Page 150 of The Vampire's Bride

My heart stutters and stops as Juliet enters the room. She looks at me, betrayal written in her features. “What is he talking about, Valaric?”

“Juliet, I—” I hesitate, unsure how to tell her, or even explain.

Dread twists deep in my gut. I cannot lie to her any longer. All I can do is pray that she will forgive me for withholding the truth all this time. I swallow hard. “There is something I must tell you.”

Devastation floods across the bond as Juliet looks at me, her eyes full of hurt. “What are you talking about?”

“Come.” I offer her my hand. My heart clenches as she slips her palm into mine, for I know this is the last time she will do so without hesitation. “I will show you.”

CHAPTER 62

JULIET

Bitter betrayal sits heavy on my chest. Valaric has been keeping secrets from me, and I don’t understand why. Tears threaten to fall, but I blink them back as he guides me down the hallway, to the west wing.

As we draw closer, a sense of foreboding grips me. Whatever secrets are kept behind those doors, I will know them this night. And when this is over, I fear that I’ll wish I never did.

When we reach the first room, Valaric’s dread is palpable through our bond. I take a deep and steadying breath. Whatever lies within must be something terrible.

He slides the key into the lock and then pushes the door open. Darkness greets us as we step inside before glowing orbs of light flicker to life in the four corners of the room, casting an eerie glow throughout the space. Something reflects in the soft illumination. I move closer and then inhale sharply as my gaze lands upon a glass coffin with a human woman inside.

Dressed in a fine silk gown, her eyes are closed and her hands are folded on her chest in the serene pose of the dead. She isperfectly preserved. Even the color still lingers on her cheeks and her lips. If I didn’t know better, I’d assume she was only sleeping. But I know she is not.

Fear trickles down my spine. “Who is this?”

Guilt lines Valaric’s features as he stares at the casket. “This is my first wife, Lyra.”

My blood runs cold.

He walks to a door across the way and pushes it open. It connects to the next room. My stomach drops as light reflects off yet another glass coffin with a different woman inside. “This is Olena, my second wife.”

My feet move of their own accord as I follow him. It feels as though I’m walking through a nightmare as he reveals each of his wives in their glass coffins.

Everything inside me demands that I run as far and fast away from here as I can. But I cannot break the strange and terrible spell that binds me, as if I’m stuck in a trance.

When we reach the fourth coffin, I somehow manage to find my voice. “I—I don’t understand. What is this?”

I look up at my husband. The man I thought I knew… that I loved. I’ve given him everything. My heart, my mind, my body, and my soul. And I don’t even truly know who he is.

Tears gather at the corners of my eyes as I stare at the woman in the glass box. A deep ache throbs in my chest, and I feel as if I cannot breathe. I force myself to move, but my limbs feel slow and heavy, and I take a stumbling step back. Valaric catches my arm to steady me, but I quickly pull away. “Don’t touch me!”

CHAPTER 63

VALARIC

The acrid scent of her fear fills my nostrils as a wave of horror and devastation floods across the bond, crashing against my mind. She jerks away from my touch as if burned.

“Juliet, please,” I beg, reaching for her again, desperate to take her away from this terrible room. “I—”

She steps out of my reach. “Tell me what this is,” she demands. “Now.”

I lower my arms to my sides. “They are my previous wives. I keep them here so I can watch over them.”

“Butwhyare they here?” She shakes her head. “How did they die?”

“They are not dead. They are under a dark enchantment.”

“Like a curse?” Her small brow furrows deeply. “Is that what this is?”

---