Thea scooped up a pastry between her long fingers. “That makes sense. I know you didn’t want this, Sam. More than most.”
I wanted to confide in her more. To tell her of my fears and hear another witch’s thoughts on my new magic. But while Thea might be willing to resume our friendship, she was still loyal to Raphael. What if she put that loyalty first and told him? I was so tired of the secrets, but everything until now made it seem like that was the only way to survive.
Even more selfishly, I wanted to ask her to look to the future and tell me everything would be okay, that I was on the right path. Not that anything was ever that simple.
“This… bond that keeps me near Raphael, do you know more about it?” I asked instead.
Thea shrugged. “Not much. All fledglings and sires have some kind of bond, but they’re fairly individual. The fact it’s keeping you so close is unusual. But Raphael doesn’t seem worried.”
Raphaelwasn’t counting down the hours until he could run and escape. I debated pressing for more details, but would that rouse her suspicions?
“Besides unhappy, how else are you feeling?” she asked.
I clenched and unclenched my fingers, trying to decide. “Antsy, I guess. I know it’s been only a day, but I’m feeling stir-crazy.” Maybe a by-product of having spent the past month in a cell. My legs ached to run, my entire body wanting to move outside the walls of my room.
Getting back to training would’ve helped. Not that I thought Demos would be in any rush to get me back to our routine after everything.
I almost asked Thea if she’d like to spar, but the thought terrified me. What if I hurt her by mistake, the same way I’d wrecked the drawer? “Maybe you could help me run some drills. I need to move.” She’d sat in on enough sessions to be able to help.
She was nodding, about to say something, when a sharp knock on the door cut her off.
I exchanged a look with Thea, who just shrugged, so I went over to the door and opened it.
And there stood the king of vampires standing expectantly with a glass of blood in his hands.
Blood. Instead of feeling revulsion, my throat ached more acutely. I bit down on my cheek, trying to cover how much I already craved it. “Is that really necessary?”
“Every day,” he said, taking a step farther into the room and shutting the door behind him.
I flexed my fingers at my side.
“Drink,” he said.
My throatburned. I squeezed my fingers into fists. “Don’t use that power on me,” I growled. Speaking scratched my throat.
“Don’t endanger Amalthea by having her alone with you while you haven’t fed in a day,” he countered.
I snatched the goblet, which Raphael let go easily. I knocked the goblet back, pouring the contents down my throat in three quick swallows. What had smelled tempting turned to sludge in my throat. A wet drop slid out of the corner of my mouth, and Iwiped it away with the back of my hand, all the while glaring at Raphael.
His fault. His fault I’m like this.
I wanted to put a thousand paces between us.
I wanted to lunge at him and hit him.
I turned back to Thea, who was utterly unconcerned with our display. She’d polished off the remainder of the pastries.
“Time to train?” I asked her. I was even more eager to burn off some of this relentless energy.
Thea looked away. “Not with me, Sam.”
Before I could ask what she meant—
“I’ll be taking over your training.”
I spun back to Raphael, who hadn’t left the room.
“You?”
