“My mother was, well, is a force in the community. I haven’t seen her in years. She left us.”
“I’m so sorry.”
Archer sets a hand on my knee and gives me a sweet smile. “Thank you. It hurt me as a child, but as an adult, I know it was one of the best things that could have happened to me. She wasn’t really a mother. She was a commander. Cold, calculating. And she…”
He swallows and looks at our feet on the floor. A strip of sunlight pours from the window and dances across the toes of our boots.
“Colette, when I was just nine years old, my mother betrothed me to a vampire named Valeria.”
My body locks up. My mate mark turns to ice. I process what he says, repeating the phrase in my head three times before I realize Archer has taken my hand and is asking me if I’m all right.
“I’m definitely not all right.”
“Good!”
I stare at him, confounded.
He shakes his head. “No, that’s not what I meant. I just meant it’s good that you are feeling something unhappy and owning it.”
“Archer.”
“Yes, of course. Details. Valeria is like a younger version of my mother.”
“Not a sweetie, huh?” I laugh weakly.
“Her type is the very reason folks should always be wary around vampires. She’s dangerous. Unfeeling. I have no emotions toward her besides disgust and a pretty heavy dollop of fear.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “I cannot imagine you being afraid.”
“No?”
“You’re so strong. And confident.”
“Confidently afraid, I’m afraid.”
I chuckle sadly. “What does this betrothal mean then? If you don’t accept it, then nothing happens, right?”
His lips pull away from his teeth and his fangs catch the sunlight for a second. “Three years ago, Valeria visited me in Honey Sands. She told me she was ready to mate when I was. Like it was a done deal. I told her that I had no intention of being mated to her in any way, shape, or form.”
I am gripping the fabric of my dress so hard that it’s bunching out over my laces. “What did she say?”
“That she would wait and wear me down. That the bloodlines are what matter, not our feelings.”
“Lovely,” I say wryly.
“Ugh. Yes, such a sweetheart. But she stayed in town for a week after that conversation, stalking me and generally making everyone I knew nervous. Shevaguely threatened me, saying that if I needed more than just time, she would discover what would influence me. She hinted at hurting my siblings. I had a witch from Kingstown make this necklace to deflect her attention.”
Ah, so that’s why he wears it nonstop.
“And your mother was all right with how Valeria treated you? With her threatening your brothers?”
“My mother never cared about my siblings because they came out mostly goblin with no vampiric traits.”
“Ah.”
Poor Archer. His family sounds like a real mess. Mine isn’t perfect by any means, but at least we love one another.
“I’ve kept my distance from Valeria, of course. I caught wind of her moving to Kingstown, but I haven’t seen her. I sometimes wonder if she is watching me though. I am probably imagining that. It’s possible she’s dropped the idea of our mating.”
