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A moment later, Jane felt as if her head was about to explode. She cried out, clutched her ears, felt warm drops of blood spill onto her palms. Her entire world focused on her throbbing brain, and she lost sight of everything around her.
Her knees buckled, but her feet were still locked into the rug-covered floor. She could only crouch, screaming and crying and praying for death. An eternity seemed to pass. But then, the pain stopped just as suddenly as it had hit her.
Gradually she became aware of her surroundings and realized Laila was now screaming.
Nicolai, Jane thought distantly. Nicolai must have stolen her ability to squeeze minds—or whatever she’d done—and was using it against the princess. But he was grunting, too, as if the pain was exploding through him.
Laila’s screams ceased abruptly. Nicolai quieted a second later.
The only sound to be heard were panting, labored breaths. Jane tried to stand, but didn’t have the strength. She saw that her bag had fallen and rested a few inches away. She was soaked with sweat, her robe seemingly a hundred pounds heavier.
She managed to turn her head and glance up at Nicolai. He wasn’t looking at her, but at Laila, his eyes narrowed, hatred radiating from him.
“You saw what I saw,” Laila gritted out. “Your precious human studied your kind. Cut them up, hurt them. Tell me, were they your friends?”
Oh, no, Jane thought. No, no, no. Somehow he’d known she had researched and done experiments on his kind, but he hadn’t known the identities of her victims. Had she hurt one of his friends?
“Do you still wish to protect her?” Laila demanded. “Do you still wish to be her lover?”
Silence.
Such heavy silence.
Please don’t tell me you knew any of them. If he had, he would hate her.
“What do you want, princess?” Nicolai said, his voice devoid of all emotion.
A knot grew in Jane’s throat, practically cutting off her air. He did. He hated her. She needed to apologize, to explain, but couldn’t do so here, now.
He can’t hate you. He loves you. He’ll forgive you. Eventually. She hoped.
Laila’s chin lifted, triumph flashing through her eyes. Such cruel green eyes. “I want you to bind yourself to me. Forever. ”
He snorted. “No. What do I gain in return? Nothing. ”
“I’ll allow you to kill the girl. ” She motioned to Jane with a wave of her hand.
Acid burned a hole in her stomach.
“I’ll kill her,” he said, matter-of-fact, “but I don’t need to enslave myself to do it. ”
Oh, God. Jane had become one of his enemies, his hated, must-be-destroyed-at-any-cost enemies. “Nicolai. Please. I’m so, so sorry. ”
He didn’t deign to look at her. Just held up his hand to silence her. “I took your memories. Me. I wanted you to save me. So, as you can see, I never truly wanted you. Only what you could do for me. Save your apologies. ”
He’d…what? Why would he…?
Everything rushed back, as if a glass cage had been shattered inside her mind. They had talked, they had shared. Discovered that she was cursed. He’d known that forcing her to cross over, to save him, would endanger him. For that very reason, she had refused. He’d taken her memory and forced her to do it.
At the time, she’d thought she would resent him. Instead, she was glad he’d done it. Glad she’d helped him, freed him, made love with him. She even understood his reasoning. When she had been bed bound, she had tried to bargain with God for freedom. In that state of mind, you did things. Things you weren’t always proud of.
Why hadn’t she returned home permanently, though, as the curse dictated? She loved him. She should have lost him already.
Or was his hatred the thing that would keep them apart, not her absence? Her stomach somersaulted. “I’ll kill her, then,” Laila said.
“With magic?” Nicolai laughed. “Please do. Then I’ll have the power to kill you. ”
“Not if I kill you, then the girl. ”
“You don’t want me dead, princess. You want me pliant. ” His head tilted to the side. “Why did you bury my memories? Not of the girl, but of everything else. I know why you blocked my powers, but the memories…”
A smug gleam entered her eyes. “You want to know, fine. I’ll tell you. I’m not the beast you think me, you know. ”
He crossed his arms over his chest.
“You appeared at the slave market in Delfina, and everyone assumed you were a Prince Nicolai look-alike. Everyone wanted to buy you. Me, Odette. The wealthy, the poor. Only Odette and I knew you truly were Prince Nicolai of Elden, crown prince, vampire, powerful beyond imagining. ” Again, she stroked the timepiece. “You fought wildly and managed to slay several people who simply approached you to study you closer. Then, you escaped. ”
His eyes widened ever so slightly, an involuntary reaction Jane was sure. She figured he hadn’t recalled that part of his life yet. She wanted to reach out to him, but feared he would reject her.
