I remembered the day they’d told me like it was yesterday. They had torn me from my friends, my home, and my family. Without even so much as a send-off, I’d boarded a plane in Tennessee and landed alone in Massachusetts. Then, my studies began.
Vapula’s talent made the classwork tolerable, afforded me the space to do whatever I wished—at a cost. He’d haunted my dreams, called me to him in sleep, and offered no escape. Over the years, I’d turned to partying, and the parties became drug-fueled, drunken benders that numbed away the ever-present ache he wanted to instill in me. Things had spiraled out of control so quickly. I had only wanted to live a little.In the end, I paid with the life I had hoped to lead.
I shook my head, trying to clear it of the dark thoughts that surfaced. When I glanced back up at Sitri, it was hard to make heads or tails of his expression. He wore an emotion I couldn’t quite place. Pity, perhaps? Or maybe even sympathy.
“Tragic. A mighty Duke preying on a child. He should be ashamed.” Sitri’s eyes darkened. His brow furrowed. “And what exactly does he want with you?”
My muscles tensed. Sitri studied me closely. Vapula made it all too clear what he wanted from me, what I was to him. His fondness, hisobsession,haunted me even in death. His arm around my waist. My hand in his, the task he’d given just an excuse for the closeness of his contact. The attention no one else would pay me.
“It’s… a long story,” I whispered. “And I’m not telling it now.”
He looked me over, drinking me in from top to bottom. His foot began to tap against the ground.
“What?” I asked, and Sitri let out a hum of deliberation.
“I might have an idea of my own, if you’d like to hear.”
“Go on.”
Sitri closed his eyes. I held my breath, afraid a single movement would chase away the truth I’d been seeking. When they opened again, his gaze softened.
“Zaleos is a meddler, and he uses pawns to do his dirty work for him. He’s the one who brought you here. The Duke knows something we don’t. Either you will win me this war, or you will be the reason I lose it, darling; and at this point, that’s a risk I’m forced to take.”
