Page 67 of Bewitched By a Vampire

“Who attacked my coven then?” She risked another step towards Night and he still didn’t react.

He just stood there, cold and aloof, distant from her. “I will answer that when you answer my question. Why did you want Bastian’s blood?”

She held his gaze, seeing deep in his that the answer to this question was important to him. She didn’t want him to believe that she desired anything from his brother, especially not a servant bond, so she answered him truthfully—almost.

“I have a power. I can see memories in blood. I dream them. The plan was to take Bastian’s blood during the process of me becoming his servant and I would dream his memories. They would either clear his name or prove him guilty. We didn’t believe he would give up his blood if he was asked for it directly, so the best plan was to become his servant. He would have to give me his blood then. In Norway, I decided to skip the exchanging blood and becoming a servant part and asked for his blood instead. I was hoping he would be compliant.” She omitted the part about how her blood would have fatally poisoned his brother if she had gone with the original plan of becoming his servant.

“I know my brother,” Night said, his face an unreadable mask. “Bastian isn’t violent. His bloodlust is kept in check and he has no reason to attack witches. He’s a businessman, Lilian.”

Which was the exact same vibe she had gotten from Bastian in their time together.

“Myself, on the other hand.” Night shrugged.

Deepening that feeling that her elders had been telling her the truth about him and he really had attacked a coven and come close to wiping them out. She stared at him, not finding it difficult to imagine he was capable of slaughtering so many witches under the right conditions, but finding it hard to believe he would be so heartless at the same time.

“Do you know where Bastian was last month, on the seventh?” Her eyes darted between his and she hesitated, not strong enough to ask him to give his blood to her. He wouldn’t. She knew it in her gut. He didn’t want her to see his memories.

Part of her didn’t want to see them either.

“I’m not his keeper,” Night drawled, unwittingly forcing her hand.

She stared him in the eye and told herself that she could do this, that she didn’t really have a choice. Her coven wanted her to prove her loyalty to them and this was the best way to do that.

“Then will you give me your blood?”

He tensed, his right eyebrow quirking. A reaction at last, but the flash of heat in his gaze wasn’t quite what she had expected. She had thought he would be furious with her for wanting it, not aroused by the thought of it.

Still, he shot her down with a firm shake of his head.

“Someone believed to be Bastian Van der Garde was seen in an area where a coven was attacked.” She eased another step closer to him, capturing his attention. “My mission is to discover who was responsible.”

“It wasn’t Bastian. You can accuse him all you want, but it won’t change the truth.” Night stared her down. “Bastian would never do such a thing.”

Lilian gazed up into his scarlet eyes and felt certain he was speaking the truth about his brother. What reason would Bastian have had for attacking witches? The only thing that got Bastian’s blood pumping was money, whether it was made by his business or trading on the stock markets. Her coven wasn’t involved in anything that might be in direct competition with him or provoke him into wanting to take them out. They hadn’t been a threat to his fortune.

So either someone was setting Bastian up, or he hadn’t been the vampire witnessed near the scene of the crime.

“Would you do such a thing?” she said, despising herself for asking him that but needing to know the answer. Bastian and Night looked alike, similar enough that one could easily be mistaken for the other.

He didn’t answer her.

When he looked away, turning his cheek to her, it was answer enough. Her elders had been right about Night. He had slaughtered an entire coven.

Her gaze lowered to his throat.

And she had the feeling it had something to do with that scar.

Chapter 17

Night twisted his hands and grimaced as his wrists throbbed in response and his shoulders ached. Gods, he was tired. And angry. Rage kept his blood at a boil as his mind churned over everything Lilian had told him and how she had looked at him.

The accusation in her eyes, tempered by fear and unfounded hope, had revealed that she knew.

She knew the things he had done in his past, and she wished that she didn’t. He wished he could have given her the answer she had wanted to hear—that he would never slaughter a coven of witches in a brutal attack like the one her coven had suffered—but lying to her was something he didn’t want to do.

Although apparently it was something she was perfectly willing to do to him.

All the time he had known her, she had felt human to him. It must have been a spell. If he had sensed the faintest trace of magic in her, he would have kept his distance from her, and he would have driven her away from his brother. Her nefarious plans for Bastian would never come to fruition now, and that was a comfort.

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