Page 29 of The Sorcerer of Shadowholde

In a moment, it was over, and she looked up to see the High Consul staring at her, his brow cocked in amusement. Vita wanted to give some sort of excuse, but when she opened her mouth, pink bubbles floated out. The sensation was strange; the bubbles forming somewhere in her throat and burbling over her tongue.

She clasped a hand over her mouth as the High Consul let out a spark of rich laughter. The smirk returned to his face.

“What a curious thing you are…”

He gripped her chin, forcing her eyes to meet his.

“Open your mouth, Vita.”

The command was impossible to ignore. She removed her hand and opened wide for him, pink bubbles floating out and settling around the ceiling of the dim office until they popped. His fingers brushed her cheek as he watched her, a sparkle in his eyes.

Gods, he was enjoying this.

After what seemed like an eternity, the bubbles trickled to a stop and Vita closed her mouth.

“Very, very curious.”

His icy fingers still caressed her chin and cheek, that fiery gaze directed at her. He owned her now. There was no getting around that, and the fear threatened to overwhelm her. After a single dinner in his home, he already knew the secret that she’d been desperate to keep her entire life.

She tried to slow her breaths, calm her racing heart. Aurora clearly possessed some kind of magic, and the High Consul trusted her. He wouldn’t go to all this effort just to throw her in prison, certainly not.

He linked his arm through hers, pulling her towards the door.

Vita wanted to resist, but her body wouldn’t listen, simply following him like a drone. Another servant woman stood outside, her hands clasped in front of her.

“Take Vita to her room,” the High Consul ordered, his expression blank.

The servant nodded, gesturing for Vita to follow.

Before she could slip from his grasp, he took her hand, pressing his lips to her skin. Dread shuddered up her spine, though she couldn’t deny the prickle of excitement as well. This was exactly what she wished for, wasn’t it? To be free of Praetor Amulius? She only hoped the High Consul wouldn’t be worse.

Only time would tell.

“I will see you soon,” he said with a mischievous gleam in his eyes.

Vita’s tongue was tied as she turned and followed the servant woman, still feeling like a sacrificial lamb heading towards the altar.

CHAPTER 13

Vita

VITA PACED THE DIMLY lit room.

Well, she supposed it was not justaroom, butherroom. The servant had escorted her from the High Consul’s office and promptly left her alone to stew with her thoughts. She wore a line into the rug from walking back and forth over and over again.

The room had a large bed piled with plush pillows and blankets and a simple wooden desk and chair. There was a single small window with a view of the rose garden, glowing eerily with the light of the nearly full moon. When she had tried the knob, it wouldn’t budge.

Someone had locked her in.

It would be alright. That’s what she kept telling herself as she thought about what had just happened. Amulius had left her. She washere with the High Consul for some unknown reason, and now he knew about her surges.

None of these things were good, though the idea of never seeing the Praetor again sent a trickle of relief through her.

Vita jumped when she heard a knock at her door, then a clicking of the lock. Her eyes shot around the room in a panic, trying to find something to defend herself with, as if a candlestick would save her.

The strange woman, Aurora, entered with a shuffle of silk.

“Renatus requests your presence in his quarters.”

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