“I’ll take your silence as acceptance of my apology,” Dahlia says, and I’m instantly riled up.
“Must you make everything difficult?”I say, slapping the surface of the water.
There’s a muffled laugh.“I get it, okay?I know what you’re going through.”
I snort.Loud, indignant and firm.“Give over.”
The door clicks open.She doesn’t come in, but angles herself, making her voice clearer.
“You’re not the only one who lives in the shadow of their sister.”
I open my mouth to fight back, to shout at her to get the hell out, but I rehear her words.My brows cinch together.I’d be happier bickering.
“Fine, I’m listening.”
She sighs.I can just about make out her wet hair draped against the doorframe, all wavy and thick.I wonder what it would feel like to run my hands through it.Her shoulders are bare, the towel tucked tight under her armpits.
I stare at her, lean forward out of the bath, moving this way and that to sneak a glimpse at pieces of her.Dahlia’s jaw is chiselled, a little masculine, but in the way that makes a woman appear powerful.
My clit gives a pulse.I shift in the bath, pushing the heat and thoughts of her soft tresses out of my mind.
Dahlia takes a drawn-out breath, sighing it out as if the words are heavy on her tongue.“My sister, Octavia… she’s one of the original three vampires.Do you know what that means?”
I retrace my memory and the conversations Mother had with us before they arrived.“That she created one of the three vampire lines?”
Dahlia nods against the frame.“In our city, that is everything.Power.Status.Wealth.Respect.It doesn’t matter that I’m one of the oldest living vampires, Octavia will always be better.”
I chew my lip.Dahlia twists her head, her gaze meeting mine through the slit of the door.
I recoil, not because I’m naked, but because it’s the first time I’ve seen softness in her.It’s the way her eyes curve; they’re distant and filled with something I can’t quite place.Maybe she doesn’t want to share it yet.I lean against the bath, giving her privacy.
Morrigan always said I was shallow because I was only interested in fashion and people.But I’m interested in people because I care.And what’s wrong with fashion?How is that any different to her obsession with books?At least I wasn’t standoffish and lonely.Dahlia’s sharing something difficult, and I’m giving her the space to do that—how is that anything but kindness?
“The godsdamnest thing is, Octavia was hated.”She hits her head against the frame, not hard, but enough for me to hear the clatter of frustration.“Our entire city feared her, and yet she loved them anyway.Can you imagine fighting for a city that resented you?For ten centuries, she battled against perception and judgement.Always thinking she wasn’t good enough.”
“But you knew she was?”I whisper.
“I had to live knowing that it didn’t matter how old I got, she would always be older, stronger, more powerful.It didn’t matter how hated she was, everyone was always more interested in her.And the worst bit of it was, she was everything: kind, strong, loyal.In spite of it all.Do you know how inadequate that makes a person feel?”
I knead the palm of my hand.I thought Dahlia was bullshitting when she said she got it.But everything she’s said is the truth of Morrigan too.Duty bound, self-sacrificing, loyal, strong.Would I do those things?Be that way if I were in her shoes?
My stomach grows heavy.Probably not.
“Yeah, I do know…” My words are so soft they’re barely above a whisper, but she’ll hear them.I swear I read somewhere that vampires have excellent hearing.
“We used to fight, Octavia and me.It was vicious too, what with us being vampires.Blood was drawn.Bones were broken.And then something shifted.We were forced to fight together.Don’t get me wrong, I still tried to win the city in the trials, I wouldn’t be me unless I’d tried to claim it as mine.But I was living in denial thinking I could beat her.Besides, she was always meant to rule Sangui.I guess I’m meant for something else…”
“And you’re okay with that?When you wanted the city just as much as she did?”I say, sitting up, trying to reconcile how she could just quit like that.
“No.But I’m more than okay with our new relationship, with the fact that for the first time in five centuries, I feel like my family don’t hate me.We’re more than bickering and competition now.”
“Mmm.”Is that enough for me?Having Morrigan as a sister, loving each other?
She shifts, her spine lifting off the doorframe.“You know what really changed things?”
“Go on…”
“Discovering that all along, Octavia never felt like she was enough.That while I was spending my energy fighting her, she was fighting herself harder than I or the city could.If all you and Morrigan do is fight, you might be missing how she really feels.”
