‘When you tell who, Emelia?’ Kyle shouts at me, his fangs bared. ‘You’re not going to ruin this for us, and you’re not going to tell anyone anything. When Mistral is with your mother, he’ll see to that.’ He snarls at me, and I shrink away, my heart broken.
‘Kyle, enough.’ Jessie pulls him from me, stroking him as though she’s soothing him, their heads close together. It’s too much. I turn away, heading for the window. Maybe I can throw myself out of it.
‘Not so fast, my lady.’ Kyle’s arms come around me. I struggle, screaming, not wanting him to touch me while at the same time in agony that he never will again. He turns me to face him, his hands tight on my shoulders.
‘Be quiet!’
‘Fuck you!’
He slaps me, hard, my head snapping to the side. I stop screaming, my cheek stinging.
‘I don’t want to hurt you.’
‘Too late for that,’ I snarl.
‘I’m sorry—’ he says. I stare at him in disbelief.
‘Kyle.’ Jessie sounds worried, which is weird.
‘—but I’ll do what it takes to keep you quiet. Are you going to be quiet?’
If he wants me to be quiet, that must mean there are people nearby. People who can help me. I scream again. Kyle grabs my throat and squeezes. Black spots form in front of my eyes. Jessie protests, telling him he’s squeezing too hard. Kyle says he’s not going to hurt me, that I’m just harder to knock out than most people.
‘Time to sleep again, my lady.’ Scorn colours his words.
And I’m gone.
ChapterThirty-Five
INTO THE LIGHT
‘Idon’t like this.’
I blink. I’m still lying on the carpet. My eyes feel full of grit, my cheek sore where Kyle slapped me. But not as sore as my heart.
‘I don’t like it either. But it’s the only way, Jess.’ Kyle. I remember when the tenderness in his tone was directed towards me. ‘We have to keep going, for your family, for us. For what we believe in. Mistral promised, he promised that at the end of this we’d be free, that your brother would get his treatment.’
‘It doesn’t seem right.’ Huh. That’s a surprise, seeing what a complete bitch Jessie’s been. I keep my eyes closed and try not to move. I want to hear this. ‘What’s he going to do to her?’
‘Mistral? I don’t know. I mean, he says he wants to kill her, but there’s no way he can, not if he wants her mother to be with him. She dotes on her.’
But he will kill me. He doesn’t care. All he wants is to be Lord of Raven. It’s so clear to me now. As is the fact that Kyle, despite what he says, is no rebel. He’s just a Reaper vamp with a human girlfriend, making a deal with the devil. After all, why would any vampire support a human rebellion? Why would they want things to change?
‘What? I mean, I kind of hate her for being with you, plus she’s a fucking Raven, but really, she’s just a kid?—’
‘I know.’ Kyle sounds sad. ‘I know. But there’s no other way. I really don’t think he’ll hurt her. He’ll probably just shut her away again.’
Screw that. There’s no way anyone is putting me back in my cage.
‘It doesn’t seem fair.’
‘I know. I hated deceiving her. She’s more than I’d expected her to be.’ Another surprise. It doesn’t change anything, though. A tear slides down the side of my face. I hear rustling noises. Jessie speaks again.
‘I wonder why they didn’t change her.’
‘They tried. But she’s immune. She may be human, but she has vampire blood.’
‘Really?’ Jessie sounds intrigued. ‘I didn’t even know vamps could have human kids, you know? Not until we found out about her.’
