Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 144404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
She was so pale now I could see the veins in her neck. “It doesn’t feel subtle. I don’t want this. Whatever it is, I want to make sure it doesn’t happen.”
I didn’t know what made me say what I did next, but it was out of my mouth before I could think to stop it.
“He’ll still love you. Fenrir, that is. He’ll love you no matter what. You’re his mate. He sees you differently than you see yourself.”
Like Casey had.
She wiped at her eyes, but that Donovan-Quinn stubbornness was plain on her face. “Can you teach me how to fix it?”
That word. Teach. It got me every time. See, one of the things I liked about all that demon blood was the clarity of thought I got. When I’m on the blood, I didn’t care about the past. I cared about my goals. I cared about my spells.
I’d been a teacher. I’d had werewolf kids and teen shifters and a couple of halflings over the years. So many teen witches had come through my door.
I’m so sorry, Olivia. They did it to themselves, when you think about it.
I shoved the memory away, not letting that awful day take hold. They didn’t matter. All that mattered was the syringe in Evan’s hand. “Sure, kid. I can teach you a couple of spells to keep it at bay, but I don’t know how long they’ll work. If you go all monstrous, there’s always glamours.”
I’d never had Evan in my class. Any of the kids. They were too young for high school English, and by the time they were old enough, I only taught death.
“Give me a list of what I’ll need and I’ll give this to you. I can keep it up with Eddie for a few weeks, but by then my father will have decided what to do with you and it won’t matter,” Evan said with a practicality I’d come to appreciate her for.
I agreed with her. This would all be over in a couple of days, one way or another. I quickly told her what she’d need to make the spell work and promised to teach her. I would have promised her the world. The whole fucking world just to get that blood in my veins.
I might have given up Myrddin for that blood.
Had he intended that affect? Or had he simply always meant to be the one supplying it?
I was the last of the Profane—his most powerful witches—and it struck me in that moment that the only strong thing about us was an appetite for that blood.
When she tossed it my way, that syringe was in my vein so fast I couldn’t breathe.
And then I could as it raced through my system. Maybe it was the amount. So little, but it didn’t hit me the same way. For a moment I thought Evan might have poisoned me. Oddly, it felt cool this time. It didn’t give me that hideous rush of pain I’d come to associate with the blood. But the power was absolutely there. That blood calmed my shakes, and I felt more settled than I had in forever.
It would pass, I told myself. I was just relieved.
I didn’t know that the blood I’d put in my veins was the beginning of the end for me.
“Hey, babe. Whatcha doing?” a familiar voice said. “Hope it’s a friendly visit and not one where we kill prisoners because we were told by the ’rents we shouldn’t do that.”
Fenrir’s eyes were big and wide, as though he expected to walk in on a massacre.
Evan had already palmed the syringe again, and she eased it into her jeans. She didn’t want her boyfriend to know what she was doing. Probably because of the whole “I’ll love you no matter what” bullshit I’d laid out to her. “I was checking to make sure she’s safe behind these wards. I wanted to let her know I’m watching her. Always.”
Fenrir grimaced. “Okay, babe, well, sounds creepy and stuff. Hot, but creepy. Uhm, you should know I overheard your parents talking about us not going with my mom and like doing the Faery plane thing.”
Evan’s eyes flared. “Oh, that is not happening.”
The princess turned and stalked off, and I for one was glad she would be going to the royal house to have her argument.
I was feeling calm. Magnanimous, even.
If I had the blood, I could wait for a while. I could bide my time. I might even escape with some valuable information.
Or I might be able to take one of them with me. Casey or Kelsey. Whichever one was handy. Once they’d seen the light, I would have the other one, too. If I played my cards right, I might even be able to get that big old scary vampire king to see reason. How pleased would Myrddin be if I managed to mend his relationship with Donovan?