The only good thing about my situation was that I wasn't about to be devoured. The two Shades dispersed into tendrils of smoke leaving me worlds more at ease with only one foe to focus on. Lauvet. She strode by me, casual as ever, and loomed over Lucien's fallen form. "I do love when a plan comes together. You're fast, Vera. Faster than I thought you'd be with your curse."
Try as he might to push himself off the floor, Lucien could barely sit up enough to snarl at Lauvet.
With a mocking laughter, she slapped a hand to his forehead and shoved him down. "It's almost embarrassing to see you like this. Almost."
This woman was the absolute worst. Tucking the dagger under my leg, I swallowed the lump in my throat and managed to squeak out, "What do you want?"
"I heard it was difficult, you know. Bringing a non-vampire entity into the family." Lauvet perched her hands on her hips and gave a terrible cackle. "I hope it feels like you're being ripped apart."
My chest constricted as I squeezed the handle of the dagger as tight as my fingers allowed. "Tell me!"
"Temper, temper, darling. You should enjoy the time you have left."
"You're going to kill me," I said, hating the way my voice shook. "The least you can do is tell me why."
"I suppose that's sensible." Lauvet faced me, the joy in her smile fading until her lips fell into a line. She paced a short distance while spinning a ring on her finger. "Lucien plays the victim well, but he and his ilk have taken much from me. This summer was the final straw. I had to defend what's mine, you understand? You're merely a casualty in this feud between us."
What sort of feud required marriage as a form of strategy?
"I made a plan, but there was no guarantee he would marry anyone. Then he met you. I was there. Watching him watch you. Can't help himself, you know? He likes broken things. Broken people." Lauvet breathed a mirthless laugh. "He chose you, darling, not me."
"Why? What do you gain?"
"What do I gain?" Lauvet said, turning her face toward Lucien. All was quiet for a long, suffering moment before she hummed. "Everything. All that is his will be mine, all that he loves will be at my mercy, and he will finally know what it means to suffer."
Anger boiled within me, spinning away with a heat that stretched over my skin. That's what I was being killed for? Property? Revenge? Stupid. I bit back a needless comment and nodded. "Do your worst then."
"I admire your bravery. Your battle is over." Lauvet kneeled before me and cupped my cheeks in her hands. She muttered an incantation so quietly that, even as close as she was, I couldn't make out the words. I flinched as her thumbs slid over my eyes.
A moment of quiet came and went with a hissed, "No." Lauvet lifted my eye lids. "No!"
I leaned my head back and blinked as she stalked away from me.
"It was her, wasn't it?" Lauvet shrieked. "I knew it was too easy. I knew it!"
The situation wasn't funny at all but for some reason, a dry laughter bubbled free.
"I guess you really can't control me."
Lauvet crouched before me in the blink of an eye. Her hand took my neck like she couldn't decide if she wanted to break it or strangle the life out of me. The red eyes that bore into mine promised death and I feared she might really kill me then and there if I didn't act.
Sliding the dagger free, I stabbed at Lauvet's throat despite the awkward angle. It was enough to cut and enough that she jumped away with a hand at the wound. A faint, green glow spread around her fingers and didn't vanish until her hand fell away. Her skin was unmarred. The only proof that there had been a cut at all was the smear of blood that wet her flesh and stained her white robe.
It was too bad. I had hopes that she would die.
Instead of lashing out, as I expected, Lauvet wiped her hands on her robe. "Your headmistress may have beaten me to the needles, but I will get what want." She pointed at me. "Next we meet, you'll wish you hadn't done that."
And then she was gone.
My hands trembled as I massaged the marks in my throat from where her nails had dug. I turned to Lucien. Rage, despair, and self-loathing pooled in my gut. All of it would have to wait until I was sure neither of us was at risk of death, though. Crawling closer, I gripped his shoulders.
"Sir? Should I get help?"
Lucien's eyes cracked open and he dipped his chin ever so slightly. "Forgive me. I did not anticipate the strain. I will be all right in a moment."
Hot tears burst free and rolled down my cheeks. Despite every ounce of logic that told me to leave, I dropped my face against his torso and wept. The weight of his hand pressed against the back of my head, and his fingers twisted in my ponytail, but he didn't speak.
Neither of us did. I wasn't sure how long we sat in shared-misery before a clamor of steps on the tattered door interrupted it.
Trembling, I sat up and rubbed the tears from my eyes.
