I shrug. “Fine. I’ll go first. I left your apartment with the necklace. I took it to Lucien Vega because he was holding my brother captive and slowly draining him dry, and giving Lucien the necklace was supposed to free me and Jacob from under his thumb. Instead, as thanks for my troubles, Vega gave me the Kiss.”
Arabella doesn’t move, or even glance up from her book, but I catch the briefest flicker of interest in the corner of her eye.
I knew it.
“I had some inkling of what Lucien was, or what hebelievedhe was. Truthfully, I thought the vampire thing was a role he played toterrify his enemies, a kink he’d taken so far that he believed his own lie. I thought that right up until he sank his fangs into my neck and made me just like him.”
She turns the page.
“Immortality suits me.” I rub my jaw. “I’m lucky he did it when he did. It would have been a travesty to ruin this face with old age.”
“The tragedy is that you think I care.” Arabella still won’t look up from her book.
“Mmmm.” I know I have her. “So where was I? Ah, yes. As soon as I recovered, I was determined to find you. I needed to beg your forgiveness, explain that I’d become a monster, and make sure you were safe from all the other monsters out there. But then you sent a monster of your own after me.”
“I did no such thing.”
“Youdid. Ugly fellow, long scar across his face, used to hang out in the corner of La Petite Mort. He said you belonged to him, like you were hispossession. He knew things about you, about us, that only you could have told him. He said you’d sent him to retrieve the necklace. He nearly killed me, but he didn’t realise I was newly turned and I managed to overpower him.”
I pause, teetering on the edge of my secret. And then, because I can never control myself around this woman, Ifall. “When I drained him, his blood tasted heavenly. So different to Lucien’s. I think he was ancient, even by our standards.”
My breath hitches. I’ve just revealed something that she could take to the Conclave and have me killed instantly. If she cared for that ancient vampire, she will react to my crime.
“I don’t know who you’re talking about.” She turns another page. “Men often believe they are paying to own me – that’s part of the illusion. But I’d remember a suitor with a scar on his face, especially an ancient Upyr. I’ve only known one ancient in my life, and I have no desire to know another ever again. I did not send this man to kill you. I was a little preoccupied at the time.”
I wait for her to elaborate. She does not. So I continue.
“You heard what I said. I drained himdry.”
“I heard, Gideon.”
I let out my breath. “So if you didn’t know him, how did he know intimate things about you? About us? He knew about the mole you have on your inner thigh.”
She sighs. “I danced naked on stage every night. There’s every chance he saw that mole. As for other details, Auguste said someone was watching us in the park. Upyr, as you know, can hide in plain sight. Some have tremendous powers of persuasion over humans. I’ve no doubt this ancient you met was just another jealous man who wanted to steal from me.”
I feel so foolish. I never should have believed that monster. I’d been too certain of my guilt; I wanted Arabella to hate me more than I hated myself, and he gave me exactly what I wanted. “I never meant to steal from you. I wanted you to be free.”
“You should have told me about Lucien. I had a right to defend my own affairs. The only reason Lucien used you is because he knew of the long line of scoundrels who attempted to take the collar from me. Not one of them lived.” She taps her nails on her eReader. “I would have taken care of Lucien.”
“I never should have underestimated you,” I say. “I think Lucien is the one who burned La Petite Mort. He took me to see it. He gloated when he showed me the fire. He said there were no survivors. I thought you weredead.” I swallow as the lump of grief I’ve carried since that day rises through my esophagus. “That’s why I husked Lucien and took the necklace from him.”
Shehasto react to that. It’s not simply that I drained two vampires. Killing your sire is one of the most abhorrent acts in Upyr culture. Arabella would be within her rights to have me thrown into the cell for Celeste to finish off.
That’s why I’ve never told anyone what I did to Lucien.
Until now.
Her reaction is not what I expect. She rests the eReader on her knee. When she turns to me, there’s a warmth in her eyes I’ve never seen before. Not pity, not revulsion, butunderstanding.
My heart is a jackhammer against my ribs.
“Say something,” I beg her.
“What do you want me to say? That I appreciate you extracting a bloody revenge on my behalf?” Arabella’s lips curl back into a smirk. “No, thanks. I prefer my vengeance firsthand.”
“I believe it. All I wanted was to see you again, and you were gone. I had no choice but to endure, so I—”
“Do you still have it?”
