Chapter 6

Elena's POV

I stayed at Alexander's side. I became a blood slave, something low and worthless.

The dull ache in my chest never let up, not even when I slept.

I'd open my eyes and look at the narrow attic room, at the sloped ceiling, and feel like I was still inside a nightmare.

The pain was past what I could carry, and still I refused to let go.

Over and over I went back, only to be humiliated again. Over and over I turned Joey down when he asked me to leave with him.

I wouldn't leave with him, because I knew. Even if Alexander didn't love me anymore, I still couldn't walk away from him.

Maybe the reason he'd humiliated me that day was only because my parents had been there.

The Ashbourne family had been merchants for generations, and by my parents' generation, the family was in decline.

I had been their one piece of luck, a "fated bride" who could marry into the vampire line. They had spent twenty years raising me with care, with hope, eyes fixed on that future.

And then they'd found out their real daughter had been living in the slums.

It made sense, didn't it, that they couldn't accept it right away.

And Alexander, maybe Alexander was only humiliating me on purpose, to stop my parents from handing me over to the Elder Council. Maybe he was keeping me close so he could protect me.

I lay on the bed, the night black outside the window, lying to myself.

The more I thought about it, the harder it was to keep from laughing at how stupid I sounded, how childish.

But I couldn't accept what had happened, and the only way I knew to keep going was to lie to myself.

Before dawn, I went to Alexander's study to bring him his blood, the way I did every morning.

I'd always been afraid of the smell of blood. He used to take care to feed where I couldn't see him.

Now I stood outside the study, stiff, holding that glass of red liquid in my hands, listening to him laugh and play with my so-called “sister” Vicky on the other side of the door.

"Alexander."

Vicky's voice was small and sweet.

"I'm trying on wedding dresses today. When I come back tonight, I want you to cook dinner for me yourself. All right?"

"All right. Whatever you want."

The ache in my chest surged back up.

He used to use exactly that tone with me, promising me everything, indulging every little selfish thing I asked for.

I bit down on my lip.

The study door opened, and Vicky came out in a soft white dress.

There was a smile on her face. It dropped the moment she saw me.

"That maid's outfit really suits you, sister. You took to it so quickly."

I went still and made myself keep my head down.

"By the way. Those wedding dresses you picked out, I don't like any of them."

She let out a delicate little sigh.

"Your taste is just so bad."

The color drained from my face.

From inside the study, Alexander gave a low, amused laugh.

"Pick new ones, then."

His voice was easy.

"Whatever you like."

Vicky's eyes curved into a smile.

"Really?"

"Mm."

His voice came low and slow.

"You look beautiful in anything."

Something stabbed clean through my chest.

He used to say those exact words to me.

Vicky was satisfied at last. As she walked past me, she made sure her shoulder bumped mine on the way.

Her heels clicked away down the corridor.

The hallway was quiet again.

I stood there, fingertips trembling a little.

A long time passed before I made myself push the door open and go in.

Alexander was seated behind his desk.

His black shirt was half-open, baring the pale line of his collarbone and the red marks Vicky had left there.

He didn't even bother to look up at me.

"Set it down."

I put the glass on the desk, silently.

Vicky was gone.

The past few days, she'd been glued to him. She'd barely left him alone.

Like she was afraid I'd find a chance to talk to him.

And now, for the first time, I was alone with Alexander.

My breath started to come faster.

"Alexander."

The word came out on its own.

He finally lifted his eyes. Those blood-red eyes settled on me, cold.

"What is it now?"

My chest was tight. I couldn't help being nervous.

"What you said before. Did you mean it?"

He frowned, like the conversation was already tiring him.

But I was holding on to whatever last thread of hope I had. My fingers shook as I undid the collar of my shirt and pulled out the necklace I'd hidden underneath.

The blood-red gem caught the lamplight.

It had been a gift from him. A vampire bride's necklace. Only a formally acknowledged mate had the right to wear one.

I looked at him, eyes red.

"If you'd really never loved me, why didn't you take it back?"

Alexander lifted an eyebrow and studied the necklace for a moment. Then he gave a soft, cold laugh.

"Because my bride doesn't want anything secondhand."

"So," he went on, careless, "I've already had a new one made."

It felt like something was being ripped out of my chest. The pain made it hard to stay standing.

He just watched me from across the room, from above me.

Like my misery was something to enjoy.

"Although," he tilted his head and gave a slow, mocking smile, "you used to be so proud, didn't you? Even getting close to me before the wedding, you had to keep your boundaries. Your limits."

The blood went out of my face all over again.

He stood up. His eyes dropped, unhidden, to the open collar of my shirt as he walked toward me.

"Regretting it now?"

He looked down at me.

"If you'd had my child earlier, maybe you wouldn't have been thrown out. Maybe you wouldn't be a blood slave."

My breath went uneven.

"Alexander."

In the next second, his hand caught my chin.

Cold breath, suddenly right against my face.

Then I felt the points of his fangs slide into my throat.

The pain made me shake.

I tried, instinctively, to push him away.

He held me against him without effort.

"Don't move."

His voice was low. It carried that particular danger a vampire's voice had when he was feeding.

"All those years, when I had to coax you along. All that pretending I was in love with you. It was exhausting."

The tears came down on their own.

I held on to his sleeve with both hands.

"If you didn't love me, why did you save me, then? When we were kids?"

My voice was shaking. I couldn't make myself stop looking at him, even now, even pleading.

"In that fire, you almost died saving me."

I'd been trapped in a burning house that year. Alexander, only a boy himself, had run in through the flames and carried me out on his back.

The fire had almost cost him one of his arms.

After that, I'd never once doubted that he loved me.

He just gave a cold, short laugh.

"Because I bet right on you."

I went stone-still.

"What does that mean?"

He looked down at me, his eyes ice.

"If I hadn't been the one to save you that day, the man you ended up with might have been Joey."

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, unhurried.

"And that strong half-blood heir wouldn't have belonged to me."

"For the sake of power, of position, it's worth taking a risk now and then."

Then he paused.

His eyes settled on me again, reassessing, like he was looking at prey, or at a toy.

The look made my skin crawl.

"Though, thinking back on it now, if I'd known your bloodline was a fake, I never would have done it."

The whole world dropped out from under me.

So even that, even that desperate rescue had been calculation.

I started fighting him for real.

"No. Don't touch me—"

I shoved him away from me like I was losing my mind, the tears coming and coming.

Just as the despair was about to take me down completely, the study door opened again.

"Alexander, I forgot my earring."

Vicky's voice cut off.

The air went silent.

She was standing in the doorway.

My collar was a mess. My eyes were red. Alexander had me half-pinned against his chest.

The blood drained from my face. I yanked my collar straight, fumbling, panicked.

Then I shoved Alexander off and stumbled out of the room.

Behind me, Alexander wiped the last of the blood from his mouth with the same lazy gesture as before, as if nothing had happened.

Vicky stood in the doorway, watching me leave like that, wrecked.

Her hand slowly closed into a fist.