“You’ve got Cora?” I ask.
“Yes, Master,” she says softly.
I nod, adjusting Grace higher in my arms.
“If we make it back to the manor,” I say, managing a smile. “You’ll never have to call me that again.”
“Thank the heavens,” Beatrice drawls. It’s forced and sad, but it’s a seed of hope all the same. “I’ve always hated it.”
“Let’s go,” I say, rather than reply. “Don’t stop until we reach it.”
Both Beatrice and Cora nod, and then, we run.
29
THAT’S IT, LITTLE WITCH
GRACE
Something is very wrong.
I wake with a strange coldness running through my body. There’s something wrong with my skin, with my insides, with every single piece of me. I blink up at the ceiling of Sebastian’s bedroom.
It takes me nearly five seconds to realize I must be dreaming.
I’m not in the manor. I’m in the witches’ prison. I’m up for slaughter.
I blink again. Snippets of last night filter through my brain, but they’re foggy. The woman interrogating me about my fictitious brother. Sebastian bursting into the prison, demanding to see me. The unexpectedly sour taste of his spit when he kissed me.
Be a good girl.
Venom. He’d spit venom into my mouth, instructed me to swallow. And I—I had done it. I knew what it would do, what it meant, and I still…
It was a dream. It had to be. There’s no way?—
I sit up slowly. My head spins at the movement, and mystomach growls louder than I’ve ever heard it. When I look to the side, I’m surprised to find Sebastian lying next to me. He’sasleep. I’ve never seen him be anything but awake and sharp and scheming.
He looks beautiful like this. Peaceful. Young and innocent.
My stomach growls again, this time accompanied by the inexplicable urge to…
I don’t mean to move. It justhappens.One second, I’m staring lovingly at this monstrous man, and the next, my teeth are in his neck. His blood is cold and oddly reminiscent of room-temperature beer. It’s not the satisfying heat my body craves.
And still, I drink. I gulp his blood into my mouth, as if it’s something I’ve always done. To call it instinct feels wrong, and yet, I’m devouring him in his sleep. I didn’t wonder how to find the vein. I didn’t worry about hurting him. I just lunged and took and drank…
And what the hell am I doing?
I throw myself backward, falling off the bed and crashing onto his hardwood floors. His blood drips down my chin.
“Oh my god,” I say. I’m already on my feet, and though my head should blur from the sudden movement, it doesn’t.
Sebastian is in front of me, awake and seemingly undisturbed by the fact I was justeatinghim.
“It’s okay, Grace,” he says. He strokes the side of my face, too loving, too calm for what I’ve just done.
“I was…I don’t know why I did that,” I say. I take a deep breath, but it doesn’t feel right. It’s as if the air doesn’t reach my lungs, doesn’t fill them like it should.
“Yes, you do,” he says. He’s still touching my face, his expression far more anxious than his words. “You know,Grace. And I’msorry. I didn’t see another option. I was terrified?—”
