That we’re mates. Before our meeting started, they gave me a truth serum. I told them everything. Everything that we’ve done. The magic wouldn’t allow me to keep any of it to myself,he growled.
So what does that mean? And do my parents know? Has the Council told them too?
I don’t know. I’m still in isolation. I have no fucking idea what they’re doing with that information.
Shock rendered me immobile. First, what my uncle had done to me and now this. The Imperial Council now knew that Kole and I were mates, which meant it was most likely that my parents knew too.
And my parents had the authority to ban Kole from me.
My soul felt as though it’d been sliced in two, but my uncle’s command that I keep the conversation short kept me from voicing anything further.
Against my will, my response floated to Kole.I’ll speak with my parents when I get back. I’ll find a way to convince them that you need to stay on as my warrior.
When you get back? You’re still at your uncle’s? But the sun’s nearly set.
It struck me that he had no idea about the dillemsill my uncle had sent to my parents.No, I’m staying at my uncle’s for the night. He has some books with potentially significant findings, but I have to go through them all, and that’ll take some time. My parents agreed to it.
How long will you be there?
My uncle’s command again reared in me. Short. I needed to keep this conversation short. Before I could even contemplate what I was going to say, words spilled out of me.Just until tomorrow, but speaking of which, my uncle’s come back into the room. I need to go so he doesn’t question why I’m not answering him. I’ll talk to you soon. Bye, Kole.
Before the warrior could answer, I ended our connection.
Just like that.
He was gone.
I hadn’t even told him that I loved him.
Alone in my head once more, and since I no longer had to hide my devastation and disbelief at all my life had become, I stared at my uncle with burning hatred.
“You placated him?” My uncle’s eyebrows rose. “He doesn’t suspect anything?”
I pumped my hands into fists and clenched my teeth. “He suspects nothing.”
“Good. You’re not to contact him again while you’re here. Now, follow me. You’re to accompany me to the dungeon.”
As before, I automatically fell into step behind him. I did it so quickly that I didn’t even comprehend what I was doing until Iwas following him, and the thought ofnotfollowing him wasn’t even an option, even though I didn’t want to.
Stars Above. How can he control me like this?
Mentally, I tried to stop my legs, tried to stop my limbs from moving at all, but it was as if my body was no longer my own. My legs scissored beneath me, obediently following Arnel.
The fact that this was truly happening and that no matter what I tried, I couldn’t stop it, began to sink in.
It suddenly struck me what a vampire Maker was.
Arnelfully controlledme.
Once again, I would have thought my heart would be thundering or my breaths would be rapidly rising. I was now a puppet. A slave. A docile pet. My uncle was commanding me, and I was forced to obey. Bodily functions should have ensued. A racing heart. Clammy skin. Twisting guts.
But nothing like that happened.
My body was inactive. As though it’d been turned off.
A new feeling of panic swept through me, and I asked hesitantly, “Am I...dead?”
My uncle strode down the same wide hall from yesterday and glanced over his shoulder at me. “By definition of death, yes, I suppose you are. Yet, what you’ve become is so much more.”
