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Maisie was in the corner of the room with her back to me. Her head was bent over a squirming figure struggling in her grasp. It took a couple of seconds for my eyes and my mind to make sense of what I was seeing.
“Help!” a panicked voice whimpered.
Out of instinct, I ran across the room and grabbed Maisie’s arm. Adrenaline and shock exaggerated my movements, and Maisie flew across the room.
I recognized my sister’s victim now as her maid, Hannah. The young mage’s dress was covered in blood and tears soaked her face. In her confusion, she didn’t realize I wasn’t my twin. She fought me, scratching and slapping at my face and chest. I managed to grab her arms and pin them to her sides. “Shh, it’s okay. You’re safe now.”
Wide, haunted eyes looked up at me. I tried to smile reassuringly. She blinked once or twice and collapsed against me. “Oh, Sabina, thank the gods.”
“Haven’t you heard of knocking?” a bored voice said behind me.
I turned slowly to face my sister. Her rebellious posture and bloody lips didn’t disguise the fear and guilt in her eyes.
“What the hell were you thinking, Maisie?” I demanded. Behind me, I felt Hannah cringe like she wanted to disappear.
“Don’t take that holier-than-thou tone with me, Sabina. You have no room to judge me.”
“Like hell I don’t. You could have killed her!”
Maisie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms like a rebellious child. I turned back to the maid. “Stand still and let me heal your wounds,” I said, softening my voice. I raised a hand to place over the puncture marks. She cringed but didn’t run away. Closing my eyes, I called up the Chthonic powers that allowed me to heal injuries. The energy zinged up through my body, making me gasp softly. It gathered in my fingertips, where it drew the pain from Hannah and into my body. My arm stung as if I’d been bitten myself. Gritting my teeth, I focused on reversing the energy and injecting her skin with healing energy. When her neck was whole again, I released the Chthonic magic back in a rush that left me light-headed.
The entire process took only a few seconds, but I was drained and panting like I’d run a race. My eyes blinked open and Hannah’s face wavered for a moment before my eyes regained focus. “There,” I said, breathless. “Good as new.”
A slow, ironic clap echoed in the room. Looking over my shoulder, I saw my sister watching us with a scornful expression. “I was going to heal her when I was through.”
“You shouldn’t have had to heal her at all.” I ran a hand through my hair, trying to gather my thoughts. “Since when do you feed from your servants, Maisie?”
She shrugged. “This was only the second time.”
My mouth fell open. “Wait, you’ve done this before?”
“Yesterday was the first time,” she said.
“But how—” I began, but my mind was having a hard time catching up. However, that certainly explained why she’d seemed so changed to Rhea when they’d had lunch together. I turned back to Hannah. “Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
The maid frowned. “This is the first time.”
I looked back at Maisie, who cocked a brow. She waved a hand. I felt the rise of magic an instant before it zinged past me and slammed into the maid. I flinched and ducked a second too late. But Maisie hadn’t been attacking us. Instead, Hannah’s expression had gone slack and her eyes vacant.
“Hannah, you’ve spent your morning cleaning my apartment and then left without seeing me.”
The maid nodded. “Haven’t seen Maisie,” she said in a monotone.
“Go now,” Maisie commanded.
The next instant, Hannah brushed past me as if I wasn’t there and she walked out of the room in a trance.
“What the f**k, Maisie?”
“Please give me a little credit. I know better than to feed from someone without clearing their minds.”
I scratched my forehead, trying to keep my temper under control. “Let’s back up. Why exactly have you suddenly decided to feed from the help?”
Maisie grabbed a towel from the edge of the bed and took her time wiping the blood from her mouth and hands before answering. “I told you before. The lack of sleep is making my hunger grow. I tried to satisfy it with the bagged blood, but it wasn’t enough. And now thanks to you I barely got more than a mouthful.”
“Jesus, Maisie,” I said. “Why didn’t you tell me you were struggling this bad?” I waved my hand through the air to indicate the scene I’d walked in on. “If Orpheus found out you’re feeding from mages, he’d go ape shit.”
She rounded on me. “Orpheus won’t find out. You heard her. She didn’t remember the previous feeding. I covered my tracks. As long as you keep your mouth shut, no one has to know.”
For a split second, the air shimmered around her, allowing me to see through the glamour she’d used to hide her true appearance. Her eyes were sunken and ringed with dark shadows. Her skin was sallow and her cheeks sunken in. Despite the blood she’d been consuming, the physical toll of no sleep and, frankly, her personal demons were too much for the blood to repair. So she’d resorted to using a glamour spell to convince everyone she was healthy.
I didn’t mention the spell. In the grand scheme of things it was such a little detail compared to Maisie attacking an innocent and her continued mental decline. But seeing it made me change tactics. Yelling would only make her dig in her heels more. So I sucked in a deep breath and lassoed my anger. When I spoke again, my tone was even, reasonable.
“What exactly is your goal here?” I asked, and crossed my arms.
She frowned. “What do you mean?” Her free hand came up to tug the lock of hair beneath her ear.
“Let’s say I agree to help hide your activities so you can heal the damage you’re doing to your body. How long do you think you can keep it up? And for that matter, what are you going to do when the treaty signing gets here and you don’t have a prophecy?”
She shrugged. “I’ll just make one up. Orpheus has such a hard-on for a positive prophecy, he’ll buy any vaguely optimistic symbolism I throw out.”
My mouth fell open. “You’re unbelievable!” My voice lowered into a deadly serious volume. “This ends tonight. Do you hear me? No more not sleeping, no more feeding from anyone. You’re sick and you need help. I’m not going to stand by and let you destroy yourself anymore.”
