Cursed to the Bone

29. What it means to suffer...

The only good thing about my situation was that I wasn't about to be devoured. The two Shades dispersed into tendrils of smoke leaving me worlds more at ease with only one foe to focus on. Lauvet. She strode by me, casual as ever, and loomed over Lucien's fallen form. "I do love when a plan comes together. You're fast, Vera. Faster than I thought you'd be with your curse."

Try as he might to push himself off the floor, Lucien could barely sit up enough to snarl at Lauvet.

With a mocking laughter, she slapped a hand to his forehead and shoved him down. "It's almost embarrassing to see you like this. Almost."

This woman was the absolute worst. Tucking the dagger under my leg, I swallowed the lump in my throat and managed to squeak out, "What do you want?"

"I heard it was difficult, you know. Bringing a non-vampire entity into the family." Lauvet perched her hands on her hips and gave a terrible cackle. "I hope it feels like you're being ripped apart."

My chest constricted as I squeezed the handle of the dagger as tight as my fingers allowed. "Tell me!"

"Temper, temper, darling. You should enjoy the time you have left."

"You're going to kill me," I said, hating the way my voice shook. "The least you can do is tell me why."

"I suppose that's sensible." Lauvet faced me, the joy in her smile fading until her lips fell into a line. She paced a short distance while spinning a ring on her finger. "Lucien plays the victim well, but he and his ilk have taken much from me. This summer was the final straw. I had to defend what's mine, you understand? You're merely a casualty in this feud between us."

What sort of feud required marriage as a form of strategy?

"I made a plan, but there was no guarantee he would marry anyone. Then he met you. I was there. Watching him watch you. Can't help himself, you know? He likes broken things. Broken people." Lauvet breathed a mirthless laugh. "He chose you, darling, not me."

"Why? What do you gain?"

"What do I gain?" Lauvet said, turning her face toward Lucien. All was quiet for a long, suffering moment before she hummed. "Everything. All that is his will be mine, all that he loves will be at my mercy, and he will finally know what it means to suffer."

Anger boiled within me, spinning away with a heat that stretched over my skin. That's what I was being killed for? Property? Revenge? Stupid. I bit back a needless comment and nodded. "Do your worst then."

"I admire your bravery. Your battle is over." Lauvet kneeled before me and cupped my cheeks in her hands. She muttered an incantation so quietly that, even as close as she was, I couldn't make out the words. I flinched as her thumbs slid over my eyes.

A moment of quiet came and went with a hissed, "No." Lauvet lifted my eye lids. "No!"

I leaned my head back and blinked as she stalked away from me.

"It was her, wasn't it?" Lauvet shrieked. "I knew it was too easy. I knew it!"

The situation wasn't funny at all but for some reason, a dry laughter bubbled free.

"I guess you really can't control me."

Lauvet crouched before me in the blink of an eye. Her hand took my neck like she couldn't decide if she wanted to break it or strangle the life out of me. The red eyes that bore into mine promised death and I feared she might really kill me then and there if I didn't act.

Sliding the dagger free, I stabbed at Lauvet's throat despite the awkward angle. It was enough to cut and enough that she jumped away with a hand at the wound. A faint, green glow spread around her fingers and didn't vanish until her hand fell away. Her skin was unmarred. The only proof that there had been a cut at all was the smear of blood that wet her flesh and stained her white robe.