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CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
In an instant, Alcántara was standing close, and he stepped closer still, tracing his hand along my neck, down my arm.
I repeated my question, my voice gone weak. “Is everything okay?”
“That is just it,” he told me in a husky, intimate sort of voice. “I fear it is not all okay. And like a remiss guardian, I wonder where it is I’ve gone wrong. ”
He might not have smelled Carden on me, but I could tell he still suspected something—big-time. I thought fast. “On the contrary. ” I made myself give him a big, brave, beaming grin. “You’re an excellent guardian. I’ve learned so much. ”
He barked out a laugh, and I had a moment of thinking I’d saved the day, until he said, “Perhaps I’ve trained you too well?” He pinched my chin between his fingertips, tilting my face up to his.
That smile stayed pasted on my face even as I felt the blood drain from my head. “What do you mean?”
He wasn’t giving me an inch of space. “You have been busy, little Acarita. What is it you’ve learned?”
He was in my face, and I could barely think because of it. “I’ve learned lots of things on the island,” I replied in a falsely bright, pretend-innocent tone.
“Don’t play with me, girl. ” His coal black eyes were cold and sharp on me.
The air grew thin around me, and my head became hollow, like I needed oxygen.
Those eyes. He was pulling me in with those eyes. His hand went back to my arm, stroking down; then it swept to my waist. I swallowed hard. He’d touched me before, but never like this. His thumb moved in small circles along my stomach. I couldn’t look away.
His voice went hard. “I asked, what do you know?”
Keep it together; keep it together, I chanted in my head, forcing myself not to fall into that gaze. And then another chant came to me, and it was what braced me.
I am roots in the earth. I am water that flows. I am grounded. I am Watcher.
I inhaled again, only this time it was long and slow. A deep breath that brushed the cobwebs from my mind.
“You evade the answer. ” He raised his other hand and pinched my ear hard between his fingertips.
I fought the urge to flinch away. “I—”
“Do not try me. ” His thumbnail slid down and sliced the tender flesh of my earlobe.
Pain as sharp and thin as a razor seared me, followed by the hot ooze of my own blood down my neck. I barely felt it, though. I’d had a revelation. I’d learned a thing or two on this island, and I could turn it against the vampire who’d brought me here. Oh, the irony.
I could fight his mind, which meant I could fight him.
Could I use these skills to help myself and the people I cared about? Could I use them for what was right instead of unquestioningly helping every vampire who came across my path?
Roots in the earth. Grounded. He wanted Carden dead. I was Carden’s alibi, but I could never confess to it without getting us both killed. Because vampire or no, Carden and Alcántara clearly played on different teams.
“My apologies, Master Alcántara,” I said in my sincerest tone. He stared at me a moment. I felt that cold hollowness pressing at my mind again, but this time I knew how to hold it at bay. I recalled my climb, focusing on the smallest part of it, a snapshot image of my hand in front of my face, gripping the rocks. “I’ve been out practicing my new climbing skills, and if I’ve learned anything, it’s that I need to increase my arm strength. ”
Apparently, my answer had enough of a whiff of truth that he lowered his hand.
I peeked around him, desperate for him to step away and give me an inch of space. It all called for a topic change. I forced my voice to be cheery. “Hey, where’s Mei?”
My feigned innocence seemed to mollify him. “The Guidons are keeping her occupied. ”
The words sent a shiver of foreboding up my spine. He’d wanted me to protect her, but now he’d sent her off with the older girls. Was he done with her?
I didn’t want to think of the implications. I could protect her if the Directorate wanted her protected, but once they changed their minds? I couldn’t watch her 24-7—I needed to sleep sometime—and I didn’t think she had the chops to make it on her own, kooky flute skills or not. “I’ve been watching out for her, like you said. ”
I mentally assessed. Mei was so much younger than the Guidons. Some of them wouldn’t be able to stop themselves. Amanda had warned me on my first day here—once these girls scented weakness, they became wolves.
