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14. Fourteen

This woman was Atreyis’ mother, and it was painfully obvious. The similarities between their features were undeniable. Despite the virus that plagued her blood, I could see the beauty hiding beneath. It was a small lie when I told her I had medical experience. She would have reacted poorly if I’d mentioned being a Vampyr, and the scent told me everything I needed to know—that—and her faint heartbeat and labored breathing.

There were only two options for this human. Either I drained her, easing her from this world, or she suffered a slow death. Unfortunately, she was too weak to become a changeling. I suspected just a fraction of blood loss would tip the scale. Atreyis would have to tell me which he preferred, and somehow, I knew he’d want her to suffer.

Everything about his demeanor told me their relationship was estranged. Possibly worse.

“Would you like a glass of water?” I asked her in a calm voice.

“There is a basin,” she croaked, pointing toward the kitchen.

A basin was indeed there, but it was full of stagnant water. Insect larvae squirmed on the surface. Was she consuming this?

“There must be a well. Where is it?” I turned to face her, but she slumped forward, her forehead barely balanced along the table’s edge.

Death was a part of me, and I’d given the gift to many in my life. Somehow, it didn’t seem so simple with this woman. I wasn’t sure if it was because I didn’t thirst for infected blood or because this was Atreyis’ mother.

Frowning, I scooped her from the chair and softly laid her on the sofa. It was better than being hunched over. At least if she were flat, her lungs would have an easier time expanding. The stench of her mother’s corpse in the next room was practically unbearable to my senses.

“Can’t you wear a hat or something? So we don’t have to stay here?” Atreyis said from the doorway.

Shaking my head, I kept my eyes on the ajar bedroom door. He and I needed to discuss our options. “Come in here with me.”

“Do I have to?” He pouted and toed the floor.

“Yes.” Crossing the space of the small living room, I pushed the door open fully to reveal bloodied rags everywhere.

How long had these two women been living this way? Where was Atreyis’ father? Grandfather? Better yet—had the blackpox returned? I noted no pustules on her arms, but she had a fever.

Atreyis inched inside slowly, running a hand through his hair and gripping the strap of his satchel with his other, keeping his eyes focused on the ground. Moving past him, I closed the door. His breathing was steady, but his heart raced.I thanked my supernatural senses then because I suspected he wouldn”t admit how much the scene affected him.

“She is suffering. Your mother,” I started.

“Good riddance,” he mumbled and stalked toward the bedroom window, yanking it open. “Whole place smells like asshole.”

“If I don’t drain her, she will linger like this for some time. I can make it… peaceful.”

His shoulders hitched as he palmed the wall. “How did you know?”

“You resemble each other. Take some time to consider it. If it were my own, I’d grant her a swift death.”

Mentioning that brought a sharp sting to my chest. Whereas she was never inherently cruel to me, there wasn’t much of a relationship between my mother and me. A series of instructions and rules made up the whole of it. Humans spoke of their families with such high regard, and I suppose it was naive of me to believe that they all were bound by unconditional love because Atreyis struggled at that moment.

When he said nothing, I continued, “Or if you need to talk it through, we can do that.”

“There isn’t anything to talk about. I should leave you here. I’m not going to be worthless in the fucking sun,” he muttered.

“You could.” I leaned against the wall and studied him.

His fingers worked around the satchel strap, circling and tugging at it. His other hand tapped his index finger against the window sill. Even though I couldn’t see his face, I knew he was not seeing what was before him.

Atreyis seemed to have a war within him, one he hid under that outer layer of obscenities and careless attitude. That wasn’t real. This was—the part he chose to keep buried. In ways, I related. I, too, had a darkness that I didn’t want brought to the light.

“How come you didn’t leave? After Mr. Darcy? Why did you follow me?” he whispered.

Because I have nowhere to go.

“The Under Cloud seemed to be a reasonable location to recoup and decide what I need to do next.” Gods, that was a pathetic excuse. But after all, I was pathetic.

“Bullshit.” He flipped around and glared at me. His eyes dampened, but he brushed at them quickly.

Pressing my head back, I sighed. “I can’t be discovered. And as it would seem—that is failing miserably.”

“Fuckin’ hell. Just spit it out. What the fuck are you running from?”

“Everyone.” The word flew out of me as if it had always meant to, and Atreyis was taken aback.

Swallowing thickly, I smoothed down my shirt. “For the last century, I have been the most desired Vampyr among the covens. And I refuse to be used.”

