Page 60 of Bite at First Sight

“The situation with William,” she said slowly, toying with a chess piece. “I know it sounds strange, but he tried to help me once. Perhaps that was the beginning of his turning against you. I should have mentioned it sooner.”

Rafe’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Help you how?”

“He offered to help me escape.” Cassandra’s brows drew together in confusion. “It was very odd. I thought he didn’t like me, but there he was, trying to be helpful.”

“Oh, he wasn’t trying to help you, Querida.” Rafe’s voice was low and dangerous, betraying his fury. “If you had left my custody, your life would have been forfeit. William wanted to see you dead and me discredited. Likely it was Clayton’s idea. I wish you had told me sooner.” His fists clenched until his knuckles turned white. “I would have throttled them both.”

Elizabeth gasped. “My lord, your hand! When did it get better?”

Rafe gestured to Cassandra, unable to hide a tender smile as he gazed at her. “When I absconded with this magical healer.”

The female vampire’s eyes widened. “So she truly is a physician!” Elizabeth turned to face Cassandra. “My lady, you cannot know what this means for our kind. What you have done for our lord is nothing short of a miracle.”

She turned back to Rafe. “We could have our own doctor! The first one of our kind. Lord vampires around the world and even the Elders themselves would benefit greatly.”

“You mean vampires have never had their own physicians before?” Cassandra interjected, green eyes wide with fascination.

“We heal fast and do not suffer from any illness,” Rafe explained, charmed with her inquisitiveness. “Also, not only has a practitioner of medicine never joined our ranks, but we never saw a great need to have one. Though considering that others have surely suffered injuries like mine, it is a great oversight.”

Elizabeth leaned forward. “Don’t you see, my lord? You must Change her at once! Not only to ensure her safety from Clayton and his allies, but because she could be one of the greatest assets our kind has ever seen!”

“I would if I could,” Rafe replied almost too softly to hear. His entire soul writhed in miserable self-loathing.

Cassandra gasped and whirled to face him, eyes wide with fear and accusation. “I beg your pardon?”

Elizabeth’s jaw dropped. “What do you mean?”

“I mean”—he choked out the words, full of burning regret—“that I Changed another only two years ago…and illegally at that.”

Why had he wasted the strength he’d gathered for centuries just to repay a debt of honor? It seemed so pitiful now.

The female vampire blinked in outraged disbelief. “Who?”

“It is best you do not know,” Rafe told her tiredly. “The Elders may get wind of my actions, and I don’t need anyone else implicated in my folly.”

* * *

A lump of ice formed in Cassandra’s chest, the chill spreading to pool in her stomach.

She opened her mouth to say something, she didn’t know what, and all that came out was a feeble squeak.

“Querida?” Rafe’s voice sounded tinny and far away, as if he were speaking through a long, dark tunnel.

She averted her face. If she looked at him now, she would cry, and there was no way she would allow such an indignity. The other vampires’ faces blurred in her vision.

“Anthony,” Rafe said softly. “Take Lady Rosslyn upstairs.”

The other vampire bowed stiffly, sherry eyes glimmering with pity. “Yes, my lord.”

Gently, as if assisting an elderly woman, he took Cassandra’s hands and carefully pulled her up from the chair. She wanted to tear away from his grasp, to demand explanations, to rant and rail, but the shock of Rafe’s confession refused to relinquish its paralyzing hold.

Numb and as empty of will as a discarded toy, she allowed herself to be led away. Only when she was alone in the bedchamber did the tears begin to fall down her face. Cassandra dashed them away with an angry fist, but still they came.

How could he have led her to believe that he would Change her? How could he have made love to her in this very bed when he’d known he would eventually have to kill her? She hadn’t believed him capable of such monstrous deception. She’d been a fool.

Cassandra glared down at the massive bed as if the elegant piece of furniture had also betrayed her. Though the bed was now immaculately made with fresh sheets, her traitorous mind called up images of Rafe’s hands and mouth working their dark magic on her naked body. Even worse, the place between her legs pulsed with acute arousal at the memory.

“I have to escape this place,” she whispered, dread choking her words. “I can’t let him kill me.”

---