Total pages in book: 55
Estimated words: 50954 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 255(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50954 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 255(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
Maddox was being tortured, though not in a physical way. He had been stripped of the right to his own abode. Gideon had made it clear that the only place his family would be permitted to reside was his new stronghold. The very faint silver lining was that this way Mad was able to see Will from time to time, usually at a distance. Gideon was keeping Will under lock and key very tightly. It was only on occasions such as these, grand courts, that Will and Henry were trotted out as signs of power and opulence and perhaps even mercy in Gideon’s twisted mind.
Gideon’s inner circle was a family affair. He had assembled Maddox and Ray, and of course, Chauvelin as Ray’s adoptee, and Carter as Maddox’s fledgling. Lorien was at the rear, hiding his face. He was part of the family, and yet, not. A strange cousin, one who lingered in agony at the sight of Henry chained.
“For fuck’s sake, this is so fucking boring.” Carter interrupted Maddox’s morose thoughts with a whine. Maddox redirected an unimpressed gaze at his fledgling, who was leaning on Gideon’s throne with a familiarity that belied the dark connection between the two of them.
Carter did not seem to remember the circumstances of his making. The trauma of death had taken a sledgehammer to his memory, and so the anticipated bitterness and fear he might be expected to have toward Gideon was simply not there. That was not a state guaranteed to last forever. He was still a very flesh fledgling, and there was a decent chance much of his memory would return. When it did, Maddox could only imagine the chaos that would unfold. Carter had some of Will’s fiery temperament, though it was soft and privileged, rather than hardened and brutalized. He was spoiled, and lazy. From time to time, a glance or an expression would painfully put Maddox in mind of Will, but for the most part, Carter was his own young man, one Mad would not have chosen to turn in a thousand years.
“Stand up straight,” Maddox prompted Carter. The young man was dressed in a suit that mirrored Maddox’s, his hair cut after the same fashion. As much effort as Maddox made to civilize him, Carter had been turned at the moment when a man is at his most naturally feral, the age of eighteen, when he feels no natural fear. He was reckless, and like Will, he was often angry. He was yet to come to terms with all he had lost in becoming a vampire. He wanted desperately to live his old human life again, to see his friends, to attend concerts and college. Maddox had been forced to deny him all those things.
“I’ve got a game to go to,” Carter was saying while Maddox stared at the back of Will’s collared head longingly. “I’ve got tickets to the Knicks.”
“You’re not going to any game.”
Carter lifted his chin and made an attempt at defiance. “You can’t stop me.”
“I can, and I have.” Maddox straightened Carter’s tie for the dozenth time. Carter seemed to think it looked better when everything was askew. Maddox suspected his messiness was a small form of rebellion, or perhaps the action of a boy who missed his mother. He was a technical adult, but one in name only.
“How long is this thing supposed to go on for, then? It’s boring.”
“I do not know.”
Gideon heard every word and smiled throughout. Maddox did not miss that. He was being punished with the burden of fatherhood and with proximity to the man he loved, the man who now seemed to be broken to Gideon’s collar and full of loathing for Maddox in particular. Not a word had been spoken between them since Will fled into the arms of his captor. Maddox craved closure, forgiveness, reunion, but the secret he had kept was too great to allow any of that. Will was bitter, broken, and perhaps forever beyond his reach.
“I’m hungry,” Carter said. He was always hungry. Fledglings usually were. Maddox had been careful to keep him away from any humans, knowing that his instincts were still wild and untamed.
“There’s blood in the reception area. Go and help yourself, then come back. Don’t wander.”
Carter rolled his eyes. Maddox’s palm twitched. He had yet to physically punish Carter, but the boy was pushing closer to it with every impudence. It was guilt that prevented him from taking firm action, but that guilt would not last forever and neither would Carter’s grace period.
The ceremony dragged on interminably, even according to Maddox’s temperament. Each and every vampire of old lines came and swore fealty to Gideon. It was a pointless act, as each and every vampire had sworn fealty to almost everybody Maddox knew at one point or another. Carter was restless the entire time, an irritant Maddox did not need. Being so close to Will and having Will refuse to so much as look at him, continued to make him ache.