Page 53 of Bloodgrove

Will and Elodie shared a quiet, mischievous laugh as they both straightened their clothes. He handed her a handkerchief from the drawer and used another to wipe his fingers.

“I believe I have worked out what the punishment was.” Elodie sighed and pulled a chair toward the desk. “But there is something else I need to tell you as a friend and not your employer.”

“Friend?”

Elodie shrugged. “Well, I didn’t hire you to put two fingers up my ass…”

Will burst into laughter—something he could not remember doing in a very long time. It rushed through him like spring sunlight, and soon Elodie joined in. The moment felt almost as intimate as stolen kisses in the dark or a bittersweet punishment over a desk.

“You are an exceptionally unusual woman,” he said at last.

“I do my best.” Elodie tucked a loose strand behind her ear, but her expression suddenly collapsed. Her brows drew together, forming small creases between them. “Considering our situation, I believe it necessary to inform you personally…”

Will waited while Elodie kneaded her fingers in her lap and looked away. His head was still too intoxicated to jump to conclusions. Only a shapeless dread grew in his stomach.

Elodie sighed, squared her shoulders, and laid her hands flat on her skirts. “I am engaged. I will be married on New Year’s Eve.”

Will opened his mouth to speak, but his thoughts tumbled over one another, tying together every loose thread in the hope that the full picture would finally emerge before him. It did not. “So you were speaking of a real man—a real prospect—when you said your future husband would have no interest in your pleasure or your love.”

“Yes. But I have known that since childhood. I am a duke’s daughter. I have to marry.”

A headache gathered behind his brow, and the tumor of dread in his stomach swelled. Will rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying to push the pain away. “And the examination… That woman is your future mother-in-law.” He shuddered.

“You have already met my husband at the ball—Duke Wilkinson.”

The image of the dark-skinned gentleman with the pointed beard and well-tailored suit returned to him, and he nodded. The man had seemed pleasant enough, but the face someone presented in public rarely resembled the one revealed behind closed doors. And if he was anything like his mother, Will preferred not to imagine Elodie living at his side.

“Why?” he asked faintly.

“Why not?”

“Why this?” Will gestured vaguely toward his desk and the crumpled plans. “Why play with me? Why allow this to happen? Why come here and remain silent about your engagement? Why tell me only now, now that you are satisfied, now that you’ve gotten everything you wanted?” He realized too late that his voice had risen.

As expected, Elodie raised her chin. “Our behavior is dishonorable whether I am engaged or still searching for a husband.”

Will shook his head. “I am a toy for both of you, and I keep forgetting it.”

“Both of us?”

“Have you told Mr. Arcos yet?”

With a snort, Elodie rose. “What does he have to do with this? No. He will learn with everyone else tomorrow at the full-moon ball.”

“Gods, you’re cruel.”

“You act so innocent, as though you know nothing, as though I am forcing you⁠—”

“I do know nothing!” Will was on his feet now too, his fists braced against the desk. “All I know is that everything here has something to do with the Red Hand, but I do not understand why you are willing to sacrifice yourself and everyone around you.”

Elodie stepped to the desk and glared at him across the wood. “Of course you do not understand! You are not from here. You do not know what it is like to be trapped on this scrap of earth, cursed and tormented, knowing you will never grow old, that you and your children and your children’s children are condemned to become vampire food, vampires themselves, or victims of the endless power struggle. Survival—that is the game we play here.” Elodie regained control and straightened. “But you, from your golden city, cannot understand that. You do not have to fight for the hope of someday being free. For someone to lift the yoke from your city.

“If I do not do it, no one will. All these men want nothing to change. They do not want to lift the curse, fight the vampires, or reestablish contact with the outside world. Because if the borders open, they will finally be confronted with how small and insignificant they truly are. So you see, Mr. Frank, there is no one but me. And I’m willing to give everything—and I mean everything—to free this city, even if I must surrender my house, my family, my friends, my body, and everything I hold sacred.”

Will was about to speak, but she raised a hand. “Do not mistake me for some innocent sacrificial lamb, a martyr surrendering her pure soul for her people. I was born for this role and forged in blood so that I would be strong enough. There was never a crumb of innocence in me to be destroyed.”

Her words faded into the silence of the room, accompanied by the drumming rain. Slowly, Will straightened fully, and the distance between them yawned wide. “Then am I the sacrificial lamb?”

Elodie pressed her lips together. “On your first night here, I asked whether you were prepared to help me usher in a new age. Whether you were willing to give everything for it. Have you changed your mind?”