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“Not to live,” I said.
We kept running. “What about Brien?” she asked. “Where did you meet him?”
I gave her a version of the truth. “I was singing in a club. He saw me and—” I lifted both my shoulders.
“In Quebec City?”
“Yeah.”
She shook her head. “You’re lucky you got out of there. Some of the covens in the QCS are hard-core.”
It was my turn to grunt.
Eden picked up the pace until we were running full-out, unable to talk.
The fifth time we lapped Lesa, we slowed and kept pace for her. There was just enough room for the three of us to run side by side.
As we passed the monkey-sex parapet, Lesa nudged me. “The prince really likes you, you know.”
It was as if she’d read my mind. My stupid heart gave a happy little skip. “You think?”
“Yeah. He almost never comes to the Bite Club for a thrall.”
“Work it all you can,” advised Eden. “Get him to settle some money on you—extra money, above your contract.” Her lips twisted, the bitterness back in her tone. “Before he gets tired of you. And whatever you do, don’t fall for him.”
On my other side, Lesa nodded.
I didn’t inform them that I wasn’t under contract and wasn’t getting paid. “I wouldn’t take extra money from him.”
“I see—you have ‘principles.’” Eden made air quotes with her fingers. “Or maybe you do think you’re in love with him.”
Maybe.
I swallowed hard.
“Oh, Twilight,” said Lesa.
I pretended I hadn’t heard her. “I thought you liked it here,” I said to Eden.
“I do.” She gave a short,you actually took me seriously?laugh. “I’m just in a bad mood. This fucking fog, you know.”
I had to ask. “Did Brien get tired of you?”
“Brien?” She did a doubletake. “No. I told you; he doesn’t have favorites.”
“So it’s Talon?”
Her mouth trembled, so quickly, I almost missed it. “Let it go, already,” she growled. “I told you, I’m not myself today.”
We rounded the east tower, and abruptly, we were in the sunlight, with the North Atlantic and much of the island still covered in patchy fog. I sucked in a breath and halted, taking in the view, and they stopped with me.
In the forest surrounding the castle, treetops poked out of the cottony white stuff. Further away, wisps floated over the fat cows in a meadow near a weathered red barn.
“This island is so beautiful.” I rested my forearms on the parapet. “Like something out of a movie.”
“I guess so.” Lesa swung a heel up on the wall and leaned forward, stretching the back of her leg. “When you grow up here, it’s just home.”
Eden rested her arms on the parapet beside me. “When I was a kid, I used to look up at the castle and wonder what it was like to be a thrall and live here with all these rich, hot vampires. The women seemed like princesses to me with their fancy clothes and jewelry. And now I know.” The corner of her mouth hitched in a self-mocking smile. “We’re not princesses, we’re dolls. Pretty things with no brains.”
