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“Clara,” she says. At my arched brow, she clarifies, “You can call me by my name, if you want.”
Gold flecks are scattered within her warm brown eyes. My thumb strokes the column of her throat. I can practically taste the blood flowing under her skin. It calls to me like a siren’s song. Hypnotizing. I release her and take a step back.
Her eyes are glassy, and she bites her bottom lip and nods as if in answer to some unspoken question. “This isn’t how, or where, I wanted to tell you, but there is something you need to know,” Clara begins. She looks off to the side, wrings her hands, then takes a deep breath. “We are oath bound.”
I stop breathing.
I’d expected her to use this supposed curse to manipulate me into doing her bidding or attempt some elaborate twisting of the truth…
Nothing could have prepared me for those four words.
It cannot be true.
“Liar.” I am to be bound to Elizabeth… she would know if I were already bound to another.I would know.“I would never tie myself to a mortal—let alone one my queen detests,” I snarl.
My nightmare flinches but keeps her head held high. Her calm demeanor is unnerving. “Your queen is the one who cursed you.”
“No.” My denial is weak. I back up, needing space between me and this…demon.This woman must be a demon—there is nothing else she can be, nothing else that makes sense. “If that were true, she would have killed you for the insult alone. And yet, you live.”
She nods. “When Cherno told me what happened, part of me thought she would kill me the first chance she could.” A frown settles on her features. “I think… the only reason she hasn’t is because of a deal you made with her. At least, that’s the only thing I’ve been able to come up with.”
“What would she want that I have not already freely given?”
Clara blinks. “You never wanted to sit on the throne.”
My blood chills. Elizabeth has had my undying loyalty since I was first turned. I would do anything she wanted, be anything she wanted.
Not for a second had I ever sought to wear the crown or possess the power that comes with it. I accepted only to please her.
It is a secret I have kept closely guarded, never speaking it aloud or showing any hint to that truth. This nightmare should never have been able to guess.
“You agreed to be her consort in exchange for my protection. But when she realized we were oath bound, that is when she cursed you.” She reaches for me through the bars.
“The oath bond is no light matter. In all my days of being a vampire, I have never wanted to be connected in such a permanent way to anyone. I doubt a mortal woman could so easily trick me into doing so.”
She flinches. “It wasn’t a trick. I would never—”
“Leave.”
“Let me explain everything from the beginning, then you will understand.”
“Leave!” My back presses into the cold stone wall. “Get out!”
Her fingers curl into her palm. She hesitates. “If you change your mind, I will tell you.”
At the top of the stairs, the door hinges screech. She stares at me with a mix of hurt and determination, then turns and walks away.
I slide down the wall to the ground.
No.
Nothing she claimed can be anything but a deception.
I refuse to be so easily turned against my queen.
Elizabeth loves me.
My throat has gone dry. She has called me “my love,” but I cannot recall a moment when she ever said that she loved me.
