“It took me so long to find you, I almost drank both of these.” I hold up the glasses and hold one out. He doesn’t meet my eyes as he takes the glass, tossing the champagne back in a single gulp and dropping it in the grass. “Jesus, that bad huh? Maybe youneed this more than I do,” I tease, handing him my glass. “Milo said your parents found you?”
He stares at the glass hanging from his fingers, and scoffs. “Yeah, they found me.” There’s a hard edge to his voice I haven’t heard before, and despite all of the painful, uncomfortable, and sickening interactions I’ve had tonight—Vivica, Armand, the Councilmen and their families—it’s that edge that makes my blood run cold. Suddenly, I’m back in Lynden, where the preternatural sense that something lurks around the corner, stalking any unfortunate prey stupid enough to blink meant the difference between surviving and being swallowed whole by the shadows of a broken town.
“What happened?” I ask quietly, suddenly still.
“Why are you here, Nyx?”
I frown. “To find you? I thought we could sneak out, get changed, and maybe have dinner at your place? There’s that new movie?—”
When his glowing eyes finally meet mine under the moonlight, there’s nothing of the Ramsey I know. The man in front of me is a stranger. “And then… what—snuggle? Fuck?” He sneers. “I couldn’t even bring myself to fuck you on Beltane, when that’sliterallythe whole point. Don’t get me wrong—manipulating you into trusting me, wanting me, spreading your legs—it’s been fun, but I’m bored of playing with you.” Each new cruelty devours the memory of his whispered confessions, when he said—when he said he wanted more.
In a broken voice I thought I’d never hear again, I ask quietly, “What are you doing?”
“Now that you’ve got everyone desperate for a taste of your cunt, it’s only a matter of time before you’re bought and bred by the highest bidder. I’ll give it a year, tops, before you’re paid for in full.” My eyes burn with tears at the disdain dripping from his lips. “Fucking beats me why anyone wants you though. Youweren’t anything special before, and they think all that’s going to change now you have power? All I see is someone who’s going to fuck shit up for the rest of us, just like the last Bloodwitch did. We wouldn’t have Vampires if it weren’t for her. How are you going to ruin everything this time, huh?”
“Stop,” I whisper as the first tears fall.
He stands from the wall and chugs the champagne in my glass, and it lands with a dull thud when he drops it on the ground and looks down at me. “Dry your tears, witchling. Nobody cares if you cry. That’d require you being worth anything to anyone. Well, aside from how much you’ll bring at auction.”
I remain frozen in place as his footsteps fade, but the damage is done. His venom bleeds into every happy memory I’ve made in the last nine months, tainting every smile, every kiss, every—every time I hoped it was real. I believed it all, and it meant nothing.
I meant nothing.
Stupid.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Stupid to think things would be different here.
Stupid to not crush that little part of me that thought I could still be happy while I still had the chance, before this world used it to crush me instead.
I don’t know how long I stand there, staring into the moonlit sky. Dreaming of flying far, far away and landing among the stars, above everything and everyone that would hurt me. Of dancing by starlight in that great, infinite silence.
“Oh pretty girl, what happened?” The heat of his jacket when he wraps it around my shoulders is the anti-venom that finally frees my paralyzed thoughts. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.” When he tries to help me walk, my limbs are still rooted tothe ground, so he sweeps me into his arms. I lean my head on his shoulder as he talks to me, even though I can’t respond.
“My mom liked you, by the way. To be fair, she likes almost everyone. To a fault sometimes, but she really liked you.”
The trees blend together in the darkness, leaves rustling in the warm breeze with promises that tomorrow’s dawn will burn away the last of Ramsey’s venom, but I won’t make the mistake of believing it.
“What can I do, pretty girl?”
Oh. We’re in my room. When did we get here?
“Do you want to change clothes?” I must nod, because the next thing I know he’s handing me my pajamas.
What was I supposed to do with these?
“I’m going to unzip your dress, but I promise to close my eyes, okay?”
Suddenly, I can breathe again as the fabric slides down my body.
“Arms up.”
Okay.
The fabric is cool as it slips over the red marks in my skin from the dress.
“Sit.”
