He sighed and shook his head like I’d reminded him yet again I was the dirty peasant while he was high rank, nobility even. The way he carefully enunciated words and syllables accentuated our differences. “Well, at least I know you weren’t lying when you said you could read. I half expected it.”
Oh, that was it. I pushed the book from my lap and stood off the bed. “Why would I lie when it was obvious you were going to ask me questions?” If I didn’t know better, I’d say he enjoyed riling me up.
“Because people lie to make themselves look better.”
“I don’t.”
“Good. I don’t like liars, and I don’t want one as an apprentice. Liars can’t be trusted, and a relationship like ours requires trust for survival.”
“Well, good thing I’m not because you’re stuck with me even if I’m an embarrassment to you.”
Silent and tense, he narrowed his eyes. Several heartbeats and breaths passed before he broke the quiet. “Why would you say that?”
Hot tears threatened. I hated that I cried when I was angry. It made me appear weak. I turned away and sat on the bed with every intention of pretending like he wasn’t standing there waiting for a response. If it wasn’t childish, I’d pull the blanket over my head.
His boots hit hard, and he stood looming next to me. “Why would you say that?” he repeated. I rolled into my side, putting my back to him. “I’m not just going to vanish. I’m speaking to you. Look at me.”
With a heavy breath, I finally turned over and our gazes collided. He was beauty and lethality, and his close proximity urged me to shift back. His knees pressed against the edge of my bed. His height was even more prominent with me laying at his thigh level.
“I heard you talking to Commander Locke this morning,” I confessed and sat up, crisscrossing my legs. “You don’t want to be my trainer. After seeing the other options, I understand.”
The hawkish scowl of his faded to something softer, like thunderous white waves coming to a calm after a storm. “It’s not you. I didn’t expect to have an apprentice this year.”
“Really? Because you asked for someone else to train. I wish I could go home as much as you don’t want to be my trainer, but I’m here without a choice, the same as you. I know I have much to learn, and it may be frustrating for you, but I’ll do my best. My life depends on it, and my life also depends on you training me properly. That will be hard to do if you’d rather have someone else.” My breaths came faster. I wasn’t usually so brash, but I was scared of this place, and what was expected of me. The corners of his mouth slowly turned up in amusement. I dug my fingers into my thighs, feeling heat creep up my neck. “You find this funny? Am I expendable to you because I’m a peasant from outside the wall? A loth? I’m only some girl who would otherwise be discarded and forgotten in Lothleton if you people didn’t findmy ability potentially useful. So what would it really matter to you or anyone here if I died?”We’re the feed.I hated him and everyone else here for ignoring us, for leaving us outside to die while they were safe and secure here. I tasted copper in my mouth and reached up to find my fingertips stained scarlet. My lip wound had reopened.
“You’re not expendable. No one thinks of you that way.” Something pained flashed across his face, and his boot scraped the floor, taking a step back. At once he looked furious and miserable.
I licked my lip, clearing the blood. “Morrow said I should be tossed back out, and I doubt he’s the only one.”
“Fuck Morrow. You’re one of us now.”
“I wish I wasn’t, but you made damn sure of that when you tattooed me.”
“Yes, I did, and because of that tattoo, I would die for you.” His anger seemed to wash over me and linger like the smell of bonfire smoke that clung incessantly to clothes and hair. My breath seized a moment. “You are not just my apprentice, you are my duty, my honor. So get this stupidity of me not caring about your life out of your head right now.” His boots punched the ground as he started for the door. “And get some rest, tomorrow we’re hunting a vampire.” He left out the bedroom door, and through the window I watched him lean on the crenelled wall that overlooked the courtyard, gripping it hard enough his knuckles were white as the bone beneath.
Chapter 6
Later that night, I had trouble sleeping again. The tower creaked and groaned. The wind howled outside, and I swore I heard screaming in the distance. Sometime in the night Vander slipped silently out the door, leaving me caught between being scared to be alone in this strange room and relieved. He made no mention of where he was going. I assumed he had a lover to meet for a secret rendezvous, and I was grateful he didn’t drag me along despite the rule of trainer and apprentice staying together.
I missed Kace. How long would it take for him and his father to talk to someone about bringing me home? I didn’t think they’d be successful, but I wanted to at least see him again. Maybe once my apprenticeship was over, we could still marry, although I’d read that most people married within their own guild. Now that I was labeled ducai, would it be forbidden for me to marry Kace—a human?
I finally dozed off, and in my dream, I was a little girl again, caught in a memory. People in town had talked about a blood moon. Would the moon be filled with blood, I’d wondered, being a curious child. I’d waited until my parents were asleep, then tried to open the metal shutters on my window but couldn’treach the latch even standing on a stool. Ever so quiet, I made my way down the stairs, my nightgown trailing behind me. I pushed up on the wooden slat that blocked the back door and pulled the kitchen chair to reach the bolt. My parents’ warning to never go outside after dusk came to mind, but it was quiet. If a vampire was close, I’d hear screams.
The door creaked open, and my bare feet touched the grass. It was cool between my toes. The trees and the land around me were bathed in a strange crimson light. I finally looked up to the giant red circle in the sky. I didn’t think it looked like real blood.
Something snapped, and the patter of footsteps made me jump. I turned to run back inside, and a man with a frightening face stood between me, my house—and my grandmother in the doorway.
“AESIRA!” she shrieked and lunged at the man’s back.
I screamed.
My eyes shot open,and I pressed a hand over my pounding heart. Soft amber light filtered in through the windows. Water splashed in the bathing chambers, and a moment later Vander stepped around the black curtain separating our sides of the room. “Get dressed. We’re going hunting.”
I took my time changing, rewrapping my ribs although there was only light bruising today. The deep purple faded to various shades of yellow, and the pain was minimal. I only felt it when I twisted or bent. I had always healed quicker than anyone else in my family. The stiffness in my leg was barely noticeable now. I took my frizzy braids out and redid them and washed my face. The split on my lip was but a thin pink line.
Truthfully, I was going as slow as possible because I was terrified. No one I’d ever known went vampire hunting. Not even the foolhardy, arrogant boys in my village. A few of them did what they called “night runs”, which entailed daring each other to sprint from one house to another at midnight as a test of their bravery. At least one died every year from that. The smart ones took the night watch in the tower and shot at vampires, but that was as close to vampire hunting as anyone in Neverglade came.
I peeked out the window at the morning sun cresting over the slate stone wall. Dark gray clouds covered half the sky, threatening rain. Thunder rolled in the distance and a streak of lightning spread out. It was strange looking up from inside the wall rather than outside it.
