Page 57 of Cloak of the Vampire
“Yeah, that’s been fun to watch.” Zoey smirked. “Especially since Renaldi keeps giving him the evil eye.”
I opened my mouth, but then closed it, choosing not to say anything. No need to tell them Renaldi most likely had initially been given the Imprint by Ragnor. Or that Renaldi had apparently used his magic, whatever it was, on Ragnor, and Ragnor had retaliated in a way I wasstill grappling to understand. They shouldn’t know I’d stayed behind to witness it all either.
Then Cynthia said, “If I didn’t think so before, then now I’m sure that our Lord isn’t just hot but sexy as fuck.”
I tensed.
“He is, isn’t he?” Zoey sighed dreamily. “The things I would let him do to me ... yum.” She licked her lips.
“Don’t you think he’s too aloof, though?” Jane murmured. “Like, I can’t see myself ever being with someone like him. He’s too ...”
“Intense,” Aisha finished, nodding wisely. “Cold. Calculated.”
“Yeah, but that’s part of his appeal,” Zoey argued, her eyes dazed. “I mean, him being a Lord, our Imprinter, and so self-assured and intimidating ...” She shuddered.
“It’s a turn-on, for sure,” Jane agreed breathily.
Irrational anger burned inside me.You don’t know what he’s truly like,I couldn’t help but think.I might not know him well, but I sure as hell know more about him than you do, and you should keep your dirty little drool away from him.
My mind screeched to a halt.He’s not mine,I reminded myself, my heart pumping loudly in my ears.I don’t evenwanthim to be mine.
But the hesitance, the doubt in what should’ve been a full conviction, made fear bloom in the pit of my stomach. Because that couldn’t be. I couldn’t actually ...likeRagnor, could I?
You sure about that?he’d taunted me a few days ago, and I couldn’t help but question it again myself. Because if I liked him ... then I was more stupid than I thought.
“I think”—Tansy’s airy voice burned through my frightening thoughts—“that our Lord is reckless.”
Everyone was so surprised at the clarity in her words, we turned to her with rapt attention. “Why do you think so?” Zoey asked, looking at Tansy as if she hadn’t seen her before.
Tansy’s huge blue eyes landed on me, more piercing than I expected. “How could someone as calculating as our Lord make sucha big mistake?” she asked, her voice still dreamy but her gaze far more serious than I’d ever seen it.
I looked away, and Zoey and Cynthia exchanged confused glances while Jane asked, “What mistake are you talking about?”
I felt her gaze burning my cheek, so much so that I returned my eyes to her unblinking ones. “He didn’t do his job,” Tansy murmured, her eyes searching mine. “He didn’t research enough.” She leaned forward toward me as her eyes widened. “He should’ve known about the Morrow Gods.”
The other girls burst out laughing. “And here we thought you were being serious for once.” Cynthia snickered.
“As if!” Jane chortled.
They kept on laughing and talking, and Tansy’s huge eyes turned away from me, regaining their glazy look, as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened.
And yet I felt as if my entire existence tilted on its axis.
Tansy knew.
She had to know, if not all, then something at the very least, about my past for her to mention what she just did.
No one knew about the Morrow Gods.
No one but my father and me.
When I was little, back in the basement, we made sacrifices to them. We had to.Ihad to. I hadn’t heard anyone except my father mention them. No one knew about them. But Tansy knew. And she knew that I knew. But how?
She’d looked me straight in the eyes as if trying to send me a silent message when she spoke those two words that made my entire world crumble at the edges.
I couldn’t be here with these girls talking as if nothing had happened and Tansy acting as if she hadn’t just dropped an atomic bomb. It was suddenly too hot, too crowded in this room. I needed out.
I stumbled out of the bed, murmured something about forgetting something in the cafeteria, and left the room for the dimly lit corridor.I tried to walk, but my knees wobbled, and I had to lean against the wall for balance. Perspiration covered my skin, dripping down my face and wetting my clothes.
