PANDORA
Marius laughed. “I love your fortitude, Pandora. Always have.” He pulled the curtain in the living room.
Wariness crept around my ankles like when one of my cats surprised me by rubbing against my calves. “Why are you closing the curtains?”
He tipped his chin down. “You don’t want an audience seeing us chat, do you?” He studied me. “Your neighbor might get jealous.” His lips slanted into a mockery of a grin.
No, I didn’t want Austin to see us together. At this time of night, the interior lights would clearly illuminate that a man was in my house—a man I’d never told Austin about.
Was that another mistake?
“I’m going to ask you once more.” Marius stepped closer to my face. “Will you join me?”
Did he think I’d truly join him on his throne of darkness? After all the spying and the mourning and the deception? I took a slow breath to keep steady. “No.”
Marius’s mouth twisted. He stared at me with cold eyes. In a flash of movement so fast, it suited for a vampire, he grabbed my wrist and twisted it behind me.
The sudden pain made me cry out. “What are you doing?”
I tried to spin out of his hold, but he’d taken both my arms and bound them behind me with rope. “You made your choice, and now I’m making mine. You’re coming with me.”
I gulped. Although I attempted to loosen my bound wrists, I could feel the magic coursing through the fibers. Forcing myself not to show fear, demanded, “Where are you taking me?”
“It doesn’t matter. We’ll be together.” The gleam in his eyes turned manic.
The bleakness of my situation settled. What was he going to do with me? “You can’t force me to be with you!”
He laughed, and the coldness in his tone made me shudder. “You’ll come to me willingly. You’ll forget all those years of mourning and heartache. You’ll only know us as we once were—utterly in love.”
His words coursed through my head, and it all came together. My breath came fast and hard. I voiced my fear, knowing what he must have planned for me. I counted to five to keep my voice from wavering. “Like what you did to Diego.”
Marius’s lips spread into a smile a teacher might give a student. “Very good, Pandora. You were the only one who figured it out it was me. You’re smart.” He tapped my temple. “We’ll be incredible together. And happy. So happy.”
Terror thumped like a pulse in my veins. “By manipulating my mind and tampering with my memory?” I spat. “No one is happy living a lie.”
Diego had been so confounded by a spell that not only convinced him he was still in love with the vampire who had turned him, but he didn’t have any memory of Nova, whom he was in love with. Did that mean I’d forget Austin? Have no idea who he was? The hopelessness of the situation turned even starker.
“Why did you do it to Diego?” I demanded. “He did nothing to you. He doesn’t even know you exist.”
Marius walked before me, his slow steps echoing on the hardwood floor. “Practice.”
The realization crashed through me. What he was doing here was planned long ago. “For me?”
He didn’t reply for several seconds. “For you.” Several more eerie steps sounded. “In case you were reluctant. You always had that strong will that I admired, but sometimes you’re too rigid and need some bending.”
My heart rammed against my rib cage. A bead of sweat rolled down my spine. “How long have you been planning this?”
“Some time. I don’t like to rush things.” He frowned. “It’s only when that young bear started to poke his muzzle around you that I had to quicken the timetable.”
The timing of his arrival wasn’t a coincidence, just as I’d suspected. “How long have you been watching me?”
“Long enough to see how powerful you’ve become.” He cocked his head. “You defeated demons? That’s impressive, Pandora. That’s why I knew we needed to be together again.” He straightened his head. “That and I never forgot you.”
Lucky me. My mouth soured. “You’ve been spying on me for all that time? How many months now?”
“Not me. I wasn’t in Salem. But I had a way of keeping an eye on things.”
I laughed without mirth. “Your creepy little spies.” Although the terror still simmered inside me, I fought to keep a clear head. The more information I had on what he’d done and what he planned to do was crucial. I gritted my teeth. Not if it was wiped away when he cleared my memory.
