Page 86 of Cloak of the Vampire
But more prominent was the question, How did Margarita know? I knew she suspected something was going on, but it wasn’t like she had concrete proof.
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked, grateful that my voice remained steady. Did Ragnor know she knew?
He looked at me as if I was stupid. “She’ll ruin you, if she hasn’t already,” he said slowly, his eyes searching my face with evident distaste. “You don’t want Margarita Wallen as an enemy, Aileen.”
Too late for that,I thought, recalling her spiteful provocation a few days ago. And that was bad. Because Margarita was a Lieutenant for areason. She had some sort of a Gift—all Lieutenants were Gifted, like all Lords were Sacred, after all. Making an enemy out of someone like that wasn’t my wisest move.
Not that my affair with Ragnor was wise either.
Yet Ragnor, while frustrating in different ways, at least didn’t have it out for me like she did.
I studied Logan. There was urgency written on his face that he was desperately trying to hide, and that put me on high alert immediately, erasing any lingering thought I still had from before. “She’s planning to do something to me,” I concluded, a chill slithering through my blood.
His lips thinned. “I know Margarita like I know my own hand,” he said in a low tone. “She didn’t have to say it, but Iknow. I know the way she thinks. She’s probably known of your affair with our Lord for a while now, and she’s simply waiting for the right moment to strike.”
Learning he was so close to Margarita made me mad. Didn’t he have any self-preservation? Why was he so determined to self-sabotage? Because Margarita was nasty. Maybe not as nasty as I was to him but malicious enough.
I’d lost my right to question Logan about anything, though. So instead, I thought of what he’d just told me, thought of the Auction, and offhandedly said, “She has a flair for dramatics, doesn’t she?”
Logan’s face was grim. “I’d be careful tomorrow if I were you.”
My heart drummed in my chest. Tomorrow was going to be brutal with or without Margarita’s intervention. I was still out of ideas as to what to paint. My relationship with Ragnor and my future in this League were still up in the air. My nerves were already fried, to the point I was beyond hysterical.
Hell, after learning from Jada earlier that Ragnor used to have someone he loved ... did I evenwantto stay in this League?
I’d been to the other Leagues—apart from that last one in Oregon, but still, I’d met most of the Lords. The only one who seemed remotely close to Ragnor in terms of power, wealth, and strong leadership skills was Atalon, and yet he rubbed me the wrong way. Then there wasRenaldi, who was probably the worst Lord of the lot. From Ragnor’s interactions with O’Brien, Daugherty, and Bowman, they were far less influential, even despite Bowman being in charge of all the vampiric Society’s finances and legalities.
In one of the CNC classes, Abe had told us that the Rayne League’s main source of income was worldwide real estate holdings. Without getting into detail, Abe had said the Rayne League owned several properties in every major city in the world, and that alone let me understand the League must be extremely well off.
In addition to the financial status of the Rayne League, Ragnor was a well-respected Lord. Most of the other Lords went out of their way to accommodate him in their League.
I also couldn’t shake what the dishwashing crew had told me before too:Out of all seven Lords, our Lord isn’t just the best leader but the most fair, respected, and strong. You’ve got to make our Lord buy you. For your own sake.
Logan pulled me out of my frantic thoughts when he passed by me, heading to the lounge’s exit. “How does she know?” I asked, panicked that he was leaving without another word. Because I needed to know how Margarita found out about Ragnor and me. I needed to be prepared for whatever stunt she’d pull tomorrow.
He paused and turned to me with an almost vicious smirk on his face. “You two weren’t as discreet as you may think.”
I remembered that time, while doing the deed, Ragnor and I were interrupted by a crash in the hallway. He went to check if someone was out there and didn’t see anyone, and I forgot about it. But someone must’ve been there. Someone must’ve seen, either Margarita herself or someone else who tattled to her.
I’d been distracted by everything that was going on; stuff I should’ve noticed was coming to bite me in the fucking ass.
“I said my piece,” Logan now said, smirk gone and an emotion I couldn’t decipher in his eyes. “Make sure to watch your back, and good luck. I mean it.”
I stared at him in shock.I thought you hated me,I wanted to say, but instead, I lowered my head, took a deep breath, and, without looking at him, quietly said, “Thank you.”
“I don’t need your gratitude,” he snapped, and my eyes flashed back up to his face. He gave me a loathing look that made me visibly flinch. “All I care about is that you’ll disappear soon enough and I won’t have to see you ever again.”
Not for the first time, I wondered how my life would’ve gone on if I hadn’t followed Cassidy out that night. Would Skye have kept in touch after Cassidy disappeared? Would I have found other superficial people to hang out with? Would I have worked at the grocery store for the rest of my life?
Maybe I could’ve found someone to date. Perhaps I would’ve gotten a raise. Maybe I would’ve found something else to do with my life, found my purpose, and worked in some big corporation and earned the big bucks. I was only twenty-one. I’d had my whole life ahead of me. I could’ve been free and successful, maybe, if given the chance.
I’d never taken my freedom for granted, not after the incarceration of my father or the childhood I had. Yet even though I tried to protect it at all costs, it was still stolen away from me by the one person I found myself inexplicably drawn to.
And tomorrow, I was going to be sold off by the same man I wanted beyond reason, as if I was nothing but cattle.
A large, warm hand wrapped around my shin gently, making me jolt and sit up straight on the cushioned sofa in the lounge. I snapped my head up, and when midnight blue eyes met mine, I realized Ragnor was crouching before me, his brows furrowed. “You should go to sleep,” he said as his hand rubbed up and down my shin as though he was trying to give me comfort.
But I didn’t have it in me to accept that. I was emotionally spent and physically exhausted. Nothing could cure me of the numbness spreading inside me. It felt like I was mourning the death of my old life for the first time since I became a vampire, and receiving comfort from anyone, especially Ragnor, was beyond me at the moment.