It was Killian Rhodes. He approached, face blanching as he kneeled between us. He wrenched Lucien's hand away from my hair and frowned at the rune upon his skin.
"He married you?"
Goddess, I hated the way that made my stomach twist. Licking my lips and glaring at the floor, I nodded.
"Well, he'll be fine." Killian tossed Lucien's hand away like a dirty piece of garbage. "What of you? Are you hurt?"
I shook my head. Somehow, I made it through the evening without a single broken bone. It did come as a surprise that Lauvet failed to grant me a parting gift of some kind, especially after I cut her throat. But I would hazard a guess that I hadn't cut it very deep.
"Vera," Killian said, reaching for me without touching. Very considerate of him, all things considered. "It's going to be all right. Come with me and I'll take you to the infirmary."
Between the two of them, I couldn't decide who I disliked more at the moment. I didn't want to be alone with Killian, but I didn't want to be around Lucien at all.
There was no time to give an answer, however, as backup thundered in. Tedric Halsey appeared with Christine Waters, both of them searching the room. Christine looked on with a poorly-concealed grimace that implied she understood what the ward was. It was Tedric I worried about.
"I've been alerted to the disturbance," Tedric said distractedly. His gaze shifted between me, Lucien, and the ward on the ground before his jaw tightened. His icy stare went right to Lucien. "What is this? What happened?"
"Lauvet. I . . . she, in the library. Told me to run." I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand as they got leaky again and cleared my throat. "She sent Shades after me and when I got here, Lucien said we'd have to . . . we'd have to—"
"Stop," Killian said bitterly, his lips curled in distaste. "He married her to him!"
Tedric didn't respond and he didn't look away.
"Not to be insensitive," Christine started as she crossed her arms, "but how did she get inside without triggering the wards?"
That was a good question. In all the chaos, I hadn't even thought about it.
Groaning, Lucien forced himself into a seated position. "Search for a counter-trigger in the wards. It was an oversight we failed to check."
With his gaze unmoving, Tedric gestured behind him. "Killian, acquire our ward specialists and have them investigate. Christine, please take Vera to her dorm. I must speak with Lucien."
"Come on, Honey." Christine beckoned me forward.
"I'll walk," I said, standing on wobbly legs. I couldn't bring myself to look at any of them for fear that I may start crying again. "I don't think she's coming back tonight."
"Vera."
It was Lucien. I hesitated before meeting his pained stare.
"Allow her to take you back."
Without warning, Christine wrapped her arms around my shoulders. The room twisted about, growing long and curved. The dorm hallway. I supposed she wouldn't know which was mine. I waved my door open as I neared and entered.
Christine caught the door before it could shut, her icy eyes like diamonds in the light. "This isn't the end of the world."
Easy for her to say. Too angry to speak, I nodded and flagged my hand in a wave.
It might not be the end of the world, but it was damn close enough.
The world was dark and cold, and the air was heavy with moisture. Green pines rose into a thundering sky, circling with a wind that howled with hurt. The rain that struck me was razor sharp and froze me to the bone, but it didn't hurt enough to be real. My skin tingled with a numb cold as the earthy fog drifted around me. Moving forward on bare feet, I squished through mud and pine needles.
I knew it was a dream. I could just tell. But even then, my heart raced from knowing what was coming.
My hair floated off my shoulders before lightning struck the ground at my feet. The ozone filled my lungs as I gasped for breath and fell backwards into mud. Then I sank. Deep. It consumed me, turning to liquid. To blood. I clawed for the surface, forcing myself to the edge of the pool, and grabbed a hold of something to drag myself free.
Finally, on ground again, I breathed.
Then something tickled the back of my neck.
My breath caught in my throat. I lifted my stare to my hands to see a pair of bony ankles. Rolling to sit, I pulled my hands in and craned my head back.
A ghoulish face hung over me with a curtain of stringy, black hair that fell from her shoulders to encase us. She was so close I could see everything. Every freckle. Every pore. Every whisker on her chin. Moldy breath fanned over my cheeks as her mouth spread into a manic grin. A cruel laughter bellowed around us.
My scream was cut short as she gripped my throat and yanked me off the ground, holding me high with no effort at all. I clawed at the hand, crying as my scar burned beneath her iron grip.
Blood gushed from a thin string on her neck, dripping down her front in darkness.
Her scream echoed in my ears, "Live like the twig broken by wind; weak, never whole, 'til the day you grow old."
Tossed away like a rag doll, I slammed into the red pool and sank, my arms too heavy to lift.
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