Page 125 of A Vow of Shadow and Blood
“You killed him.” I breathe, but he says nothing. His eyes flicker over me as if assessing my reaction.
He moves quickly from his seat and is in front of me in a second, the strands of my hair lifting from the force of the wind he produces. He slides a finger under my chin and tilts my head until I am looking up at him.
“Does that bother you?” he asks, and I’m surprised by the softness of his words. I shake my head slowly, my eyes not leaving his. Is that relief? “Then why are you looking at me like that, little witch?”
“The other nobles—”
“The other nobles respect a show of power. It’s how things are.”
“But Vancova's House will not renew their vows after this.”
A small smile fills his face.
“They will. Vaughn will be too afraid to gamble on another crown who may wish to go up against me. Fear has always kept him in line, and it always will.”
I step out of his touch so that I can think clearly.
“You should have told me what you had planned. I thought…”
His eyes narrow. “Thought what?”
“The things you were saying…bringing me in here with that monster…”
“You arealwayssafe with me. I have no desire to hurt you.”
I snort.
“Only because you will die if you do.”
A serious expression fills his face. “The bond has nothing to do with it.”
“It has everything to do with it. You forget that I watched you slaughter a room full of purebloods.”
He blows out a breath before running a hand through his hair.
“They were not purebloods. They were impures.”
“I don’t understand.”
“That entire meeting was a setup, Adina. You were the only pureblood in there. That’s why I took you. I was curious.”
I shake my head. That doesn’t make sense… Amabel. She said she knew about Willow, that it was her idea. Did she set up the entire meeting to try to have him killed? I look up at him.
“And all the other humans you killed in the throne room the day I left the dungeons?”
“They were just corpses ready for the burn pit, designed to scare you. Evidently, it didn’t work. You’re too stubborn for that.” He pauses. “My brother was killed by humans, Adina. He and my father wanted to find a way for our two kinds to co-exist, and he went to a meeting to try and make that happen, but he was set up. They were working with impures, and they murdered him. It’s what started the war.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“That’s intentional. Vampires have hidden this fact to stop others from discovering our weakness. I hated humans for a long time. I’ve made many mistakes, but I still want to build the kind of world my brother dreamed of. Once the blood vows are over, once I have secured their allegiance, then I will. I promise.”
He steps forward, his hand stretched out to cup my cheek, but I move away.
“I want that too, but you still agreed that we would work together. You can’t do things like this without telling me. I need to know what is happening if we are going to be allies.”
“You hid the fact that he hurt you,” he says.
“Because it doesn’t matte—”
