Page 102 of Nearly Dead

“Seriously, you have to tell me.How does it feel to shove your superiority in Lady Astrid’s smug bitch face?”Anthony smirks.“Just between us.Admit it.It feels great, doesn’t it?”

I frown.

“Don’t pretend like you and Astrid are friends now,” Conrad smirks.“You can’t have forgotten the first twenty seven years of your life because mommy likes you now.Here, let me remind you.Listen.”

Conrad cups his hand to his ear and pretends to listen.

“What do you want me to do with it, Davis?It can die.”Astrid’s voice whispers from my childhood.

It.Not she.Not Tamara.She said it.

The sound is faint but clear.I’ve heard those words echoing in my head for decades.The memory stings.

I was five.Too young to understand what death really meant, but those words, and the way they were spoken, lodged deep in me anyway.They shaped everything.For most of my life, I was treated like a fragile butterfly that the supernatural world could crush for fun.Because that’s what monsters do when they’re bored.They break delicate things.

I was told to be careful.That I needed protection.That I couldn’t survive on my own.

But I’m not that delicate mortal anymore.

The butterfly didn’t get crushed.It evolved.

Now that I’m a hybrid, Astrid doesn’t look at me like I might break.She watches me like I might break those around me.And it’s not pity, it’s pride that I see in her face.Like she’s suddenly realized I’m not just her pretty family secret in a dress.I’m a Devine.Thane’s blood.Vampire-marked.Dangerous.

“There it is,” Conrad whispers.“I knew you remembered.”

“Of course I remember,” I snap.The coldness is back fueled by my childhood suffering.

“She used to pity you.Now she has to respect you.Make her fear you.You’re not something that needs protecting anymore.You’re what the monsters should be afraid of.It can die?No, Tamara.Theycan die.”

“What do you want from me, Conrad?”

Even as I ask it, I think I know the answer.It’s what he always wanted.Revenge.And I’m the only way he can get it where he’s at.

“Nothing.For once in my miserable existence, I don’t want anything from you.”He looks almost surprised by this realization.Nearly as much as I am.“But I do have something to give you.”

“What?”

“Information.”His smile returns, tinged with malice.“About our dear uncle.”

I find myself interested despite my suspicion.“Mortimer?”

“The very same.Did you know he’s been studying you since you were a baby?Not just because you were human in a supernatural family.But because you were something else entirely.”

“What do you mean?”

“I found his journals when I was going through the family papers after I framed you for the birthday fire.Fascinating reading.”Conrad’s eyes gleam with remembered satisfaction.“He called you a blank vessel because you could hold magic due to your blood, but did not naturally create your own.He made sure that you didn’t absorb any.Then, after you got the amulet, that kept you from gaining power since Draakmar’s magic took over and acted like a shield.”

“Why would he do that?”

Conrad laughs.“Does it matter?Mortimer always has a scheme.First he was going to fill you with the magic he wanted.Then, when you got the amulet, he decided if you couldn’t be magical on your own, he’d make you valuable in other ways.Hence all those suitors he paraded before you.Chester, Jasper, Rex, Leviathan…”

I remember Mortimer’s constant attempts to marry me off to powerful supernatural families.Chester Freemont wasn’t the first, just the latest and most persistent.Jasper Blackwood, my cheating liar of a college boyfriend, was on Mortimer’s pre-approved list.Jasper only dated me to get close to the Devine family and repeatedly asked me about shipping schedules and my access to family money.There were others, but they seemed to have left less of an impression.

“Rex?”I frown.

Conrad shrugs.“No clue.”

It kind of makes sense now.If I’m a blank slate, he could use that to create whatever he wanted with my children.It also explains Leviathan’s interest in me, how he knew I’d be able to survive as a hybrid.

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