“What is it?” I ask, looking up at her. “Is my blood—” She shakes her head.
“It still smells good, but the thirst isn’t torture.”
“What is it, then?” I ask. Her forehead touches mine, and for a moment, I think our lips, already close, are going to meet. Her white lashes brush against my own, and my breath hitches.
“I’ll tell you tomorrow,” she whispers. “We should sleep.”
We’re millimetres apart.
“Tomorrow,” I echo, lowering my face, until it rests just above her chest. Aliz lets out a sigh. Slowly, she wraps an arm around me again, ensuring our skin is pressed together.
Please don’t dream,I think, squeezing her hand.
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
Cieri doesn’t haunt my dreams that night. When I wake, Aliz is still asleep, her chest rising and falling, one strap of my nightgown having slipped off her shoulder. Her collarbones are sharp, the curve of her small breasts shallow beneath the silk. I hide my face to yawn, and then look at hers. Her full lips are slightly parted.
Staring at her allows me to forget for a moment the fact that I have probably ruined my relationship with Penny. But then my skin prickles with dread, and I reach for my phone, beside my pillow. No missed calls, no messages. When I check to see when Penny was last online, all I see is ninep.m.What have I done?My throat stings, and before I can think too hard about how to approach this mess, I type:
Where are you?
I receive no reply, but almost immediately, a single tick turns double and blue. Unless the Council have confiscated her phone, Penny is alive. Relief and unease mingle in my chest, and I exhale, trying to figure out what to do next.
Just as I put my phone back down, ready to get up, Aliz stirs, and still asleep, she grabs me, pulling me closer. A hand rubs my waist, and I swallow hard. Her legs tangle with mine, and I feel her nose on my neck, sniffing. “Aliz?” My voice comes out in a croak.
“Five more minutes,” she mumbles, before pressing her lips to my neck.
“Aliz!” I hiss, pulling myself free from her grip, and she complains. When I turn to look at her, she’s fast asleep. Meanwhile, the spot she just kissed feels like it’s on the verge of catching fire. “Damn it,” I whisper.
At this, her eyes finally open, and she yawns, looking around. “Did you have a dream?” she asks me, rubbing her eyes.
“No,” I say. And considering Aliz isn’t vomiting blood, I have a feeling she didn’t, either.
“Same here,” she says. “So, sticking together really does get rid of the symptoms.”
“Seems like it,” I say and swallow.
Now I just have to convince Elia to let us enter the library. Or have her bring usThe Book of Blood and Rosesinstead. But as long as I’m a vampire hunter, I have a feeling she will not want to helpme.
Elia, I learnas we sit in Tynarrich’s dining hall, hasn’t been entirely forthcoming with Aliz.
“You knew…” Aliz runs her fingers through her hair, staring at Elia. She’s wearing a fitted pink cardigan and a matching skirt. Her smile is not entirely appropriate for the situation. “You knew Ada?”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” Elia says, leaning back. “You’re nothing like her, you know. And considering she’s been dead for two hundred years—”
“What exactly was your relationship with her?” Aliz snaps.
Elia looks towards the window, branches knocking against it, and sighs. “We were on and off for half a millennium.”
I feel Aliz’s hand tense next to mine, and she leans forward, mouth open. “You were together?”
“Like I said, on and off.”
“You lied to me,” Aliz says.
“I didn’tlie,” Elia argues. “I simply kept some information to myself.”
