Page 18 of Bound in Blood

I already told you. Getting us out of the way so he can have Ophelia to himself, Xavier replies.You heard what he saidabout Lucian, about why people want our girl. Power. What if that’s all Giorgios is after too?

He may even believe it would be easier to protect her without us around, Malachi suggests, ever the optimist.

That’s still a pretty big accusation to make, guys, Ophelia says.

It’s a fucking huge accusation, and the ramifications are even bigger. Because if it’s true, then we all willingly walked into the lion’s den and put our girl in a whole heap of fucking danger.Yeah, but we’re all thinking it, aren’t we?

Ophelia sits up straighter, her eyes wide and shining.We need to test the theory.

How, Cupcake?

For the next week, you only feed on me. If you stop getting sick, then we’ll know you’re being poisoned. And meanwhile, we keep reading and researching and looking for a way out of here.

I shake my head.While I wholeheartedly agree with the second element of your plan, there’s not a chance you’re sustaining three hungry vampires all on your own. That’s a hell of a lot of blood, princess. You need to keep your own strength up. You’re already weakened here because of the whole sacred ground shit.

My blood still replenishes more quickly than when I was human, or at least when we thought I was human. I’ll make sure to eat and drink plenty and look after myself in every other way. Please, Axl?This is the one way we can know for sure.

Logically it makes sense, but I still hate the thought of us being so reliant on her. We should be the ones protecting her. Even if, in a roundabout way, this still achieves that.I don’t know.

Xavier runs a hand through his hair and sighs.She has a point, Axl. Ophelia isn’t sick. If we only drink from her, then we’ll know for sure.

If I get too weak, we can stop, she insists, her pleading blue eyes locked on my face.

Finally, I relent, hoping we are in fact being poisoned. The alternative is too terrifying to contemplate.

Chapter

Seven

MALACHI

It’s a strange feeling—the deterioration—and nothing at all like I expected it to feel. I expected to grow weaker over time as I wasted away to nothing, but thus far, it seems the worst symptom is extreme fatigue which makes us feel weak and lethargic. Something we are all unaccustomed to. The onset of the deterioration was sudden, and while not unexpected, the timing sucks balls. Ophelia needs us. Alexandros needs us to find a way to bring him back from the netherworld.

Even after feeding exclusively from Ophelia for the past five days, our symptoms show no sign of improving. As she shows no sign of illness, we can only assume it is our worst fear—the deterioration has taken hold a lot more quickly than we hoped it would.

Ophelia and I lie on the sofa together in the den, her head on my chest while I curl a thick strand of her hair between my fingers. I had hopes for at least a couple more years with our girl, but it seems it wasn’t meant to be. Axl and Xavier lie on the opposite sofa, and a pervasive sense of defeat hangs heavy in the air. We have searched through every single book in Giorgios’slibrary, and there’s nothing about the deterioration in any of them. Nothing helpful in any case.

“You will not find any of the answers you seek lounging in here.”

Giorgios is back! A sudden rush of excitement has me opening my eyes. He sits in the armchair beside the roaring fire and clears his throat. It seems like he’s about to say something, but he remains silent. Ophelia sits up, swinging her legs over mine and leaning back against the sofa cushions. “Did you meet with the seer? What did she say?” she asks.

I prop myself up on one elbow and watch him with curiosity.

He sucks on his top lip, appearing to wrestle with his conscience.

“Giorgios?” Ophelia pleads. “What did she tell you?”

He nods once. “She told me there is a way.” We all sit up now, like he’s injected a shot of adrenaline into all of our hearts. “But I am not sure you will like it,” he adds, his tone grave and his expression even darker.

“If there’s a way, then we’ll learn to like it,” Xavier says.

Ophelia nods eagerly. “Anything.”

His right eye twitches, and he appears nervous, which is something I haven’t seen from him before. Nor sensed, but I don’t sense much of anything from Giorgios. He’s a closed book, adept at masking his emotions. Alexandros once told me that his brother’s powers of the mind were not as well-developed as his, but he’s certainly adept at guarding himself from others. I only hope he’s not as skilled at reading thoughts. We’ve all kept our guards up around him, but right now, I want to trust him. I want to believe he has the answers we’ve been searching for.

“Turned vampires cannot be re-sired because you already have, or had, a sire, and your state as a vampire is very much dependent on his bloodline. But…” His tongue darts out across his lower lip, and we all lean forward, breaths held inanticipation. “It seems there are a number of factors at play which have created a solution to this unique situation.”

“And they are?” I ask, wishing he’d get to the point.

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