LOGIN“You are an interesting woman,” he says finally, as though he has been collecting sentiments about me like curiosities. “I am not for your amusement,” I say. “Amusement is a generous way of putting it.” He turns his face to me and finally, which is nothing like mercy, he kisses me. It is a small t
“You will come with me tonight,” he says suddenly, and when I look at him the certainty in his eyes is a rope. “Where are we going?” I ask. I do not like the sound of my own voice in the dark halls. “To the club,” he says, as if the clubs he owns are nothing more than rooms he has arranged for his
The dinner goes on without ceremony. I wear a dress that fits like a promise and is less comfortable than anything else I own. The woman who dresses me fusses at the strap and at the hem with an intimacy that is practiced, like a ritual done daily for decades. The room where dinner is served is a pl
“You should not have broken a tray,” he says in that voice that is silk wrapped around steel. It makes everyone quiet because it is a voice that is treated like currency in this house. The words are simple but the way he says them says a thousand more complicated things. He is not angry the way I am
I come back from the memory to find sunlight in my eyes and orange juice dried on the carpet like the outline of a wound. My hands are trembling now for reasons I cannot name. The house clock in the hall ticks the way a heart does when it is being measured. There are noises behind the walls, small h
Oh God, I hate him. He is the center of everything I cannot control in this place. He is the reason doors close and keys rattle and the nights feel like traps. He is the reason my throat tastes like metal at dusk. He is also the reason, absurdly and against my every better judgment, that sometimes
─❈─ AURELIA ─❈─ The sound of the gunshot echoes off the room, but it’s immediately drowned out by the pounding in my ears. I slam into the marble wall, sliding down hard, my spine screaming in protest as I hit the floor. I hadn’t even thought about the consequences of pulling that trigger. And
“Come.” I order, and she hesitates, then walks into the dim lounge, almost falling on her ass from the impossibly high heels she’s wearing. Her eyes widen as I gesture to my thighs, but she doesn’t protest. She walks closer—her scent sharp in the air—as she sinks into my lap, facing away from me
“Why are you using Scuba to block me out?” I demand. “Rafaele—” “Don Rafaele,” I correct sharply, and she bursts into tears, falling dramatically on the floor, blocking my way to the elevator. Behind me, Matteo sighs deeply in annoyance. “I swear—I wasn’t blocking you out. With all these vam
and then dared to play savior by running to her aid and killing that sick vampire first— is beyond me. Estela barely glances at the ID. “I don’t know who this is, Rafaele,” she says with a shrug. “He’s not one of mine. Not part of my sire’s line, either.” There’s no lie in her eyes—at least







