Page 20 of A Betrothal So Bloody

“Why?” I demand. I fold my arms over my chest, narrowing my eyes as I study him, inch by inch. “You’ve achieved what most mortals can only dream of—eternal life. Inhuman strength. Never once have I heard of a vampire wanting to sacrifice that.”

“Perhaps they got a stake in their heart before they could explain themselves.” A bitter smile tugs at his lips as he braces his hands on the desk and looks over his work. “As for me, well… What kind of life is worth living if no one will grieve you? If I’m not being hunted down by my maker for fleeing, then I have your lot breathing down my neck. I refuse to believe those are my only two options.”

The fervor in his stare as his attention dances over the maps and pages makes me shift from foot to foot. Pitying him is unacceptable. I push away the disquieting resonance of his supposed plight.

“Marrying a slayer was your magical third option?” I lift a skeptical brow.

“Pretending to marry.” He pulls out a few of the maps until he settles on one, spreading it across the barest bit of desktop he can find. “You and I, we’re actors in a thrilling play—but a very, very important one. The people who are after me are looking for a dangerous loner, after all. Not a lovestruck newlywed.”

“You really think this is how you’ll outsmart them?”

He looks me up and down, seeming miles away. “Did they have to send someone so short?”

I take a step back. “Excuse me?”

“It’s just… Well, I suppose I wasn’t expecting your precious Order to send their weakest link to do away with me. Did they think they wouldn’t miss a little slip of a girl like you if I decided to indulge my appetite?”

My jaw tightens. He’s trying to upset me—and clearly takes great joy in it. I refuse to rise to the bait, but shamefully, his words give me pause. Why would they send me on such an unusual mission for my first solo assignment? After all this time?

A silly thought—but one that had already bothered me.

“The Order is my family,” I snapped. “They sent me because I’m capable. Loyal.”

“Expendable.” He frowns, inspecting his nails with a muttered, “Not to mention a tad insulting on their estimations of me.”

Bastard. My fingers tighten on the silver dagger tucked against my side, imagining his dark blood dripping down the blade. I picture the gasp of surprise he’d make—a pretty, wounded thing.

“Put a stake back in my hand if I’m so harmless,” I say.

Dante arches a brow. “So eager to be under me again?”

“I can show you exactly what I have in mind.” I give the dagger a flick between my fingers, a fluid motion that twirls a perfect arc before notching the filigreed handle firmly back into my grasp.

“Ah, see? There you are.” He wags a finger at me. “It’s refreshing to talk like this, isn’t it? I enjoyed your performance, don’t get me wrong. You’re very good. The sweet smiles, the shy glances… You would’ve had anyone eating out of your hands.”

Dante takes a step around the table toward me. Even that small space closing between us sends a chill of awareness crawling up my spine—an involuntary reaction, just being near enough to touch. His eyes glitter, relishing my unease. He’s still underestimating me—and I can work that to my advantage. His arrogance will make it all the easier to rend his head from his shoulders when the opportunity presents itself.

“Consider that… misunderstanding in the bedroom your successful audition,” he says. “You held yourself well, given your stature. You impressed me.”

I swear I’ve never rolled my eyes harder in my life. “Oh, thank God. I can die happy now.”

But he only grins—another wide, boyish smile that flashes the fangs he’s done so well to conceal up until now. They’re more subtle than most civilians expect from these monsters. To the untrained eye, one might suspect them of being unusually tapered canines, blissfully unaware of the weapon that they truly are. The ability to blend in so seamlessly amongst humans is part of what makes vampires such effective predators.

“You may be on your knees in gratitude by journey’s end,” he says. “If we’re lucky, you may have a chance at gutting a vampire lord and his offspring. That must be worthy of a little glory, even for you uptight wretches, no?”

A shiver runs up my spine at the mere confirmation of it. Although primordial vampires have by and large gone extinct, their spawn still walk the earth—vampire lords. They are not to be trifled with, capable of feats of compulsion and strength that would make ordinary vampires look like mere pups by comparison.

“This lord… He turned you?” I ask.

Dante’s eyes flicker with shadows—a taste of something cold and ancient. “Nearly a century ago. Alessandro Cavalcanti. I told you—he doesn’t take kindly to my absence.” Heaviness permeates the room as he says this, a faint clench to his jaw.

Dante abruptly turns back to the table and pulls the map toward him, studying it with a needless intensity. Suddenly, he reminds me of a kicked dog. I try to imagine the man who’d be standing before me prior to his transformation. Human. For a second, I indulge in this supposed fantasy of his—to return to mortality. A soul saved without need of decapitation or a staked heart.

I picture him leaned over me less than an hour ago, fangs bared toward my neck. Salvation is still a fucking long way off as it stands.

But all these weeks I’ve been cloistered under his roof… Why wait so long to give up draining animals for discretion's sake and attempt to feed on me? Why would it make any difference from our wedding night to tonight?

Looking at the map Dante is scrutinizing, it dawns on me; something changed—whether tonight or days ago—it’s this research that’s stirred the shift in him, incentivized him to bolster himself.