Page 112 of Fated In Blood

“Blake’s found us a safe place; we’ll meet him there.” His arm tightened around my waist in preparation to dematerialize. “Are you ready?”

I nodded, unsure if Iwasready to see Blake. Bits and pieces of the past hours were arranging themselves into a horrifyingly cohesive order and I didn’t much like what I saw. God, what had I done?

I drank from a complete stranger.

Let him use my hunger and my weakness to manipulate me, and that mistake was going to cost me if I really owed him a favor.

And Riordan…God, I regretted what we’d done, was aching to do it all over again, and I didn’t evenlikehim.

What the fuck was wrong with me? I used to be in total and complete control of myself and now I was running on some kind of autopilot where my hunger and libido were in the front seat and common sense was just along for the ride.

And if Riordan hadn’t shown up when he did, what would Malachi have done? Would he have killed me? Or worse? And Blake…where the fuck had Blakebeenall this time?

“We’ll figure everything out Silver.” Riordan tried to sound reassuring. “Your family is only a complication, nothing’s changed, our deal is still on.”

I frowned. I didn’t give a good goddamn about our fucking deal. I wanted to know why his voice was so cold but every fucking time he touched me his gaze ignited like a fucking volcano. That couldn’t be an act, could it?

Or was Riordan so adept at manipulating people, I couldn’t tell the difference?

He tugged me against him, his mouth curling into a sardonic grin. “Blake’s waiting for us. We need to leave right now; we’ve been here too long.” His grin faded until his expression was dead serious. “I know you don’t have reason to trust me, Silver, but once Tyrell is dead and?—”

“Don’t.” I pressed my face deeper into his shirt so he couldn’t see the despair spreading across my face. “Don’t make promises. Especially when you don’t have any intention of keeping them.”

“Silver…”

“Blake’s waiting,” I reminded him, winding my fingers tighter into his jacket. “We should go.”

The agingsafe house was nondescript, surrounded by pine trees in every direction. I couldn’t even see the horizon, couldn’t get my bearings, but the air was pristine, so we were far from any city.

I’d thrown up in the bathroom, washed my face and my arms, then run my fingers through my hair to get out most of the leaves. I drank from the faucet until I felt sick again, then finally went out to the living room, where tall windows overlooked the impenetrable forest.

The dagger lay on the table between us, still wrapped in the black velvet bag, covered in dirt and stinking like a doused house fire. Blake, I assumed, had retrieved the weapon while Riordan and I were…

Yeah, so not going there.

Riordan brought Blake up to speed, while I resisted the urge to reach between my shoulder blades and check the tracking mark again, cursing myself for being so careless.

I should have anticipated there would be an extra layer of protection around the Vault, and I shouldn’t have underestimated the effects of me—a new-born vampire—stepping onto hallowed ground.

But here we were.

“Now that the Silverwoods are involved, the situation is more complicated, but killing Tyrell is still the goal. Malachi went back to Darkmore Castle. He’ll stall Laurent with promises of breaking the oath while we get everything in place on our end. All Malachi needs is the dagger and a few seconds alone with Tyrell and this will be over. Silver, that’s where you come in.”

I couldn’t believe that asshole Malachi was supposed to be our ally.

Couldn’t believe he was the one they’d picked to kill Tyrell.

While I wasonly the decoy. Psht.

Well, the joke was on them.

“Silver, you’ll cause the distraction,” Riordan explained in his most serious, kingly tone. “You’ll show up there, throwing a fit about seeing your sister. Blake will set you up with whatever weapons you need. Bosch and his security team will respond to escort you out of the castle. You’ll escape and lead them into the east wing, where there will be two explosives planted, timed to go off and cut that wing off from the rest of the house. Then Malachi will make his move.”

I didn’t bother telling him that was a shit strategy.

I kept my mouth shut as Riordan laid out his faulty plan, but my thoughts wouldn’t stop drifting back to the woods, especially the part where I begged Riordan to fuck me and the bone-melting pleasure that resulted from my shameless begging.

I’d had alotof sex for someone who’d sworn it off.

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