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I looked at the open door and called out, “Maurice!” But he didn’t come.

I huffed, laying my head back down and closing my eyes. I focused on the power that dwindled subtly over my palms.

Did he really think I wouldn’t try this?

The powers hovered over the chains, and I focused, hoping it would penetrate the metal, but nothing happened.

“Morning, Mercy,” Jade said as she walked in. “I’m not supposed to take those off, so I have to feed you and give you the drugs that are keeping your powers stabilized.” Her voice was laced with annoyance like I was a huge inconvenience to her.

She carried a tray of food and a glass of orange juice. She set the tray on the nightstand and stuck a straw in the drink. “Here.”

“No, thank you,” I said, turning my head away from her. “It could be poisoned.”

Jade laughed. “Ha! Not like it would kill you. Drink it. You’re going to dehydrate.”

“Then give me a bottle of water,” I snapped, turning back to her. “Cap still sealed.”

Her face hardened. “Look, you stubborn little shit. Drink and eat what I give you, and I’ll leave. If you don’t, Maurice will punish me.”

I smiled. “Then let him punish you. You deserve it for being such a nasty bitch.”

Her fangs appeared, and she lurched toward me but stopped before she reached my neck. Her breath was heavy against my skin. She was so close, but she wouldn’t bite down. I laughed in her face.

“I dare you,” I whispered.

Most likely another thing Maurice would punish her for.

Jade let out a frustrated growl, grabbed the tray, and stormed out.

She left me alone again, which I was both thankful for and worried about. How long were they going to chain me up like this? What if I had to relieve myself?

The clock on the nightstand read ten in the morning, and when I looked back at the ceiling above me, the door opened again.

Maurice.

He kneeled at the side of the bed, staring at me. “I’m heading back to the lab today to start preparing the vials of potion you helped us make last night. Thank you, by the way. After learning about what you did last year, I found you worthless, but really, you actually were the key to helping us, just in a different way.”

He rubbed the back of his fingers against my cheek, and my skin crawled. “What are you talking about?”

His devilish smile grew wide. “You and I, Mercy, have done this before, but in a different setting and circumstance.” He kept stroking my cheeks, and it was pissing me off.

“Why?” I asked. “Why do all this? The relationship was obviously fake. You kissed me. Violated my body—”

“Oh, come on, Mercy. You enjoyed it just as much as I did.”

My face hardened. “Enjoying sex under false pretenses does not and will not ever equate to when you love a person honestly. You’re truly pathetic, using me to tell yourself you had control, that you actually matter. You’re the worst possible thing on this Earth, and I hope and pray that whatever you have coming, it’s me who raises that hand.”

Maurice finally removed his fingers from my cheek, and I hadn’t realized I was tensing up the entire time. I relaxed my shoulders on the mattress. “True, we were never in love. But just because I made you believe you cared for me doesn’t mean I didn’t feel something foryou.”

I rolled my eyes. “Bullshit!”

The wry smile on his face made my skin crawl. “Clara wanted me to put you back in that cell,” he said. “She wanted to keep you there until we located the dagger and then end you with it.” His eyes looked to the floor. “I told her no. You see, vampires may struggle with human emotion, and my humanity was stripped from me, but you’re the only one I found quite enjoyable to be around in centuries. I’ve been hunting you, Mercy, since the seventeenth century. The thought of all that ending … well.” His voice trailed off, and his beautiful eyes looked back at mine. “You can believe what you want. But I craved you then, and I still want you now.”

I didn’t know what to think about what he had just told me. I hated Maurice, and none of that would change.

“You think you want me?” I asked. “I’m a possession to you, Maurice.”

“That’s good enough.”

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