Page 28 of The Duke’s Bloody Bargain

“Right.” Knight turned around as well. Embarrassment returned to glow crimson in his halo.

Either female undergarments shocked him, or he had a fancy for Lucy, but I didn’t have time to dig deeper into his aura.

“Lucy, I need to see your leg.” I waited for Lucy to nod before I gently lifted the cover and her nightgown.

Her legs weren’t swollen, bruised, or covered in pustules as I’d feared. Aside from the pale skin, her legs looked healthy.

“Where does your leg hurt?”

She exhaled and put a hand on her thigh. “Here. But it’s nothing. Just a scratch.”

I lifted the nightgown to her waist and froze. A vampire bite marked her inner thigh. The swollen red wounds were the same as those of the dead men.

I covered her with a shaky hand. “How did you get those wounds?”

“I’m not sure. But I disinfected them. They’ll heal.”

“I don’t think so.” I helped her drink some water. “Lucy, you’ve been bitten by a vampire.”

“What?” Darius, Alex, and Knight chorused, turning towards me.

Lucy lay petrified. Her shivers stopped. “It can’t be.” Pure, undiluted fear flooded her halo with purple.

“I’m sure. A vampire attacked you.” I tucked the covers around her.

“I don’t remember anything.” Lucy coughed into her fist.

“Has someone come here to see you?” I made sure she was fully covered.

“Someone who asked to be properly invited in,” Darius added.

Lucy shook her head. “No one.”

I wasn’t surprised by her answer. At first, Alex hadn’t remembered anything about the vampire who had turned him; he hadn’t even remembered how he’d injured his neck.

Lucy rubbed her forehead. “Am I going to die or…” She licked her lips. “Become a vampire?”

We waited for Darius’s answer. It was the first time I’d seen him uncertain.

He gently placed a hand on Lucy’s forehead. “The vampire didn’t kill you, obviously, but that doesn’t mean he wants to turn you. The symptoms of someone who has a strong reaction to the bite and of someone about to be turned are the same. The chills, fever, and fatigue are present in both cases.”

“A strong reaction?” Knight cast nervous glances at Lucy.

Darius lifted a shoulder. “A vampire bite is a venomous animal bite. Some people die from bee stings. Others don’t. I thought that only people who got bitten multiple times develop a fever, but that’s not true. De Mirabilibus Mundi told me.” He patted his pocket. “It’s perfectly possible that Lucy is feeling ill because of a simple bite from a vampire who needed just to feed. Some people who have been bitten by a vampire feel absolutely fine afterwards.”

Like me. Alex’s bite had never caused me discomfort.

“Besides, a vampire needs to bite someone three times to turn them.” I glanced at Lucy. “She has only one pair of wounds.”

Darius rubbed his forehead, pulling down a corner of his mouth. “The vampire might have bitten the same spot three times. It’s a way to conceal the number of times the human has been bitten. And one pair of wounds attracts less attention than many.”

Lucy released a shuddering breath, shaking her head. “It can’t be. I can’t believe that a vampire bit me more than once without me remembering it.”

“What do you suggest we do?” Knight hadn’t lied when he’d said he cared because tea-rose pink compassion glowed around his head. “I don’t want a recently turned vampire in my territory. She’s going to be ravishing.”

“What?” Alex angled towards him.

“I mean, ravenous.” Knight cleared his throat.