Page 99 of No One’s Daughter

​“I swear upon my blood and yours,” he began, his voice steady despite the weight of what we were doing. “That I, Davien Sartini, made by Cathal Callahan of Callamore, Lord of Carraig Point will protect you, Ailsa, with all my might, including my life should it come to it. I swear to never betray you again.”

​And in turn, I swore to protect his secret.

​The words settled into me, heavy and real.

​Binding.

​I swallowed hard, my fingers tightening slightly against his.

​This was insane.

​All of it, yet when we finally pulled apart, the air felt different.

​He didn’t say anything else, just turned and grabbed a packet of cigarettes from his back pocket and held one out to me. When had he even picked up a pack?

​“Thought you might need this,” he said.

​I huffed a quiet, humourless laugh, taking it from him. “You think?”

​He lit it for me without comment.

​I took a long drag, letting the burn settle something jagged inside my chest as I leaned back against the wall, staring ahead.

​“Okay” I said, exhaling smoke slowly. “So what’s the plan, I assume you have one?”

​There was no point in beating around the bush with this. Action was needed. I was done hiding.

​Davien rolled his tongue against his gums as he nodded. “We’ll need to be careful. Valerius… he’s not like other vampires. Like you—obviously—he’s a true born and he’s clever. But unlike you, he has full control over his abilities and he’s without a doubt a deranged psychopath. He’s dangerous.”

​I rubbed at my temples as I took in his words.

​“You’re sure we’re related?” I asked, because quite frankly I still hadn’t wrapped my head around that.

​Davien nodded. “Unfortunately…” he paused for a heartbeat, as though searching for the right words. “Your family—”

​“They’re not my family,” I cut him off. Because they simply weren’t. Claire was my only family.

​“Well whatever you call want to them, they are powerful and downright terrifying. My advice would still be to avoid them at all costs, but since you’ve made it clear that’s not an option, we’ll have to be smarter and play him at his own game. And maybe, maybe we’ll walk away with our lives.”

​“Okay, let’s go over everything then.”

​We spent the next few hours meticulously planning everything. Well, as much as we could. Davien seemed fairly set on the idea of Valerius likely doing something unhinged. The more I heard about this supposed family member of mine, the more worried I got. He seemed to thrive on terror and chaos and I was terrified what that meant for Claire. Any intel Davien had tried to gain from his assets had led to no further clarification about her whereabouts or what Valerius was doing with her. Dominic had also disappeared. There hadn’t been any sighting of him since the news of Claire’s abduction, and I feared what that meant.

​I was in so deep that I couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.

​But I’d fight for her, for Dominic too. I’d give them my all.

​I just hoped it would be enough.

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR

Davien

MY SMILE DROPPED the second Marlette entered the room.

The change in her wasn’t subtle, not something I had to think about or piece together. Something wasn’t right, it was there, written all over her face. The composure she wore like armour was gone, replaced with something fractured.

She’d been gone too long. Longer than it should have taken. I hadn’t realised… too distracted with what had been going between Ailsa and me. The sky outside had shifted fully into darkness, and I had no idea when.