Page 79 of Once Bitten, Twice Mine

Caroline flenched at the venom in her tone, but was undeterred. “My offer still stands.”

“It shouldn’t. It was stupid of me to even consider. Just go. Now.”

Caroline scampered back to the safety Mrs. Thomas provided. She was never a motherly figure to her, but her presence meant something when she reached out to squeeze her shoulder. Part of her wanted to fall into her arms and sob, but hysterics wouldn’t help.

She looked back to Valeria one final time, but the room was empty, the white curtain just floating on the soft breeze of the early spring night.

CHAPTER 21

Caroline stared blankly at the place setting before her. She knew she should eat, but her first bite of eggs tasted like ash, so she hadn’t risked another bite. She had barely eaten the previous evening, but not even her rumbling stomach made her pick up her fork again.

“Should I have Cook make you something else?” Mrs. Thomas asked.

Caroline shook her head. “I’ll manage with the eggs. They’re quite good; I’ve just been lost in thought this morning. Would you please fetch Lucy for me?” She asked with her blandest smile.

Mrs. Thomas frowned. She hadn’t left her alone since she rescued her from Valeria’s room the previous evening. Which was sweet, but also mildly frustrating because she was trailed when she checked to see if Valeria had returned. The room was empty.

Valeria hadn’t returned by dawn.

“It’s daytime,” Caroline continued, “It will be hours before you have to worry about my safety.”

Mrs. Thomas regarded her for a while before giving a sharp nod. “I’ll fetch Lucy, but I’m coming right back.”

Caroline nodded with another weak smile, but her shoulders dropped when the door clicked shut behind Mrs. Thomas, and she was finally alone again.

Jealousy and fear over what Valeria was up to warred within her. The idea that anyone’s blood fed her rankled something deep inside her, but it truly made her sick thinking about the corpses that were out there.

Or she could have collapsed from hunger in the open air and been engulfed in flame by the rising sun, and Caroline would never know what happened to her.

She moved the eggs around on her plate, making it look like she ate more than she could choke down. The last thing she needed was a scolding from Mrs. Thomas.

Her bedroom door opened, and her spine snapped straight out of habit. She relaxed a fraction when Lucy entered alone.

“Good Morning, Miss Blythe.”

“Good Morning, Lucy. How are you doing today?”

The maid sighed. The dark bags beneath her eyes were the only indication of her difficult night. Her uniform was perfectly pressed, and her light blonde hair was pulled back from her face without a hair out of place.

“I’m well. How are you?”

“I’m fine,” she sighed, putting down her fork. “I want to apologize for what happened yesterday. You never should have been put at risk, and I’m so sorry it was so close.”

The nightmares that kept her up all night were about getting to Valeria’s room too late. Instead of finding Lucy terrified, she found her with Valeria’s fangs in her neck or—worse—her lifeless body on the floor while the gauzy curtain floated above her. She shivered at the thought.

Lucy’s eyes flitted to the ground. “It’s quite all right. I know you didn’t mean for anything to happen and you saved me anyway. I don’t have any sore feelings about it.”

“Still, I’m sorry you had to be involved at all. It’s wrong. You can have the rest of the week off. And though it may go without saying, you don’t have to worry about working with Lady Valeria again.”

“Thank you, Miss,” Lucy said, her eyes lifting to Caroline again. “I did want to let you know something. I didn’t believe it at first, but after thinking about it for a bit and hearing your conversation with her, I do believe it to be true. As long as you don’t think I’m speakin’ out of turn, of course.”

“Of course not, feel free to speak however you wish. You’ve more than earned it.”

Lucy took a deep breath before giving her a sharp nod. “When I saw Lady Valeria last night, I knew she was sick. She was barely awake when I went in, and when I got close to check on her, her eyes flew open, and I saw them turn to black, and she grabbed me like it was a reaction.”

Caroline cleared her throat. “Why are you…telling me this?”

It wasn’t that she was ungrateful for the information, but she wasn’t sure why Lucy felt it was important to share it with her now.