“Not quite,” I returned.

“I didn’t kill your little hunter, did I? When I had the chance? Or your friend when she threw a stake at me? I’d say you owe me, pet.”

Ice and fire prickled through me and I was half-surprised steam didn’t vent out of my pores. “What did you do to them?” I asked, just before I kicked him right between the legs.

“You’re the hero of your story,” he insisted, though his voice was choked and his eyes nearly crossed as he grabbed at himself. “And I’m the hero of mine.”

I’d thought he was my friend. He’d kissed me. I’d felt guilty but I’d liked it too. I was every bit as much a traitor to Kieran as Constantine was to me. More.

“You’re not a hero.” I choked.

“Aren’t I? Didn’t I get myself changed into a vampire after Viola died? Didn’t I search the earth for eight centuries, waiting for her to come back? Consulting witches and soothsayers?”

“That’s why you became my friend,” I said angrily.

“I knew she’d come back, eventually. There were rumors of magic, and a dead witch at the castle. And her voice, always her voice. Where better than the precious daughter of the Drakes?” His eyes were practically indigo. They glittered like summer storm clouds jagged with lightning. He grabbed my arm. “There was magic when she died. But she was always stronger than everyone assumed. I knew she’d find me. We swore to find each other no matter what.” He smiled at me tenderly. “Can you hear me, Viola? Come back to me, love. No one can stand between us ever again.”

“Until now.” I jerked out of his grasp. I imagined the pheromones sizzling under my skin, felt them rise off me like steam. “Get away from me, Constantine.”

He just looked at me calmly.

“Did you hear me?” I snapped. I flicked my hands as if that would increase my pheromones. “Back off!”

He didn’t move. First Seki, now Constantine.

“What, are my freaking pheromones broken tonight?” I muttered.

He smiled sadly. “I’m sorry, Solange. I truly am. But I can’t lose her again.” He gripped my shoulders, yanking me up against him. His chest pressed against my thin, bloodstained nightgown. I tried to knee him again but he was ready for me this time. I’d wasted a good tactic by acting out of anger. My dad wouldn’t approve. My mom just would have kicked Constantine so hard the first time he’d have passed out.

“You need to take control back, Viola. Now!”

His mouth covered mine in a searing kiss full of longing and desperation and the kind of heat that burned all thought away. I struggled against him but I was distracted, pulled in two directions. Because the kiss awakened Viola and she clawed at her tethers with increased violence. I fought back frantically. The kiss slid through me like a drug, teasing away the sharp edges, the weight of logic.

A kiss to tell the truth from a lie.

“Constantine.” It was Viola speaking, but I was still me. The juxtaposition made me feel all bleached out inside, like the bones of the dead left in the desert. I was sunlight and brittle ash. A strong wind could blow me away entirely.

“Vi!” Constantine was still kissing me. His hands dug into my hair.

“She’s . . . still fighting me,” Viola said. I felt my larynx moving, felt the vibration of sound in my throat. But I wasn’t the one forming the words.

He pulled back slightly. “Hang on! You need more blood.” He tilted his head suddenly, nostrils flaring. “And I smell someone familiar nearby.”

He tipped my head back, staring into my eyes. “Solange. I can smell your little friend Lucy,” he said darkly. “If you keep fighting us, I’ll have Viola drink her dry.”

Chapter 14

Lucy

“What’s going on?” I asked, following Nicholas up the rope ladder. It swung slowly, spinning me around. My stomach wobbled. He climbed up so quickly the ladder only had time to make one more slow, sick spin before he crawled out the trapdoor and was leaning down to lift me out. Frost crunched under my boots. We were in a part of the forest that was mostly red pine, tall and lonely. It was like walking under giants’ legs.

“Royal guards,” he said. “They’re coming this way and they smell violent.” Nicholas sped up and I had to concentrate on keeping up. My school training and workouts with Hunter must be helping because I didn’t die after the first five minutes.

“We have to get you out of here,” he said urgently. “Whoever is possessing Solange is not exactly a people person, and the royal guards obey her without question.”

“We really need to find out who’s doing this to her.” I panted, my breath forming little white clouds in the frigid air. “So we can drag him or her the hell out of Sol.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Nicholas promised.

“Don’t blow your cover.”

He shot me a smirk over his shoulder. “Duh,” he added, because it was what I usually said to him when he told me to be careful or to stay undercover while he dodged stakes and other pointy things that were bad for his health.

“I don’t like leaving you here.” I squeezed his hand tighter. “Madame Veronique wants to kill Solange. Did you know that?”

He stopped so suddenly I nearly broke my nose on his shoulder. There would have been a certain karmic beauty to it. “Ow.” I rubbed my nose, eyes stinging. Nicholas’s eyes flared like ice. He tilted his head, like a wolf hearing the soft pad of a rabbit’s foot.