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Hunger for blood.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Clara
With one lastcursory glance around the room, I nod. Though I’m not entirely sure if it’s my way of saying goodbye or to confirm that I have everything I need packed. Even if I left empty handed, it wouldn’t matter as long as Alaric is with me.
I press my hand against my stomach to calm the knots forming over the last hour. It’s barely past sun rise.
So why can’t I shake the sensation that something is wrong?
A sharp pain pierces my skull, pulsing and searing. Nausea rolls through me and I hiss against the sudden onslaught.
Light scratching against the door draws my attention past my discomfort. It’s too soon for it to be Cassius. If it were, he would have barged in when I didn’t immediately answer.
Turning around, I open the door. No one is there. Slowly, I stick my head out and look from left to right. The hall is deathly silent.
“Clara.” The small voice drags my gaze down to Cherno crumpled on the threshold of my room. Large, dark eyes blink up at me. The red glow of their power has dimmed to a warm brown and their wings are splayed out, limp.
My heart lurches into my throat. I crouch and scoop the tiny demon into my hands then hastily close the door. Leaning against the wood, I slide to the ground, and cradle Cherno.
“What happened to you?” I whisper. “Where have you been?”
Their small front claws wrap around my thumb as I lift them to my face. Pale lines are branded into their wings, some new, some partially faded.
Cherno doesn’t speak for a long time. “The queen,” they say eventually. “She locked me in a cage of night-forged silver… and now she has Alaric.”
I swallow thickly. I know the answer before I even ask, but still hope. “He’s in the cage now?”
Cherno shakes their head.
Elizabeth can lock him up, but she can’t compel him ever again.Closing my eyes, I take a calming breath, then look at the tiny creature in my hands.
“He is demon cursed,” they say in a small, broken voice.
“That’s impossible. You’ve been his demon for—”
They shake their head. “It’s different withher. She can curse vampires and humans with her demon.” Their body shudders, whether in fear, weakness, or sorrow, I can’t tell. Possibly all three. “The queen has destroyed his mind—he is nothing more than a shell. Alaric is gone.”
The world crumbles around me.
“She knows, Clara.” Cherno’s voice breaks through the sound of my world being rent into a million pieces. “Elizabeth felt her hold over him break then waited for him in his quarters. When she couldn’t oath bind him to her, she realized he was already bound to you.”
I close my eyes and scan for Alaric, surprised to find that I can sense he is alive but not his presence or that quiet second heartbeat.
Something slimy separates us, muting what I know is there—bright, blinding, and utterly brilliant. The barrier is like looking into a dark room through old, thick glass, warped by time and gravity, clouded and scratched by years of weather and grit.
I love you,I whisper through the ghostly remains of our connection as if he can somehow get my message.
There is no reply, only deafening silence.
Everything I did, has been for nothing. Exactly as the oracle had warned. Ophelia told me the spell wouldn’t save him, but I ignored her, and once again, Elizabeth found a way to trap him.
I swallow the bile rising in my throat.
This can’t be it… there must be something I can do. Even if all my effort and sacrifice only ever amounts to nothing, I can’t give up—I refuse to give up—until he’s free from her for good. Elizabeth will have to kill me first.
With shaking hands, I place Cherno on my shoulder and struggle to stand. I nearly trip over my own feet rushing to set the demon on the pillow. “You will stay with me as long as you want,” I say. “There is something I have to do, but I’ll be back later.”
