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They look ready to rip each other apart at one wrong move. I’m not sure I want to get between them.
“Do you have any idea who I am?”
Della snorts. “The stench of dog gave it away before your louche offer.”
“You should be more careful who you choose to insult,bloodsucker.”
“Men have a nasty habit of underestimating women, and you are no different. Make no mistake, if you keep it up, I will make you regret it.”
“Bold words for someone half my size.”
“Yet, I could still bring you to heal with little effort.”
Passersby slow to watch with sidelong glances, while others stop completely and openly gape. Their fighting is calling too much attention to us.
“Will you two attempt to control yourselves?” I hiss. “You are causing a scene.”
Neither listens to me at first, too caught up in their quarrel. But then Della reins in her temper with visible effort. She adopts a haughty air, somehow looking down her nose at him, despite having to tilt her head up to meet his gaze.
Oliver’s nose twitches, and he relaxes his posture, though he refuses to take his eyes off her. His curled lip takes on an amused quality.
With an exasperated huff, Della breaks eye contact with him and sets her full focus on me. Her cheeks are slightly flushed. It’s hard to tell if it’s from irritation or a blush for nearly getting into a brawling match with a man in the middle of the town square.
“The first dress is ready for you to try on,” Della informs me, making a show of ignoring him as she leads me away.
“Clara,” Oliver calls to me before we’ve taken more than a few steps.
Much to Della’s irritation, I stop and glance back.
“I will let you know what I find. And my offer stands if you ever change your mind.”
Della throws a deadly glare in his direction before hurrying me back to the dressmaker.
CHAPTER NINE
ALARIC
A sharp achetwists in my gut. It is constant. Plaguing me. Though it has only been three days since I last fed. Images of a human flicker through my memory in an infinite loop. Of her offering up her bleeding wrist. Of her legs so weak, she had to be held up by the queen’s guards. Of her crumpled and lifeless body on the floor…
A darkness writhes through the hidden corners of my mind.
I nearly drained the human of all her blood. The offering had brought me closer to my queen… and yet not a single drop in the mortal’s body had come close to sating my hunger or fueling my waning power.
Tonight was much the same. The human fainted and I left, not staying long enough to see if they lived or died.
My lip curls, and I snarl at a passing servant carrying a gilded tea service. She whimpers and skitters back, bumping into the wall. The items on her tray clatter with her trembling.
The darkness, the monster that lives inside me, digs in with talons, planting visons of blood and death. Injecting its rancid poison.
Perhaps she could be of use… I could drink my fill—
The thought is there and gone before I pass her by. My mood sours further, just knowing it would be pointless to bother.
What is the point of feeding if it doesn’t stop this agony that eats away at me from the inside?
Fluttering wings drag me back to the present. My stride falters, then I come to a stop, looking up and down the servant halls, realizing where I am for the first time since I returned from tonight’s feeding.
That dark beast will weaken me until it can claim my body and mind for its own, pushing me out.
