“Promise, sunshine.” He leaned in and sealed it with a kiss. “Whenever you’re ready, the head priest is waiting out in the gardens for the ceremony.”
Just the mention of Bruvor made my stomach lurch. His cruelty mirrored that of the goddess he served. Zane pressed another kiss to my forehead, steadying me, but it was nowhere near enough to quiet the unease coiling tightly in my chest.
“Can’t we just stay here like this?” I clung to his heat and the fleeting safety it offered.
“I’d be all for it if it weren’t for the blasted Flask’s order,” he sighed. “I prefer you unsmited.”
I traced slow patterns across his chest, letting my gaze slide away from his face as I gathered the courage to voice the questions that had haunted me. “Why did you stay, Zane? Why become her king-in-waiting instead of running?”
His body went rigid beneath my touch. Silence stretchedbetween us, weighted with memories I couldn’t see.
“I didn’t choose to stay. She tortured me.” His voice was flat, scraped clean of emotion. “For months. Broke me down piece by piece, trying to force my submission.”
My breath caught, my fingers curling into the skin of his chest as if I could hold him together.
“When that didn’t work…” With a slow, deliberate finger beneath my chin, he drew my eyes to his, the intensity in his stare enough to turn the air cold. “She threatened to kill you.”
“What?” The word was a breathless exhale, my heart hammering against my ribs. “She knew where I was?”
“She showed me your face in a scrying plate. Said if she could find me, she could find you just as easily. Said you’d scream my name while she drained you dry.” His jaw ticked. “So, I stopped fighting. Played the role she wanted because the alternative was your grave. Thankfully, before the next half-moon, a beautiful slayer crossed her path.” He shifted, his thumb gliding from my chin to my cheek.
Tears burned behind my eyes. “Zane…”
“I couldn’t let her touch you, Sidney. I would’ve done anything. Become anything.” His hand cupped my face. “Even a monster.”
“You’re not a monster.”
“I was willing to be one. For you.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I still am.”
“And I was willing to raze this place to the ground for you.” I smiled, part bloodthirsty and part playful as I echoed him. “Still am.”
A knock echoed through the room. I wiped my eyes, catching the quick scurry of tiny feet and a sharp little squeak. I shoved the blanket aside and stretched musclesgone stiff from my long rest. Finn slipped through the doorway, signing,Boris is hunting; he may be a while.
The moment had arrived to forge our Devotion, a permanent vow to cherish and protect one another. I longed to reveal my true face for such an important and intimate ritual. Yet I couldn’t, not if I wanted to live.
“I’m not sure what to do for the bonding.” The admission felt foreign. I’d never been one to come unprepared or to neglect research, but I’d never thought I’d participate in a vampiric ritual for multiple mates when I had a betrothed I’d meant to marry.
Finn sat next to me on the bed and shrugged.
“I do,” Zane said. “Go ahead and get changed. I brought you something simple to wear.”
He’d laid out a plain white shift on the bed. I ducked into the bathroom to ready myself before slipping into the garment. When I stepped back out, Finn wore a practical, plain white outfit. Zane’s clothes were similar, but he’d found a sweeping white cape, which he donned with dramatic flair and a wink my way.
“The east gardens have a stone circle,” he continued. “That’s where we’re bonding tonight.”
We left the room and headed that way, descending before heading outside. Colorful vegetation sprawled before us. Zane took us deeper into the area reserved for ceremonies too important for servants’ eyes.
The altar came into view under the half-moon’s glow. Carved into the rock at its base were Eona’s devotees, kneeling with their arms upraised. Time had erased their features. Looming over them, Eona’s towering marble likeness posed with her polished stone arms held wide in a welcoming arc. Purple wisteria hung overhead in cascading clusters swaying in thebreeze.
Standing beside the altar like a sentinel was Bruvor. He wore ceremonial robes, deep crimson edged with gold thread. My breath caught as his cold gaze ran over us before settling on me. For a moment, I was a child again, kneeling in the chapel during evening prayers.
“Stay, child. You have sins to confess.”
I remained on my knees on the cold stone floor, hands clasped. In Eona’s house of worship, I tried to be what I wasn’t: a good vampiress.
Bruvor circled me, his robes brushing the ground. “Our goddess demands honesty from her faithful. And she demands blood from the disobedient.”
His hand clamped around the back of my neck, forcing my head down until my forehead pressed against the freezing stone. “You will confess the darkness in your heart before it festers. You will beg Eona’s forgiveness for the treachery you hide behind an innocent facade.”
