Chapter Seven

Silas, in his massive hoard, had a collection of petrified exotic fruits. Of the non-forbidden cards in her deck, a healthy portion were from phytomancers. It was a matter of finding the right card to enchant the seeds of the fruit and turn them into new trees, right in the middle of the cave.

Soon after, the two sat across from each other while Esmae gorged herself on the most delicious fruit she'd ever had.

Perhaps she should've let him go back out. It would have given her more time to explore and press Dirt for information. But when he'd come back, he had been even paler than before. His cheeks were blistered, and though they'd since settled down, the vampire still looked slightly ill. Of course, ill on the vampire still managed to look infuriatingly gorgeous. Anyone else would've prayed to look half as bad at their healthiest. But she noted the difference, and guilt had clawed into her throat and refused to stop squeezing. He'd gotten hurt, for her.

He hadn't even given her a hard time about the meat, which he offered to later drop off where travelers would find it in the night. Even Jared had continued haranguing Esmae over her dietary habits well into their relationship. He just couldn't comprehend that being able to talk to animals while alive made eating them utterly off-putting.

Yet Silas didn't even know the nature of her magic and accepted her refusal.

So, she'd spared him a second journey in the sun and used one of her limited cards to harvest the seeds and magically grow the fruit. And accepted her place at the vampire's table.

Besides, she had a mission: learn more about the vampire. And in turn, his mate.

There was a flaw in her plan, however.

The vampire was… charming .

First had been the maps. Then his humor. He was direct without being crude, his attraction blatant. He flirted, but he wasn't overbearing. He made no snide comments about her eschewing meat for fruit—in fact, he seemed nearly entranced as he watched her eat.

"If you've traveled to so many places, why do you stay in the Condemned Cliffs?" she asked when an opportunity presented itself. He was obviously territorial, given how he'd scowled at Dirt (who took some fruit and scurried off, which she couldn't blame him for).

Silas grimaced. "It was not exactly a plan. I contracted a curse upon coming to the land and lost my ability to go elsewhere."

So she wasn't the only one cursed? Esmae debated sharing her own plight, but quickly dismissed the idea. The only cure to her curse was killing the vampire, spilling his blood. He might flirt with her, but he wouldn't give his life for her.

"That must have been hard. I never got to travel, but I've always longed to. I can't imagine what it's like to have had that freedom taken away. At least I don't know what I'm missing. You must miss it."

Silas sipped from his goblet, though she had no desire to know what was in it. "Tell me, Esmae. Why didn't you travel when you clearly have the heart of an adventurer?"

She bit back a bitter laugh. Heart of an adventurer, or heart of ice? "I lacked the means. My father is old; my mother died years ago." She was killed by the village when they realized her magic broke the accepted mold. "He needs me to care for him."

"Then who cares for you ?"

She ignored the question. "What about you? Do you have any family? Any… loved ones?" A dangerous dance, trying to ask about his fated mate.

"I have a brother, who I left in Wyrdova."

She blinked. "He's a vampire like you?"

Silas chuckled. "Not at all."

Then how was his brother alive, when Silas had said he had lived here for hundreds of years?

"We are something… else," he answered, guessing her question. Esmae bit back her discomfort at being read so easily. "What the curse took from me, he still has. Another form that gives him long life. I didn't realize becoming a vampire would take it from me."

If he was another species… that explained how he could have a fated mate. "And anyone else?" She tried to keep her tone light. "A… lover? Mate?"

"I've never had a female like that," Silas said immediately.

She blinked, covering her surprise. "So you don't have a mate?"

He hesitated. Hiding something? Now she wanted to know that much more. As well as why he hadn't ever been with a woman before. Was he simply not interested? Every scalding look belied that theory.

"You could say I'm unattached for the moment," was what the vampire eventually settled on.

"Do you want to be?" she asked, trying to figure out the layers of the answer.

His face split into a grin. "Eager to claim me for yourself? "

She choked on the piece of fruit she'd mistimed, sputtering.

Silas was across the table in an instant, gently pounding her back while placing his goblet in her hand. Wine, not water, she was relieved to find while she cleared her throat. He rubbed her back, and after a moment of not being able to breathe, she settled against it before her brain caught up.

She shifted her chair and after a beat, Silas took the hint and went back to his side of the table.

I'm just going to ignore that. "I was just wondering. I assumed any mate wouldn't be happy about you kidnapping some other woman."

"Mmm, let me worry about my mate." Not denying he had one? "I'd much rather learn about you , Esmae. Tell me, do you have a lover?"

He asked the words in a bored, uncaring way. His eyes said he felt any way but that.

"I don't see why I should answer that."

"I could make you," Silas drawled.

She bit her cheek hard enough to sting. "I hate when you do that. Tell you what, I'll answer your questions if you answer mine." If his interest in her was her only leverage, she'd use it.

"A bargain?"

"What's good for the gander is good for the goose. You claimed my blood for spilling yours." His gaze immediately dropped to her neck, and she regretted bringing it up. Her pulse sped as she remembered exactly how his bite felt. "I'll give you answers if you do the same."

"Deal." Not a trace of hesitation. She'd half-expected him to refuse and use his thrall to drag the information from her. It was utterly violating. But perhaps he preferred if she was willing. "Do you have a lover?"

"What do you plan to use that information for?"

Silas grinned, but it was cold. "Answer my question first."

She forced her voice to stay steady. "I don't have one. Why did you want to know?"

"Because if you did, I was going to kill him. Don't look so surprised," he chastised her, unruffled by her horrified look. "I've told you I'm territorial about what's mine."

"I'm not yours! "

"I say you are. But I'd agree, you're not as much mine as you will be by the end of the night."

"The end of the night?"

"When you're in my bed."

She jerked back and stood. "You're unbelievable!"

He grinned. "We'll see. Now, sit, and we can keep playing your game. Or we can play one of mine."

Remember the plan. "Tell me about—"

"Ah, ah," Silas tutted. "You had your question. It's my turn. Tell me about your past lovers."

If looks could've burned the vampire, her glare would've reduced him to ashes. Instead, he smiled, pleased with her reaction. She would've been better acting like an emotionless ice princess. She'd always been so good at that. But around the vampire, it was impossible to keep her composure. "What makes you so sure I've had any?"

"Your initial reaction. If that was the case, you'd have denied it as easily as I did. Now, that's two questions you owe me."

She was losing at her own game. Fine. No more indignant outbursts. She'd answer and then get her own answers in turn. "I had one lover before, a boy two years older than me. We recently parted ways."

"Why did you end it with him?"

"He saw me more as an object than a person." A weak peasant witch who would never leave the village and would be impressed with everything he said. I've given you everything, and you spurn me? Your heart is ice, witch. Let your body turn as well when the walking moon is full again. Given her everything, he'd said. He'd bought her dinner twice with complaint, and given her a lay in the hills that had hardly been worth gloating about with other girls, if she'd had any friends to potentially gloat to. "He was the kind of man who, even if I spent hours making a picnic basket to enjoy with him, he'd cancel because he could get a better offer. If I ever tried to make other plans, he'd accuse me of disloyalty. I realized my value to him was that I was an easily impressed audience, and I got tired of seeing the same play over and over again. But…" She trailed off before she could voice the question on her lips.

Silas read her hesitation perfectly. "I knew you were the one to end it because no sane male would ever let you go. "

She forced a smile, but it was brittle. "He didn't want to let me go. He saw me as a belonging. You two would likely have gotten along."