“Patience, Master!” I call back.
I shove the mostly-dry tea mugs into the cupboard. I toss the folded blanket on the other side of the couch, out of sight. It won’t make a difference, but it at least buys me a few seconds before I have to face Sebastian.
“You don’t have to call me master any?—”
I throw open the door, letting the knob bump against the wall. I stand before him, arms loose at my sides. After years of practice, I know how to control my own body. How to breathe steady. How to maintain an even heartbeat. How to hold eye contact, even when I’m desperate to look away.
Sebastian glowers down at me. Short blond hair. Haunted green eyes. A slight twist to his mouth that makes him look displeased, even when he’s not. He’s taller than I am by several inches, but shorter than Elliot.
Stop, I mentally chastise myself.Do not compare him to Elliot.
“He’s already gone,” I say. I lift my chin, swallowing past the knot in my throat.
“I assumed you would deny it,” Sebastian says carefully. Hisvoice is level, but I can sense the fury boiling beneath every word.
“Then you assumed I was a fool,” I say. I brush past him, into the hallway. “Go ahead and look. I can lift the ward, if you wish. You can investigate every nook and cranny. I assure you, he’s gone.”
“He left at first light,” Sebastian says. Despite his words, his eyes drift away from me, scanning my quarters instead.
I met Sebastian Vulce twelve years ago, when he was the sole king of the vampires. He was rumored to be terrible, monstrous, and unjustly cruel. To an extent, the rumors were true.
By the time his eyes return to me, Sebastian’s downturned mouth has twisted into a full grimace. He looks at me in disgust. In disappointment.
I don’t take it personally.
“Why?” he asks. His hands tighten into fists, then loosen. Tighten again.
I sidestep back into my quarters.
“An old friend needed vampire blood for healing. He’d gotten himself into trouble,” I say. It’s not a lie, but it’s certainly not the full truth. “I provided some—it was a dead vampire’s, don’t worry. I instructed him to wait until daylight before leaving.”
“You gave him free reign of your quarters?” Sebastian asks. His voice lowers. Grows rougher, and his fingers clench into tighter fists.
“He didn’t touch anything. I have this whole place warded, so I would know,” I say. “I gave him several doses of Dismemrate. He’ll have forgotten everything by the time he returns to the Day Realm.”
Thisis a lie. Warding every item in my quarters would take more magic than I care to waste. And while I could have given Elliot Dismemrate for memory loss…
Whydidn’tI?
I swallow the question down, banishing it from my consciousness altogether.
“Who was it, Cora?”
I don’t let myself react, even as my soul hums with gratitude. No one who saw Elliot recognized him. They saw a witch—not a council leader’s son. Not the person Madam Lyrie loves more than anyone else.
I run my tongue over the back of my teeth, considering my words carefully.
“It was a boy from school,” I say finally. “He was kind to me. When all the others were horrible, he was kind. I felt I owed him.”
Sebastian studies me silently. I regulate my breathing, my heartbeat, my eye contact.
“Never again,” he says, though I don’t miss the way his face softens. “If he—or any like him—returns, you will notify meimmediately.”
“Yes, Master.”
“You don’t…” Sebastian breaks off on a sigh, as if he knows it’s a losing battle. Then, he steps back into the hallway, sweeping his hand for me to follow. “Come. We have a meeting. Grace wanted me to inform you she’s made breakfast.”
It takes all my effort not to crinkle my nose. I imagine Grace Pruce was a terrible cook when she was a witch, and now that she’s a vampire, she’s simply terrible. That said, she’s also the love of Sebastian’s life. We don’t have much—or anything, really—in common, but I do my best to support their relationship. She’s good for him. She cracked through him in a way no one else could. So if that means eating foul food for the rest of my life, I’ll do it.
