Page 147 of A Bond in Blood

A loud bird cry came from high above and I glanced up, finding a white dove in the air, flying away from the vessel. An oddly comforting image with so much bloodshed; the stench of it now filling the air.

I turned my eyes, finding Ulrich approaching, his shadows alive and wrapping around him.

The darkness opened, and his translucent hand grasped mine, pulling me into his magic. I screamed while he enveloped me in it all, sure he would punish me for my hope of rescue.

“They did not come for you,” the beast snarled at me.

I stared into his eyes, now as black as his very soul.

“You. Are. Mine,” he whispered.

My tears fell. My fear gripped my heart. My words, they became unreachable in my mind. I let out a breath and gave the only response I could think of—a nod.

As he was prone to do.

Chapter 30

Eight months.

Two hundred and twenty-four days.

My head laid on Ulrich’s chest while his deep breaths rumbled against my ear. His hand brushed my arm. A touch too intimate for the arrangement we were both most comfortable with.

I sat up, glancing around the room. My eyes found our clothes discarded to the side. Then the blankets, thrown to the ground. Reminders of the lust we’d fallen into after our meal.

“Pondering something?” he asked.

I turned to him, the cream mask he was preferring in recent days illuminated his green eyes.

“What is this?” I asked.

He rose, leaning against the bed.

“A bedroom?” he replied.

I scoffed and slid off the mattress, stepping away from his reach. “We do this nearly every night. Gods, I don’t even know how I can let you touch me when your hands bring so much death each day. Death I’m forced to watch.”

I fell to the ground, covering my face, trying to process this insanity and how easily I was slipping into it. A desperate, foolish attempt on my part to try and piece together this game I was part of—this game I could not fight. Not that I wanted it.

Not when I wantedhim.

“Brenna,” he spoke softly, breaking me free from the darkness my thoughts were pulling me down toward.

I lifted my head. “Please.”

“Please what?”

“Stop it all. Please.”

He stared at me, his expression unshifting. The mask of the king slipping over his face.

“That!” I cried. “That! Stop it! Show me something real. Please. I am begging you.”

He didn’t move. His eyes did not even blink.

My chest grew heavy. So heavy I was sure my heart was turning to stone inside of me. My hand landed on my skin. I wanted to understand. There was nothing more that I wanted than to understand why he was who he was. Why his darkness claimed him—and why I was beginning to accept that darkness, rather than run from it.

“Please,” I muttered. “Please.”

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