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I’m too confused and numb to say anything, so I simply nod, casting one last look at the stoic vampire behind his desk. There had been something between us. Hadn’t there? Am I the only one who felt the spark that lit when we came together? Am I the only one who ignited at his touch?
I don’t linger on the sadness for long. Instead, I channel it deeper, reminding myself that I need to find a way out of here. Away from these vampires. Away from my family. They’re using me. All of them. And I refuse to let myself be kept prisoner any longer.
By anyone.
“Do you know anything about my mother’s family?” I ask Asher curiously, my voice raw. He stays silent for a moment, and I glance up at him as we walk. He’s staring straight ahead, like he didn’t hear me, but I know he did from the way his jaw clenches. It doesn’t take a genius to see that he’s grappling with whether he should tell me the truth.
“Your mother’s people are very old,” he says after a lengthy silence. Our steps have slowed as we make our way through the room at the base of the tower stairs. The one that has enough antique items to fill a museum. “They come from Romania, but long before that, they wandered most of the known world. They are travelers. Most of them healers. Your mother’s family immigrated to the states in 1820, following their expulsion from Ireland.”
My father never mentioned any of this. He told me my mother’s family was a cult that kept her locked away. They wouldn’t let her marry him because he refused to be a part of their dangerous-minded community. He called them beggars. A community scamming the people around them for their own gain.
“Are they…” The word is hard to say out loud. Vampires are one thing, but this? It opens up an entirely different can of worms I’m not comfortable with. “…witches?”
Asher chuckles low, the small sound causing butterflies to erupt in my chest. It’s carefree and lightens the air around us. “Some. Although not every child born to a witch inherits abilities. Romani magic often presents itself when needed, and some never need it. Doesn’t mean they aren’t any less magical. Their talents often develop elsewhere.”
“So I won’t inherit my mother’s abilities?” Asher comes to a dead stop, his eyes narrowing on me, flashing a deadly hue in the dimly lit corridor.
“Where did you hear that?” he questions. The icy tone of his voice causes fear to drip down my spine. My heart quickens at the reminder of just how lethal vampires truly are. Even with words.
“I overheard my brother talking about it with my father one time.” I settle on a half-truth, knowing full well he’d be able to detect an outright lie. “I thought they were talking about money. Not magic.” Another half-truth.
Asher’s gaze bores deeper into mine. Can he see my soul? With how hard he’s staring, it wouldn’t surprise me if he could reach down into the deepest part of me and see the mess of tangled string and heartache the years of abuse have left behind. I breathe a small sigh of relief when he turns away. The weight of his stare nearly took my breath away. It’s that intense.
“You don’t need to worry yourself about that,” he tells me, stopping just outside the door to my room. No, not my room, my prison.
“Why not?” I tilt my head slightly to look at him, curious. He knows more than he’s letting on. His reaction to the timer ticking down to my birthday makes it seem as though he’s hiding something. They all are. Does he not want me to worry about it because they plan on taking it for themselves? Or because he believes I won’t be inheriting anything?
“It’s time for bed, little lamb.” He opens the door, a hand going to my lower back to lead me inside.
“Ah, yes,” I sneer at him as I step inside the gilded cage. “Used and put away.” Asher’s jaw tightens at my jibe, his fist clenching at his side. I wait for him to say something, anything, but he remains quiet, his gaze roaming over me once more before he reaches out and closes the door behind me.
I wish I could say I wasn’t disappointed that he didn’t stay, but then I would be lying to myself.
The hot water from the shower pulses against my skin, slowly working out the tension left over in my muscles from my conversation with Asher. It’s late, nearly midnight, but I can’t find it in myself to care. I’m more relaxed than I have been in days. Hell, maybe years.
My stomach is full of the food that was waiting for me on a bedside tray after Asher left. He or Drystan must have informed the kitchen that I hadn’t eaten. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until I devoured the plate of salmon and vegetables like it was my last meal.
My thoughts swirl in my head like water down the drain.
On one hand, I know they’re using me. My brother said as much, and I have no inclination not to believe him. Not when the Kings are obviously keeping secrets from me. On the other hand, the way they master my body with their hands and tongues…the way they make me burn molten hot beneath their gazes…
It’s only been twenty-four hours, if that, and already, I’ve run the gambit of emotions. Fear. Pain. Lust. Pleasure. How much more can I take? How much more do I want to take? For once, I feel alive. It’s as if I’m waking after a long sleep. The light at the end of the tunnel is growing brighter by the second, and I can almost reach it. But is waking worth traveling the broken road I’m walking on? They want to use me. They need me. Want me. Something I’ve always wanted to be. Wanted. Needed.
Loved.
Swallowing the bitter word, I turn off the shower and wrap one of the large, plush towels around me before returning to the bedroom. The Kings aren’t offering love. Hell, they’re barely offering anything at all. They want one thing from me, obedience, and so far I’ve given that to them. Not because I want to, not fully, but because I fear what they will do to me if I don’t obey.
But they need me.
And they need me alive. Which means I have something I didn’t know I had before.
Leverage.
The Kings may wring pleasure from my body, but that doesn’t mean I will simply obey them. My brother wants me to spy for him. Wants me to do his dirty work. He claims it’s to get me back, but I’m not naïve enough to believe that’s the only reason. He wants something.
The heirloom, perhaps?
It doesn’t matter to me, because I’ve decided to take control of my life and gain the one thing I’ve never had.
