I gave Dommik a perplexed look and he answered with a single word, “Bloodbane.”
Poisonous to vampires, but not for humans.
“Bloodbane,” I repeated, swirling the tonic. “Interesting.”
I poured the clear oil into my cupped palm and rubbed the liquid across my cheek. A place Dommik and Rhazien had both touched.
“Erased,” Dommik confirmed in an almost sad whisper. His blue eyes fell flat like a windless sea. “It takes months to grow, gather, and distill this tonic. Handle it with care but apply generously. I’ll leave you to enjoy your coffee.”
“You can stay,” I said, reaching for him but pausing this time before my hand met his arm.I have got to stop doing that.“I’d like you to stay.”
A strained smile lifted his cheeks but the sentiment didn’t quite reach his eyes. He was ordered to retrieve me and now ordered to guard me, but I didn’t want him to keep me company because it was his duty. I wanted him to choose it on his own. And with his expression bordering on anguish, I was tempted to dismiss him.
But I had a bone to pick with the commander.
“Can I ask you a question?” I asked, capping the bloodbane oil.
He folded his hands at his waist and nodded. This demeanor was so clearly a performance. He wasn’t just wearing a mask, it was an entire suit of armor.What was he so scared of?
“When you were sent to retrieve me from Illica, had you always known Rhazien wanted me to become his prospective queen?”
Like a seasoned hunter, I was setting a trap. And like a centuries old vampire, he expertly avoided it.
He shrugged. “I’m just a soldier. I do what I’m told and I don’t ask why.”
Liar,I thought. Rhazien was surprised in the carriage when I told him Dommik didn’t inform me of his intentions.
“I’m asking because I felt like, while we were on the road, there wassomethingbetween us.” I would have been nervous to ask if I hadn’t been so sure. I spent years at court watching, and oftentimes evading, the practiced tradition of wooing and swooning. “A connection.”
An evening wind wrapped around us, sending his dark locks dancing and my nightgown flush with my pebbled skin.
Dommik clenched his jaw. There was something there, unsaid. Tucked just behind his teeth.
“Am I making that up?” I prodded, my confidence waning in his silence.
He blinked once, slowly, then said, “Yes.”
Liar.
“You belong to my regent.” A slight quiver shook his statement. “It’s best this way. Best for you. Best for him. Best for Atoris.”
That just couldn’t be true, not with the way he’d talked to me. Looked at me. Touched me.
“What about you?” I asked. “What’s best for you?”
Without hesitation, he said, “I owe Rhazien everything. What’s best for him is best for me.”
Dommik was within arms reach but suddenly felt so far away.
“I was mistaken, then.” The small vial fell heavily into the pocket of my robe.
“You were mistaken,” he agreed.
But I hadn’t been. The signs were there, and more than his behavior, there had been a feeling there…a melding. Like two components working together to make a salve or tonic. And that, cannot be faked. Whatever the reason, he was lying, and that bothered me. The familiar steel of my own emotional armor slid over my skin.
“Friends then.” I exhaled, pushing my unruly waves away from my face before crossing my arms over my middle.
“No.” His dark hair swayed as he shook his head. “Not friends. You are my assignment. Nothing more.”
