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I’d seen that smile he’d tried to hide. He’d enjoyed teasing me, enjoyed making me beg and then sending me away.
He really had been kind of a dick, but on the other hand, I’d never expected to get off scot-free. And if this was how he wanted to punish me, then I’d take it. He could’ve done so much worse to me, and we both knew it.
Now, though, I was so worked up, I hurt. I had to take a shower to cool myself off. After, I padded to the walk-in closet and pulled on a sleepshirt.
Kerry had brought a laundry cart of my clothes to me—things I could still wear like sweaters, joggers and yoga pants, along with shoes and outerwear. I’d stowed them in the closet alongside the clothes I’d bought in New York.
I flipped through my shirts, stopping on a new black top. I fingered it, a small, wicked smile formed on my lips.
Perfect. Especially paired with my leather-look pants, the pair Rio said made my ass look amazing.
Yeah, they were maternity clothes, but they were still sexy in a downtown New York kind of way.
If this was war, then I refused to be on the losing side.
Rio spent the morning with me, then left, saying, “I have to get back. Mrs. Park’s going to teach me how to make Korean shaved ice. She says she never learned how to cook, but anyone can make shaved ice—even a skinny white kid like me.”
He chuckled. Twilight’s grandmother had made a conquest.
“Have fun.” I’d have liked him to stay longer, but I was happy he was making friends. “And I call dibs on whatever you come up with.”
“You got it,” he said and took off.
A few minutes later, a soldier named Jasper arrived, a dhampir who’d grown up off-island.
“Hey, Jasper.” I grinned, genuinely happy to see him. Jasper was kind of like a puppy, friendly and eager to please—all the thralls liked him. “How’s it going?”
I stepped back to allow him into the living room, but he stopped in the doorway. “Get your coat,” he said, unsmiling. “I’m here to take you for a walk.”
My smile just hung there for a second. Then I pressed my lips together, confused and a little hurt. “Oohh-kaayy,” I said, and got my hiking boots and puffer jacket.
Castle Leclerc squatted on the island’s northernmost cliff, a four-tower square enclosing the courtyard. Usually at this time of day, at least a couple of other thralls would be out walking, too, but the courtyard was conspicuously empty. Apparently, I wasn’t allowed to see or speak to anyone but Rio and my guards.
The silver-reinforced main gate was closed, but Jasper unlocked the smaller door next to it, and we followed the cobblestone road until we reached the path that ran the cliff.
Sixty feet below, the ocean hurled itself against the rocks: smash and retreat, smash and retreat. A stiff breeze lifted my hair, stinging my eyes and nose. Sunlight glinted off the deep blue water, and seagulls wheeled above stark black cliffs softened by beach grass and velvety moss.
I drew a lungful of the salt-scented air.
This was Lilith Island, a mass of contradictions: Sunshine and darkness. Soft sand and stony paths. Humans and vampires.
When I was Rio’s age, I couldn’t wait to escape this fifteen-kilometers-long, three-kilometers-wide rock in the middle of nowhere. I was the kid who was going to get out of here, make something of herself, but living in New York City had given me a new perspective. Lilith Island was beautiful in a way that a city could never be.
Still, I felt a tug of sadness for that girl who was going to make something of herself.
Jasper had dropped back so that he was a few steps behind me. It made me itchy, so when we reached a path that led down to the ocean, I shoved my hands into my coat pockets and turned to face him.
His spiked-up, reddish-blond hair gleamed under the sun, and his freckles stood out on his pale skin. “So you’re my babysitter today,” I said.
His dark glasses made his expression hard to read. A dhampir can tolerate an hour or two of sunlight, especially in the fall and winter, but it’s painful to their sensitive eyes.
His only answer was a shrug.
Inside my pockets, my nails dug into my palms. “So you’re not allowed to talk to me? Or are you pissed off at me for some reason?”
Jasper was only a few inches taller, but he managed to look down his nose at me. “You got greedy, Eden. What—they weren’t paying you enough? Because I know you were making the same as me, and that’s a helluvalot more than you’d make anywhere else.”
“You’ve been talking to Aidan and Nathan.”
