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There is no use continuing my deception. I grit my teeth and snarl as I attempt to jerk my arm free, but she holds fast. We stare each other down in silence for several minutes as I wait for her to realize the full extent to which I’ve defied her.
Elizabeth’s delicate nostrils flare. Tremors of fury rack her body as her skin turns ice cold against mine. With a scream that rattles the knocked over glass, she releases me and backs up.
“You oath bound yourself to someone…” Her chest heaves with ragged breaths, then her face slackens as her pupils shrink to pinpricks. “You oath bound yourself to thathuman?”
She drags her fingers down her arms, scratching long jagged lines into her flesh that heal almost immediately, then tangles her hands through her perfect curls until her hair is knotted and pulled free of the careful style. Strands come loose, snarled around her fingers.
I stand letting the cold, empty mask slide over my features, and remain silent.
“How dare you defy me?I made you.I gave youeverything—this life, this unimaginable power.” Her arms stretch out at her sides, fingers curling into claws as if she will rip the demons and saints from the Otherworld with her bare hands. “And this is how you repay me? By going against me at every turn… for some wretched human!”
Regardless of how benevolent she sees herself, we both know she forced me into this life. That I had refused her, wanting nothing to do with anything she offered. Even as I lay in the dirt, dying, I denied her. It was only when she fatally injured Rosalie in front of me that I conceded to Elizabeth’s wishes.
As her voice dies off, she glares, eye’s blazing red with her demon’s power. Her nostrils flare as she attempts to regain her composure. In the more than two hundred years I have known her, Elizabeth has always maintained complete control of her emotions.
If I wasn’t witnessing it now, I would not have thought her capable of throwing a fit. It’s all I can do to keep from smiling in satisfaction. This is the beginning of my revenge for all that she has stolen from me.
Elizabeth pushes back a lock of hair from her forehead before smoothing her hands over her dress. “Do not think that this will go unpunished.”
Placing two fingers in her mouth, she whistles.
Within seconds, the familiar beat of Kharis’s feathered wings on the air approaches. Elizabeth snatches up the discarded cup on the table and holds out her arm for the demon to land.
Reaching up to her shoulder, she pulls out a long needle hidden in the seam of her dress. Elizabeth’s gaze remains steadfast as she pierces the raven’s neck. The demon bird doesn’t flinch or protest.
Blood pours into the cup until it is nearly full—a feat that should be impossible considering the bird’s size.
Elizabeth slides a finger over the wound, sealing it. Kharis turns their beady red eyes on me and caws once before flying away, passing through the door like vapor.
Holding the cup of blood out, Elizabeth jerks her chin. “Drink.”
I take the cup and bring it to my nose, sniffing the thick liquid, then lower it without drinking. Ripples dance over the surface of the blood.
“You cannot break an oath,” I remind her.
“My prince, do not dare tell me what I know, what laws and magic I put into place hundreds of years before I created you. Now, drink the blood, for your insolence.”
“And what punishment can I expect from this?” I demand.
“Would you rather I send for the girl so she can take the punishment in your place?”
I growl, low in my throat, but inside, my gut twists. Elizabeth is not making an idle threat. She wants me to refuse, to give her reason to rip Clara’s heart out and feel it beating in her hand.
“I have agreed to be your consort in exchange for Clara’s safety. That was our deal. I never swore to be compelled or oath bind myself to you—those are demands you added without agreement or consent after the fact. I have not gone back on my end of the bargain.”
“Yes, punishment for her past crimes and any she may commit in the future.” A dark smile that holds no sliver of warmth creeps over her face. “But I never said she is above beingyourpunishment.”
Clara and I should have left the second we completed the oath. We never should have lingered. I trusted Elizabeth to keep her word when we struck our bargain, but she was deceptive and always planned to make Clara suffer because even after all this time, I still cannot love her.
“Would knowing what you’ll face really help?”
“Yes.”
Elizabeth presses the tip of her tongue against a fang as she considers my request. “Since you are the consort the oracle’s prophesy promised, I will tell you.” The corners of her mouth twitch. “It will cause you unbearable pain.”
“What aren’t you telling me?”
Elizabeth scoffs. “I’ve told you what you need to know. It is time to make your decision—the blood or the girl’s life.”
