“There is only one rule I will bind you to,” he said, now towering over me.
My breath caught in my throat. I didn’t want to be bound. I didn’t want to be stuck with having to feed on Grim. I wanted to go back to my shoddy apartment and figure out a way to turn my little meaningless life into something I actually wanted. Maybe learn how to actually be a baker and open up a shop, find a nice little butcher shop I could get delivery blood from.
“You can tell no one that gods walk amongst them.”
An invisible vice squeezed around my throat so hard that my hands reached up as if to pry the invisible force from me. It passed after a few seconds, and I knew that Grim used his power to magically bind me.
Which meant at the first opportunity I was going to go find a loudspeaker and see if I could get the words out.
“Is that it?” I glowered at Grim, hating the power he had over me. “Can I go now?”
“You’ll have to stay close by since you need my blood.”
Irritation flared in me. “Do you have to be so—”
“What?” he asked, his eyebrow rising.
“Do you have to act so damn cold and calculating like this is some business transaction?”
“It was a transaction. I gave the boy more time on this Earth and you will serve the blood bond.”
“Tell me the truth, did you pick the price because you knew it would make me hate you?”
He ran a frustrated hand through his dark, unruly hair. “What makes you think I intentionally want you to hate me?”
“Because you were scared of what was growing between us. You felt something for me and you had to stop it, and you couldn’t bring yourself to kill me.” Tears filled my eyes and I hated myself for it.
Grim grabbed me by the shoulders, hauling me to him, kissing me again. It was fierce, hot, and possessive. My soul soared at the contact and then took a nosedive off the cliff he’d pushed me over. I could never love someone who controlled me. I pushed him off me. A sound slap rang through the air. My hand stung from where I’d connected with his perfect cheekbone.
Grim’s eyes went flat.
“Never again. You never get to do that again.”
An absolutely predatory smile curved his lips. “Only if you beg for it.”
I turned and walked away so he couldn’t see the tears fall. I hated him and yet I could never escape him now.
34
“Why did you do it?”
I didn’t react, though Timothy took me by surprise, sneaking up from behind. He was now in order once again.
“Why did I let her drink my blood? Because I couldn’t take her soul for Jamal’s. It was the only option.”
“Mmm.” Timothy watched Vivien’s retreating form next to me. He didn’t believe me.
The truth was far more terrifying. I needed Vivien. I couldn’t end her, so I’d chained her to me for all eternity. And she’d hate me for just as long.
Or for at least as long as Osiris deemed her useful. But unearthing a conspiracy amongst the gods could take years, centuries, millennia perhaps. Or everything could explode with the fall of a mighty hammer in a matter of hours. Either way, Vivien would live for a little longer.
“Did you tell her you broke every rule in the book to save her?”
“It doesn’t matter. She despises me. I’ve imprisoned her.”
“And you now have a weakness I’ve never known you to indulge in.”
I turned to him. “You are not to tell her. Just as you are not to tell her what would happen if she were to drink too much of my blood.”