“Odette had set you free, after blocking your powers. She wanted you away from the market, away from the prying eyes of others. News had just come from Elden that the king and queen had been slain. ”
A sharp intake of breath was Nicolai’s only response. How Jane ached for him.
“As you can guess, Odette wouldn’t have freed you if she had no way of capturing you. Yet still you proved elusive. She nearly succeeded a dozen times, because you kept trying to return to Elden, yet you always found a way to abandon her. When she at last caught you, she scoured the depths of your mind. You might not have witnessed the event, but you knew. You had heard the news, as we had, and magic had filled in the rest. ”
“Tell me,” he rasped.
“In a bid to gain control of the lands, the Blood Sorcerer attacked. Your mother and father lay dying, and each cast a spell. Your mother, to send you away to safety. Your father, to fill you with a need for vengeance. ”
Jane could feel Nicolai’s fury growing…sharpening….
“Odette couldn’t allow you to keep trying to return,” Laila went on. “Nor could she allow you to search for your brothers and sister. Had they known you still lived, they would have come for you. So, they had to think you were dead, slain with your parents. That way, no one would ever come to your rescue. ”
His hands fisted.
“And now,” Laila went on, “now it’s too late. ”
“What do you mean?” he gritted out.
“Twenty years have passed since the Blood Sorcerer attacked the palace. ”
“No. ” He shook his head, once, twice. “No. ”
“Oh, yes. ” A fleeting smile. “You were as unaware of the passage of time as you were of your past. Odette made sure of it. ” Laila lifted her chin. “So. How about this for a bargain? I will help you defeat the Blood Sorcerer, if you kill the human. Right here, right now. ”
“And forget the crimes you have committed against me?” he seethed.
At least he hadn’t accepted right away, Jane thought darkly, dryly. That he would turn on her so savagely…she could not forgive. Unless this was a trick. Unless he meant to gain Laila’s trust.
Hope eternal.
“It’s either that, or I let the healer wipe your memory once again. We’ve had to do so several times, you know. ”
Tighter and tighter those hands curled. “You would trust me not to hurt you?”
“No. You will take a blood oath not to. Before I release you, and after you kill the girl. ”
Jane gulped, her mouth going dry.
This time, Nicolai didn’t hesitate. “Very well. Release us from your magical hold, and I vow never to kill or hurt you. Help me slay my enemy, and I…I will kill the girl. ”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
SUDDENLY JANE’S FEET were freed. Nicolai snaked out an arm, catching her before she could bolt. Not
that she would have. Or, yeah. She would have. Actually, even with his grip, she still could. All she had to do was disappear. To disappear, all she had to do was think of her home.
As the man she loved tugged her closer…closer…panic took over, her thoughts too chaotic to tame. Then, an unexpected calm took hold of her. This was the man she loved. The man who claimed to love her. The man who did love her. He might be angry with her—furious, even—but he wouldn’t kill her. This was a trick to trap Laila.
He wouldn’t ever hurt her. She knew that on a bone-deep level. He was beautiful and wanton, wicked and yet principled. She’d given herself to him body and soul. Now and forever, just as he’d given himself to her. Nothing would change that, not even her past. She trusted him.
Blind trust had never come easily to her. She’d always believed in proof. Testing theories, changing variables and watching reactions, but blind trust was what she was giving her man. He’d come through for her time after time, and he would again.
Yes, she knew there was a dark side to his nature.
Hell, she’d seen him in action on multiple occasions. No matter what, however, he would never turn that dark side on her. So, he had a plan. Pretending to want to kill her was part of it.
“Release me, too, princess,” Nicolai said.
“No. Just the girl. ”
He growled, but that was the only indication he gave that he’d heard her.
Jane couldn’t let another moment go by without telling him how she felt. “I’m so sorry, Nicolai. I didn’t mean to—”
“Silence. ” A lash, and yet he gave her the subtlest of nods, as if he wanted her to continue.
Still he dragged her closer, until her body was flush with his. His heat enveloped her, so familiar she relaxed.
“I worked for the government, and yes, I studied your kind, but I never tortured and I never killed. I didn’t know you at the time, and I didn’t know what I did would hurt you or someone you loved. I just tried to help my people understand what—”
“Be. Quiet. ” His fangs flashed down at her, but again, he gave her the barest hint of a nod.