Just that simple truth felt like a thousand pounds was lifted from my shoulders. How long had it been since I expressed that?

Phillipe knew I’d felt that way, but he never helped. He never did anything to show that he cared, and he would never. He was the heir to the coven and undermined by destiny. No one needed him. No one wanted him. It was always me.

“All I do is use people. You picked the wrong person to follow around, pup.” He crossed his arms.

“Yet you spared me.” I narrowed my eyes as he shifted uncomfortably.

“I couldn’t have you lying there like that when the enforcers showed up. Ariel would never let me live it down.” He shrugged. It was bizarre watching him try to pretend he was unaffected.

All I wanted was to call his bluff. I’d been convinced before that our time together had run its course. We didn’t have anything tying us together.

But then he saved me.

Whether he wanted to admit it or not, it was fact. Atreyis Winters came for me. No one had ever done that before. When I was at the Queen’s mercy, begging and pleading for her to claim anyone else—that everyone was wrong—no one helped. No one came. The one person I thought would stand up on my behalf dropped his gaze and bit his tongue.

“I want to tell you something,” I said.

“Please don’t.” He grimaced.

“Too bad. Sit down.” I pointed at the bed he eyed like it was full of razors.

“If I have to sit on that cesspool, you do too.”

So I did. He groaned and gagged but eventually lowered to the other end. A foreign sensation licked up my spine when his body heat lingered in the space between us. He was just a few feet away, but I knew he felt it when he looked at me as well—that fizzle of something igniting, waiting to burst into flames. A few strands of hair lay over his eyes, that beard which fascinated me was a bit longer, and as if he knew I was inspecting his features, his pulse quickened.

“Do you ever feel like life has no meaning?” Perhaps I was stalling, but that wasn’t what I wanted to tell him.

“You were supposed to tell me something. Not ask stupid fucking questions.” He went to stand up, but I grabbed his arm.

He stilled, eyes fixated on where our skin connected.

“I’m… getting to it.”

Scoffing at me, he sat back down, and I couldn’t help but notice he sat a fraction closer.

“My kind are going extinct. Fewer and fewer of us are being born. Throughout history, it was known that purebloods were difficult to conceive. A bond between two Vampyrs had to be carefully selected to ensure the highest success rate of procreation. My parents were fortunate because they were able to give birth to two sons. But then I started having dreams. A woman with white hair who sang to me.”

“Why are you telling me this shit? I don’t care.” Atreyis flopped backward.

As he did, the hem of his shirt lifted, revealing a tuft of hair I’d forgotten existed that trailed below his waistline. His skin was different than mine; it was more textured and alight with warmth. My gaze shifted lower, and for a moment, my breath caught. I could see the outline of his cock in almost explicit detail.

Chewing my cheek and ignoring it, I continued, “Once I told my brother about this, I became a target. He was no longer important, and I was thrust forward. The world tilted, and the person I loved abandoned me. When I became this… romanticized idol, everything came down on my shoulders—duties I’d never wanted nor was supposed to have. So I ran.”

“You are a shit bard. I’m almost asleep.”

A small smile formed on my lips. “And you ruined my plans. I was supposed to stay in that penitentiary long enough to be forgotten and for someone else to take my place.”

“So, just go back?” I looked over my shoulder to find him watching me. Deep breaths made his chest rise and fall.

Shaking my head, I leaned back on my hands. “Someone knows where I am now. There is nowhere for me to go.”

“Just kill ”em.” He toyed with his fingers, eyes flicking from the digits to my face.

“If only it were that simple. I won’t murder my own kind. But I will not bend to them either.”

He was quiet for a few minutes before he said, “Guess I have my own sodomizing demons, too.”

I snorted. “I’d assume you were into that sort of thing.”

His eyebrow cocked. “Was…that…a joke?”

I smiled briefly. “Maybe.”

He flung up and slapped his palm against my forehead. His face was so close to mine that I could feel his breath. “Are you dying?” His lips curled, and a flicker lit up his gaze.

“Not for a long time,” I whispered, licking my lips quickly. I expected him to remove his hand from my face, but it lingered—two seconds too long for either of us to deny the simplistic motion. I had almost forgotten where we were, then, too enraptured by the bright green irises searching my face and the bob of his throat as he swallowed roughly.

Like it had happened previously, I felt beckoned to him, my hand lifting on its own. I nearly brushed my fingers along his jaw before fate intervened.

Then I heard the scream.

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