“Some people can’t see the truth until drastic measures are taken. Do you see now?”
I shook my head mechanically. It only felt right to deny.
He sat up slightly, looming over me like a gargoyle waiting to fall. I sank into the mattress. His eyes encaptured mine, and I couldn’t breathe. He leaned in closer. He smelled of spices and darkened woods, a foreboding depth that beckoned. “I know what it’s like, to have your own family be your end.” His icy hand wrapped around my throat. “Come with me, darling, and you’ll never have to hide.”
The claws of his illusion still dug deep, holding me to the flames of truth. The heat grew the more I refused to accept it. But the last thing I’d ever do was trust Alaric.
“No. You are no better.”
His eyes flashed with a mixture of hurt and anger. His hand twitched around my throat as if he fought the urge to crush me.
“Is that your final answer?”
I should have been concerned that my response was not immediate. I should have been more concerned that I was considering his offer to take me away.No. He was messing with my head.
“I will never go with you, Alaric.”
His eyes roamed over my face, searching for the seams of my weakly mended composure. He prodded at the bits of me that would bend. My eyes widened as his face hovered just above mine. His lips so close the energy between us melded, sparking beneath my skin. In an instant he was gone, walking out my bedroom door without looking back. He was bold enough to walk openly through the house of a vampire hunter, showing me yet again who was really in control.Granted, he could conceal himself through illusions if he needed to, but the message was received.
I brushed my fingers across my lips. They were cold to the touch, as if his unnaturally cold temperature had leached into me. I didn’t want to acknowledge how close I had let him get. He was testing me, and my stomach turned knowing he got his answer.
Though he left following my rejection, I knew better than to think he was anywhere near finished.
CHAPTER TEN
“A trip? As in going away. To spend time together. For days. After just one date.” Pari gaped up at me as she sat atop my vanity chair. Her eyes broke away to track the nightdress I placed into my bag.
“What can I say? He has captured my heart.”
Her widened eyes turned into a hard glare. “You’re a terrible liar, and you would never say something like that,” she said flatly.
I sighed as I eyed the various gowns and cosmetics I had flung onto my bed. How does one pack for this sort of venture? I supposed I should keep it simple. Most of our time would be spent within the horrid woods.
I’d woken early to review what I had read of the Hushed Woods. It was eerily quiet, unnaturally so, stuck in a perpetual silence, as if all life stilled at the approach of a predator. When the frogs and crickets go silent, and the birds stop chirping, even the leaves don’t dare to shift. It was said only the strongest minds should enter, as there was no sound to focus on but what existed in your own head. And I myself despised the silence.
I often slept with a sound mechanism. It was a cylinder filled with salt that sounded similar to the ocean as it spun. The idea of total silence made my skin crawl. And to make matters worse, beings existed within the woods, beings I had only believed to reside between pages. I looked to Pari. This was a journey that suited her. She lived for this type of excitement. I still couldn't even hit a target.
I sighed. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get another suitor. I’m just trying to give this my best effort.” I cringed a bit inside. As if I’d give Sebastian my best effort. I felt terrible lying to Pari, but Alaric’s words crept through my mind. I couldn’t get anyone involved. His threat rang loud and clear. I shouldn’t even be going, but I couldn’t just stop. I couldn’t give up, especially since Alaric had well and trulyproved himself to be feral and unreasonable. He had to go, along with the portal and all of the vampires.
“Well, don’t try too hard. He should love you for who you are, not who you try to be.”
A part of me wilted at that, the part of me ambivalent to whether that would ever happen.
Though I supposed he did know who I really was. It was nice to have someone know everything. I didn’t have to hide anything from him. But we were of different worlds, and our paths should have never crossed.
* * *
I stood straight as an arrow with my arms hung limp at my sides as I stared at the horse. A beautiful raven black, as was standard for the Society.
“Is there a problem, Charlotte?” Amusement colored Sebastian’s eyes.
“A horse?”
“Yes, this is a horse.” He stroked its coat as he smirked.
I let out a short huff of air through my nose. “One horse? Are we meant to ride together?”
“Do you know how to ride a horse yourself?”
