No, because Adrienne’s face was pale and withdrawn as she and Lilith entered the ballroom linked arm in arm. Her cheekbones were hollower, the circles beneath her eyes turned from merely shadows into bruises. A soft vee was etched between her brows and, though Lilith smiled widely as we approached, Adrienne’s attention fixed on Seth instead of me.
Lilith initiated the greeting. Adrienne did not repeat the phrase, but she did curtsey and finish the ritual. I welcomed Lilith, pressing my mouth to her forehead and following it with a touch of my thumb to indicate to all here that she was a member of my household. But agony pierced my heart at the sight of Adrienne’s hands trembling into fists in her skirts, her eyes shut as she braced herself for my touch.
I slid one hand to the back of her hair, cradling her head as I brushed my lips across her brow. She pulled away but I held fast, kissing one cheek and ghosting my mouth across hers as I went to the other, lingering at the spot near her jaw that usedto make her melt. Her sorrow was a tangible creature in the room, climbing up my arms to weigh upon my shoulders until I pressed my lips to her furrowed brow in an effort to smooth it.
Finally, she opened her eyes. The crystalline blue of her gaze pierced my heart and just for a moment sharp words pierced my mind.
You are only as good as what you can provide,the voice shrieked.
I froze, hand tightening on her neck before sliding away to graze the spot on her cheek that held no remnant of that night she’d returned to Oylen. With a sigh, I leaned forward again, onlookers be damned, to kiss her lips, to try to bring that fire back to her veins. But she only held very still, even if her eyes did close.
A flash of blonde hair caught my attention as I drew away. Though my heart ached with each bit of space I placed between us, I turned from Adrienne. “Lilith, there is someone I’d like you to meet.”
I guided her from Seth toward Callum, who’d approached the dais with Mateo and Henry. Callum’s eyes shined with anticipation as they looked her over, the silver in them swirling with the power Seth had bestowed. With that blood exchange we were now more like brothers than anything else. Seth had all but claimed him as a fledgling.
I gestured toward Callum. “I do not believe you have yet been formally introduced to Lord Callum Auguste.”
A flicker of deep feeling passed over Lilith’s face and I had to look away as she curtsied low. “It is an honor, Lord Auguste.”
I took a step back, turning to Adrienne only to find the place where she had been empty. My eyes widened in surprise and I scanned the room, searching for any hint of her in the deepening crowd.
Toward the music room,Mateo supplied helpfully.
With a nod I slipped from the dais, sticking to the edge of the crowd and moving fast enough I was all but unnoticed. She was there, making her way down the hall and to the only place she had claimed as her own within my house. Silently I followed as she took the final turn and all but fell through the door. I stopped on the threshold while she splayed her hands across the closed lid of the pianoforte, head bowed.
“Tell me what is wrong.” I said the words carefully, each one measured, in fear I might spook her.
Even so, she whirled in a swirl of cream silk. “Nothing is wrong.”
“Do not lie, my heart, not to me.”
Her eyes squeezed shut. “Do not call me that.”
“Call you what?” Ice-coated dread crackled through my veins.
When they reopened, her eyes were dead, all the life leached out through the tears standing in the corners. “‘My heart.’”
I took one step forward. “But that is what you are.”
She shook her head, circling to the other side of the instrument. “I cannot do this anymore.”
That same voice pierced through the room, so loud in her mind I wondered how she did not cover her ears.You will be thrown out like the trash you are.
“Adrienne, talk to me.”
Her shoulders shook, fingers tapping against the wood. Another crack in her mental wall: the memory of pain across her cheek, the pressure of her lungs struggling for air. Her mother’s face.
“I cannot do this,” she repeated.
“Yes, you said that.” My voice rose in volume. “But I do not understand what you mean.”
Her nails dug into the wood, leaving behind small half-moons. “I cannot continue to wait around for you to tire of my company. It’s killing me, Eamon.”
I blinked in surprise, reaching out only for her to shy away. “Tire of you? You are my mate. I willnevertire of you.”
Some of her hair went flying with the next shake of her head, loosening from her ornate twist. “Do not lie.”
I almost stumbled back at my own words flung in my face. “I would never lie about such a thing. You are my mate.” When I took another step toward her around the pianoforte, she circled to the other side.
