Zia wanted to snap at him, to break his hand or burn his flesh, but she was powerless. While magic buzzed in her veins, she had no real offensive abilities. Her telekinesis was negligible, her psychic abilities non-existent. She couldn’t channel heat or sound or electricity to wound. All she could do was tinker with wards and talk to plants.
“I saidbreathe.”Sharp pain in the side of her neck forced her to suck in a lungful of air. Her eyes snapped toward Julius, who was making himself comfortable next to her in the booth. He was frowning at his claws and, as she watched, he flicked her blood off of them. Splatters flew across the glass table in the center of the booth. They caught the low light like a galaxy of tiny rubies.
There was nothing dangerous about her — except her blood.
Zia clutched at her neck. Blood oozed between her fingers from a long, shallow slice. A little pool began to accumulate in her cupped palm, hot and sticky and awful. She gasped out a panicked sound.
Julius made a shushing gesture with his bloody claws and rolled his eyes. “Hush now. It’s only a scratch. Just a reminder to be on your best behavior for me, little bite, or you’ll get far worse.”
She didn’t have time to tell him that Harlan wouldn’t think it wasjustanything. If he thought he could escape her vampire’s wrath before, there was absolutely no possibility now.
Just as the thought flitted through her mind, the silver door on the opposite side of the room slowly eased open.
The hallway beyond was so dark, she struggled to make out the familiar form in the doorway — broad shoulders, lean waist, long hair. The familiar silhouette, the one she had fantasized about for a year, made her heart stutter. She didn’t need to see his features to know exactly who he was.
Harlan.
Something deep behind her breastbone pulled her to him. Magic sang in her veins, bubbling and fizzing with recognition.Safe,it said, reaching for him.We’re safe now.
Julius’s hand closing over the nape of her neck shattered that fleeting moment of relief.
“Harlan,” he greeted, grinning from ear to ear. “So good to see you! Take a seat. Have you enjoyed your vacation?”
She bit back a whimper as her vampire closed the door behind him. His eyes lingered on her face for only a moment before they moved slowly over the oozing wound she covered, to Julius’s extended arm, and up to the man himself.
“Julius.”
It was one word. Just a name spoken softly. And yet it felt like a boom of thunder in the quiet room.
Harlan walked slowly until he stood beside the chair she had woken up in. He glanced down — barely a flicker of his eyes — and she knew the moment he spotted the fallen restraints. His expression was shuttered, but there was a subtle tightening of his jaw and the slightest flex of his claws by his thigh.
Slowly, he rested one hand on the back of the chair. “I haven’t been on vacation. Dora released me from service and I retired.”
Julius’s fingers tightened around the nape of her neck. She could feel the tension building in him, though his tone never once changed from the sweet, gentle one he had used from the start. “Oh, I know my mother promised you all sorts of things after you helped her kill my brother, but you must know that dear old mom died recently, don’t you?”
He killed Dora Amauri’s son?Zia’s mind spun. Was that why Julius wanted him so badly? Was it some element of revenge? If so, then she thought they had a lot more to worry about than just a shitty job offer.
Harlan’s eyes didn’t stray to her face again, but she felt his focus on her through the bond. It pressed against the back of her mind, insistent and dark and safe, like a shadow reaching out to embrace her.
“I do know about Dora’s passing,” he answered, easing himself into the leather seat. “That doesn’t explain why you’ve gone so far to get my attention, though.”
“You’re stubborn.” Julius shrugged. Releasing her neck, he moved to pet her hair again — as if she wasn’t actively trying to stop the bleeding from her throat while he did so. “After you left and Dora said no one was allowed to contact you, I knew you’d be a pain to get back. I thought that sending all those pesky flies your way would annoy you enough to give you a little push, but I got distracted when my mother started deteriorating.”
Julius spoke of his mother’s health in the same way she might have talked about her car needing new brakes. “Things have been messy back home. My mother really fucked things up for me as a final maternal gift.” An edge of real anger entered his otherwise cheerful voice. “Can youbelieveshe made that boy her heir? That fucking welp has been undercutting me for twenty years.”
Harlan tilted his head, considering something. “You want me to kill Felix, I presume.”
“Of course I do.” Julius looked at him like he’d just asked if the sky was blue. “And whoever else I want dead, of course. I knew you’d just need a little convincing, so…”
He twirled one of her curls around his bloody finger. His smile turned sly when he finished, “Why not just snatch something you care about? I know how much you covet pretty things. You get that from me, you know.”
ChapterTwenty-Three
Harlan bentslightly to pick up two of the cuffs. Julius watched him move with an indulgent expression, saying, “Nice, aren’t they? I caught a shipment of military gear smuggled out of the ‘Riik last year. Those cuffs are state of the art sigilwork. Look how well designed they are! They could even restrain a rogue dragon.”
Her vampire held them in his palms and examined them for a moment, his expression bland. It was like he was looking at two lumps of granite rather than magically reinforced restraints.
He rubbed his thumbs over the edges of each cuff, circling slowly, and looked up through his lashes at his old master. “I suppose I get my love of beautiful things from you, though I tend to keep my treasures in better condition than you do.”
