and she spat out a curse as she landed on the floor.

Her cloak fell around her. The stones behind her exploded and knocked her to the ground. She crawled down the hill and underneath a willow tree, her heart breaking, her sister gone forever.

“It won’t kill you, but it will at least keep you incapacitated until I figure out what to do with you.”

Boots squelched on the ground.

“What should I do with you?” the voice whispered in her ear. The nasal voice was lethal, but she couldn’t move; something had hit her spine. What had she said?

Then…

Pain and bliss and terror swirled together as she clawed at the mud.

A shadow fluttered across her vision, and the man knelt in front of her, close enough to peer into his rich gold-and-amber eyes. Her body shook with fear, a reminder of the last time she had been so weak and at a stranger’s mercy. Surely, this man wouldn’t kill her? Adeline tried to shake her head to clear her mind of the thoughts that shouted warnings at her, but her neck was numb.

He wouldn’t, especially since he had polished her boots. Right?

His pained expression focused only on her as her entire body became immobile and her eyes lost their focus.

“Please just let me live…”