Okay, maybe it wouldn’t be that dramatic. But it was foolish of me to think that I could deny the bond created by the blood tie, or my feelings for Nathan that had existed long before our tie was created.

“Nathan,” I said softly through my tears. “Nathan, I—”

“Please, don’t say it.” His words might have hurt me had I not felt the meaning behind them.

Please, don’t say it, or I won’t be able to deny that I feel it. And I’m too afraid to let myself feel it.

“I won’t,” I promised.

He laced his fingers with mine and raised my hand to his lips. “Thank you.”

But when he fell asleep, I kissed him and whispered, “I love you, Nathan.”

Or Nolen. Or whatever. Even if I never get to find out who you are, I love you.

Minutes after sunset, I slipped from his arms and dressed quietly. I didn’t leave a note because I had no idea what I planned to do.

Only one thing was certain: by sunrise, either Cyrus would be dead, or I would be.

Twenty-Three

Welcome Home

My vampire heart beat loud in my chest as I approached Cyrus’s mansion. The windows were dark, and for a wild, panicked moment, I thought I’d missed my chance. Cyrus had moved on, my heart tucked away in some box that was hopefully marked Fragile.

Then I saw a gentle glow in the huge, floor-to-ceiling windows of his study, and my heart sank further. Nothing would take this confrontation from me. It was time.

While charging through the front gate would have probably been the brave thing to do, I’d never prided myself on being exceptionally brave. It also didn’t seem like a good idea to walk, barely armed, up to the gates of a heavily guarded castle and politely ask to be let in.

I patted my hip pocket, where I’d concealed a stake beneath the hem of my shirt. I didn’t even know if I had the physical power to use one against another vampire, especially Cyrus, but at least I’d have something to jab into one of the guards if they got too close.

I followed the sidewalk around the end of the block. The entrance to the guardhouse was so far from the main gate that someone would naturally assume they were two separate residences. I passed the gate where Nathan and I had shared our secret meetings to plot Ziggy’s escape, and I thought of Nathan, still asleep in his bed.

It seemed like all I had to do was walk into my room and Ziggy would be there, just like all those weeks ago. I glanced up the lawn. The lights were on in my old room. I felt an unexpected pang of jealousy at the thought I’d been replaced.

A thin figure picked his way gingerly down the lawn, toward the hedge maze. I recognized that profile.

“Clarence?” I called out. My voice echoed back at me in the cool air, and I gasped.