Page 51 of Chain Me
Crackling tension electrified the air. Even Saskia stiffened, her throat contracting around a swallow. Though, no matter what, her sly grin remained firmly in place.
“Well? What say you, Dublin?”
“To your offer?” Dublin faced him, his eyes a burnished, cool silver. Given his lack of emotion at all, one might have thought Raphael had presented him with a blank piece of paper. Not a woman. “No. I’m afraid we have a previous engagement to attend to.” He reached for my hand, yanking me forward to close the distance between us. “We’ll take our leave.”
“An engagement,” Raphael echoed. “Perhaps one having something to do with why you demanded my presence here, only to bring Mero’s rats to my doorstep?”
It was as though a switch had been flicked. In an instant, the atmosphere thickened further and the entire room seemed to shrink back, scurrying within the shadows.
Only the two men withstood the unbearable tension. Dublin stared unfazed, while Raphael casually sat back against the leather chaise, folding his hands on his lap.
“We’ve been together long enough for you to know that there are few things I cannot tolerate, Dublin. Having my time wasted is one, though I know that the respect between us is far too great for such an insult.” His endless eyes flickered in my direction, flashing with rare interest. “But the second is secrets. Especially when they concern a mutual old friend of ours. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten him already. Mero.”
Silence fell. In a room of strange, undead creatures, something warned that I wasn’t the only one holding my breath.
“Even as he waged his little war against both of us, utilizing his human pawns, I have remained a loyal and neutral party,” Raphael insisted. “I have even toed your boundaries, haven’t I? After all this time? The Grays were but mere mosquitoes buzzing on the periphery, until one of them decided to bite my flesh. I had every right to retaliate, then. Didn’t I?”
A second passed without a reply.
And his eyes narrowed. “Answer me.”
“Yes,” Dublin hissed.
“Good. So, is it too much trouble that I wish to enjoy a few mere moments with an old friend? Even if he apparently has no further use for my services?”
This time, when his gaze slithered in my direction, he lingered, tracing a path up and down my body. There was no lust in the dark pupils. Just calculating, detached observation.
“I even came when you requested, prepared to assist you in any way that I could. All for the sake of dear Eleanor.” He tilted his head thoughtfully. “I let you have her when you asked despite the risk. You knew the second you bid for her that you would be breakinghisprecious rules. The Gray family was to remain untouched, always. Do you remember?”
He waited until Dublin made a growled sound of acknowledgment in the base of his throat.
“Yes. As long as you did, he would remain in the shadows. I know you wrote off his threat as mere superstition, but I never did. I even warned you, didn’t I? I even offered you others. You refused. So please”—he smiled again, all traces of hostility erased—“allow me to learn your tastes so that I may replicate them more accurately. Choose.”
“I…” Dublin’s grip loosened over my hand only to bear down more tightly than ever. “I’m afraid that none of your offerings interest me,” he said so dismissively that I flinched. “Perhaps I’m just not in the mood for distraction, or perhaps your curator hasn’t done her job well enough.”
“Is that so?” Saskia hissed through her teeth. “Then why not enlighten us all?” She waved her arm toward the guests. “What exactly excites you, Dublin? Do tell. Is it the pale, bony exterior? The childlike demeanor?” She sneered in my direction and laughed. “Please don’t tell me it’s her stunning beauty.”
“It’s simple,” Dublin replied with a shrug of his shoulder. “It’s the one thing you can’t cobble together or clumsily recreate: a pure, pedigree bloodline.”
Saskia glared at him, her upper lip curled back from her teeth.
“He is right.” Raphael sighed in defeat. “Alas, we always did share a fondness for such…” He traced his mouth with the tips of his fingers as if reliving events too horrifying to picture. But then his small smile faded. “There is another,” he added.
Dublin went rigid once more, crushing my fingers.
“The other Gray girl. The oneIwanted procured. The one you claimed I could not have.” If a man like him could pout, I’d name the downturned tilt to his mouth as such. Rather than petulant, he looked more serpentine than ever. A predator denied a satisfying meal. “You did not flaunt your boundary for her—”
“Because she was not foolish enough to sell herself to me,” Dublin snapped. He eyed me pointedly and sighed. “I must beg your pardon. She’s weak.” His apparent explanation for my trembling legs. “I’ve fed from her too much. She lacks stamina. We should go.”
“You’ll leave soon enough,” Raphael insisted. “Afterthe entertainment. Saskia.”
“As you wish.” She returned to the naked woman and positioned her to better face the crowd. “Offers for this one? I will accept payment only in years—”
“Years?” Dublin interjected, his tone hard.
“Yes.” Raphael stroked his chin and nodded. “A peculiar arrangement, but again, you have inspired us to try new methods of business. Our new policy is, rather than bartering for a few wasted nights, we trade our beautiful specimens for years of service. One year of the buyer’s for a year of hers. It is only fair.”
I nearly choked in recognition. Trade in years—a cruel variation of the bargain Dublin made for me. But something told me it was more than that. So much more.
