“No, Sire.” Immy blushes as she rights herself, hiding her shaking hands in the folds of her skirt.
“If I wanted bullshit spewed at me, I’d ask Callista to talk.” Cain nods at Callie, who glares at her lap, but says nothing. “I asked Evelyn. Dear. Loyal. Favoured. Evelyn.”
With each word, he steps closer to me, lifting a lock of my hair away from my shoulder and tucking it behind my ear.
He leans in, so close I can feel his breath against my neck. “You are loyal, aren’t you, my daughter?”
Chapter Three
Evelyn - 1897
I can barely breathe.
He knows.
Just like that, I know I’m about to die. I know how it will happen. And I know it’s inevitable.
The cage with the ghouls in it will be a horrible way to go. Their venom is excruciating. It paralyses their victims so the creatures can start eating while their prey is still alive.
The few who survive become ghouls themselves.
Cain’s chosen that for me. A traitor’s death.
A horrible death.
All over a secret lover?
“Why?” I don’t bother with pretences.
He knows. All I can do now is protect the others. Immy and Frost and anyone else who’s been caught up in my stupid, lovestruck rebellion.
“Not ‘why?’ ‘Who?’” Cain doesn’t look angry, and it’s at times like this when he’s at his most dangerous. “Next time you try to kill me, dear daughter, make sure you trust the people you ask to help you with it.”
Kill him? Why would I—?I open my mouth to object, but the second my lips twitch, he shoots me a warning glare. Whatever he has planned for me will be far worse if I interrupt.
Cain watches my mouth close with a satisfied nod. “Now your friends will pay for their crimes. You, most of all.”
His hands fall to my shoulders and turn me with a deceptive gentleness. He doesn’t stop until I’m facing the cage. Then he gathers my wrists and holds them behind me at the small of my back with one hand.
Immy lets out a whimper as a burly guard does the same to her.
Be brave, Immy.I try to reassure her with my eyes, but hers are too full of tears to notice.
All we have to do is be brave until it ends. I take a deep, settling breath and steel my spine.
“You don’t want to apologise to your father?” Cain asks, his breath whispering against my throat.
“I love him.” I sound bolder than I feel, and that gives me the courage to stare down the drama-hungry vultures in the crowd. “I will not apologise for that.”
Cain chuckles against my cheek. “You’ll regret that.”
He moves his head back and looks over at the door, giving some hidden servant a nod.
“First, let’s get rid of the reason for your insurrection. The person who turned my most beloved child away from me and then betrayed her trust.”
The doors swing open, and my heart shatters.
There—being dragged into the court by two vampire guards—is Frost. His long, messy bronze hair falls haphazardly across the fresh bruises on his face and into his grey eyes. He still struggles, even though he must know it’s futile. His rangy human muscles are nothing compared to the bulk of the immortals restraining him.
