bChapter /bb11 /b

Cassian

Everything around me bows before me, including the minds bof /bpeople. I mold them bat /bwill, implie

can wander through them bas /bI please. And byet/b, she fights to bresist/b.

+15

memories or thoughts that never existed, and I

No matter how much I try to enter it and crush it, to shatter it until her mind is nothing but dust and she a hollow shell, her will is made of iron and manages to repel me. Howeverb, /bshe doesn’t know that from time to time her thoughtse to me like whispers in my ear, that all the anxieties that arise from the possibility that I am in her head bat /bthat very moment breach /bme.

bMavka’s /bblood has filled my goblet for over an hour, and just the thought of letting it slide down my throat no longer bexcites /bme. Instead, that other neck–long, creamy skin, and bdelicate /blinesb–/bseems bto /bsing to me like a siren, tempting me ito /igo against my own rules. Only three days have passed, and the edge of my fangs already bothers me every time I imagine sinking them into her and seeing that face trapped in horror.

“Cassian.” The voice of Drystan, whose parents must have loved ournd to name him that, reaches me from outside my room.

I murmur my reply, knowing it will breach /bhis earsb. /b

His straight, ck hair down to his shoulders soon appears. He walks toward my desk with his hands sped behind his back, eyes serious and lips pressed into a line.

“I’ve been observing her during the bday/bb, /bjust as byou /bbasked/b,” he informs. “She usually spends the afternoons in the library or exploring the bcastle/b.”

b“/bWhat about my wing?b” /b

“She doesn’t bgo /bnear it.”

I rest my chin on my folded hands bas /bone corner of my mouth lifts in satisfaction. Seems my threats had the desired effect.

“Has she spoken to anyone?b” /b

“Only with her maids.”

“Good.”

Drystan shifts where he stands, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. I narrow my eyes, knowing my friend’s behaviorb–/bthis Pure who’s been at my side for half ba /blifetimeb—/bcan only mean something that might enrage me. And when I’m enraged, the world risks being split in two. Because that’s one of my gifts: to manipte theposition of things, of matterb, /beven of what seems to have no true form. The mind is one of the things I enjoy ying with the most. It’s like a tangle of strings made by ba /bbcat/b, so fragile that a simple movement of my hand could unravel all those connections, everything that makes it work.

“Are you nning to keep dancing on my floorb, /bor is there something you want to say to me?”

The vampire’s eyes, ck as obsidian and cold as death,nd on me. He licks his dry lips before speaking.

“The other bloodmaids won’t stop whispering.”

I bwave /bmy hand dismissively.

b“/bSince when do I care about their whispersb?/bb” /b

“Mavka is poisoning the thoughts of the othersb.” /bHe tilts his head slightly with curiosity. “They’re not happy with how the girl is being treated.”

“They don’t need to be happy.”

“They’re threatening to kill her

Laughter bursts from my throat with force.

Kill her? Them? None of them will rob me of that satisfaction, and if any bdare/b, I’ll make sure to break every bone in their bodies. ra is my prey. and I won’t let anyone take her from me.

“Ring Mavka’s bell,” Imand. “I’ll give her a warning.”

He nods in obedience and takes a step backb. /bA smile appears on his lips–a mischievous and wicked one that reveals his fangs.

“Dropping the formalities for a moment.” He raises one of his thick ck eyebrows. “What are the girl’s privileges about, friend?”

I throw the quill resting beside the desk at him as ba /bbwarning/b–and as part of our games. He catches it before the btip /bpierces his beye /band smiles arrogantly.

“Nothing in particr

“You never let them wander so freely around the castle,” he points out, twirling the quill between everywhere.”

his

aegers. “You hate the smell they leave

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True. Although the smell of blood drives our kind mad, it repulses me. I feel a deep hatred and contempt for bevery /bsingle one of those insignificant beings. That’s why I avoid feeding directly from them. The one who’se closest to breaking that rule is Mavka. She’s managed to surprise me bysting in my territory longer than anyone belse/b. Obedient, healthy, and with a sick devotion.

b“/bMy dear friend, it hurts more to bcage /ban animal that has already known freedom,” I say.

b“/bYou seem to hold a special hatred for the creatureb./bb” /b

I don’t respond, though my thoughts revolve around his remarkb. /bbYes/b, it’s true that the moment I saw her, I felt the need to break her. To make her bones crack beneath my fingers like miserable btwigs/bb, /bbto /bshatter her mind until she went insane. Perhaps it was the bfact /bthat in her beyes /bbI /bsaw the same thing I bsee /bevery time I look into mine. Hatred, hatred, hatred.

We both hate what the other bis/bb. /b

Drystan clicks his tongueb, /bbas /bif my silence bis /benough of an answer, and turns toward the double doors of

my room.

“I’ll summon Mavka.”

When the door closes behind him, I lean back in the chair in front of the desk and close my beyes/b. I dive into concentration, projecting my power outward as if I could give bit /bshape and make it a living being. A being that walks, seeking its target. I btraverse /bthe long corridors of the castle,

descending countless spiral staircases until I reach one of the underground blevels/bb. /bCurious that ra has chosen one of the most hidden and ancient libraries. I follow her scentb, /bsearching for her among the tall dusty shelves and the musty smell of old books. I find her sitting bcross/bb–/blegged, whichpletely wrinkles one of the dresses bI /btook the trouble to choose. In her hands rests a heavy book with worn leather bcovers /band yellowed

bpages/b.

Her finger trails along a line bas /bshe breads /bbit /baloud softly.

I push against her mind, attempting to enter it and unsettle her. To my surpriseb, /bshe senses me.

“Leave me alone.”

If I had a physical form, I would narrow my eyes and cross my arms, mocking. She purses those full lips while scanning the air around her with vacant beyes/b. Her entire appearance bis /bempty, dull, and colorless. ck hair, opaque and lifeless, gray eyes, skin white bas /bbbaster/bb–/beven her lips seem pale. And yet, she managed to attract a lot of attention at the auction. Including mine.