My brows pinch. “A year? But she’s still human. How—”
Del’s features darken to something feral. “Nerian keeps them caged until he can’t stand to restrain himself.”
My insides turn over, anger surging anew over Nerian. And I want to accept all the assistance I can get taking this king out, my impending decision to include Del in our plans becoming more confident by the minute.
His gaze softens. “He kept Christine for five years before you set her free.”
“Fuck,” I whisper, closing my eyes in memory of Christine, my sorrow for that sweet girl twisting my mouth into a grim frown. One of the most brutal, intimate moments of my life is shared with a girl I will never see again, and the memory threatens to rip me wide open, slicing through me anew.
I gather myself and open my eyes, focus trained on Del as he sinks back in his chair. The more he shares, the more I dare to trust him. I want to. Desperately, for both our sakes.
I’ll just take it hour by hour.
“How do we get the girls who don’t want to turn out of the castle?”
“I have a plan. Shall we move this to the sitting room to include the others?” he asks, his handsome smile aimed right at me.
“Fine.” I uncross my legs to rise, the fabric of my robe shifting, exposing the length of my thigh.
Del’s gaze smolders, running down my body, taking in every inch of me and leaving behind a heat I haven’t felt in a long time in its wake.
He’s not eventryingto mask his attraction.
With a clear of my throat, I tighten my dressing cloak, its silk brushing against my skin like fingertips I wish were real. But I had love in my life once already, and the ghost of that loss is a pain I’m not sure I can repeat.
“You’re bashful, and I can’t figure out why,” Del says bluntly, striding for the door, and we regard one another in a comfortable silence I wasn’t expecting. Del breaks it with asmirk. “And you’re absolutely stunning. You don’t need to hide yourself, Veya.”
My mouth parts, but he exits my bedroom, leaving me with the consolation of not having to reply to his compliment. After a moment to collect myself from a cacophony of jarring emotions, I join the others. The girls are asleep on the sofas and settees.
Charlotte looks up from Aurelia, her fingertips stroking the girl’s long, dark strands across her lap, the same espresso black as Del’s.
Emmanuel secures the iron shutters as dawn peers across the horizon and stands over his doe again.
“Let’s let them rest and sober for a few hours. They have a big decision to make,” I tell everyone.
No one argues with me.
“And what decision is that?” Charlotte asks.
“We’ll turn them if they request it; otherwise, we’re getting them back to their families,” I say.
Charlotte’s eyes skirt to Del. “And you’re fine with that?”
“It was his idea,” I say and curse myself for jumping to Del’s defense. And then I curse again at the smug look on his face.
“Do you want to know the plan?” Del asks through a devastating smile.
Emmanuel scoffs, and Second crosses his thick arms over his wide chest and narrows his eyes at Del.
“Luckily, your queen’s actions with Christine give us the perfect way to hide the girls who don’t want to turn,” Del says, sauntering to the fireplace and turning his back to the flame. “We can burn a large pyre, thick and deep enough that you can’t tell if bodies are there. It’ll be both a distraction for us to get them out of castle grounds and the reason we don’t have dead girls to show off.” Del sighs and meets my eyes. “I’m hopingthose who want to turn will secure a layer of trust thick enough to believe we burned the others.”
Never trust a vampire.
It’s a decent plan. And I can’t come up with anything better.
“I like it,” I agree.
“This has to go well,” Emmanuel growls, gazing down at his doe. His eyes don’t leave her face, and I’m pretty sure I’m staring at a newfound, breathing weakness for my top assassin.
