Page 44 of Eternally Bound
Declan didn’t look at him as he responded with his usual self-assurance. “I had my suspicions she was up to something.”
Ronan grit his teeth. “Why didn’t you try to stop her, or warn me about what you suspected?”
“It’s not my place to interfere with someone else’s life,” Declan replied. “Nor was it my place to clip her wings; everyone deserves a chance to fly.”
“Declan—”
“It’s too late now, Ronan. She’s here. I thought you would be happy about it.”
“What are you talking about?” Ronan snarled. “Why would I be happy ahunteris still in our house?”
Declan casually swirled the amber liquid in his glass. “If she had told her brother a place to meet her, would you have let her go?”
“Of course.”
Declan gazed at him before taking a sip of his whiskey. “You say that because she is here now, but we both know you’re lying. You would have kept her.”
Ronan was across the room between one heartbeat and the next. Lifting Declan by the throat, Ronan smashed his back against the bar and bent the larger man backward. “I realize that you have your own way of doing things, but this is the first and thelasttime you will go against me in anything, do you understand me?”
Declan lifted his hands in a pacifying gesture. It was the first time Ronan had ever laid a hand on any of his friends in anger, yet Declan didn’t seem surprised. “Yes.”
Ronan released him. Pacing away, he ran his hands through his hair as he tried to understand what had happened. He’d never believed he’d ever attack one of his friends, unless they turned Savage, but there had been a moment when he’d truly contemplated sinking his fangs into Declan’s throat and feasting on him. A good kill would help to calm him.
“It’s time to hunt,” he said and turned away.
“Ronan.” He stopped and looked over his shoulder at Declan. “You may not believe me, but I did not go against you in this. One day I hope you will get the chance to see I did this for you. Killean, Lucien, and Saxon, they haven’t been here long enough to know.”
“To know what?” Ronan demanded.
“That at one time your eyes were entirely brown. That they’ve changed over the centuries.”
It was true. Ronan didn’t just feel the madness creeping over him, hesawit every time he looked in the mirror. “What is your point, Declan?” he bit out.
“We all fight our more malevolent side every day. Because of your lineage, you fight it more than the rest of us. I’ve watched you descend into the darkness more and more over the years, but for one brief second in the alley, when you first held Kadence against you, your eyes were entirely brown again.”
“You’re losing your mind.”
Declan lifted a shoulder and finished off the rest of his whiskey. “I think we all are, but I also think we’re coming to a head with something.”
“With what?”
Declan set the glass on the bar, lifted his bomber jacket, and slid it on. “That I do not know. Now, let’s kill something. It will make us all feel better.”
CHAPTER 21
The grandfather clock in the corner chimed 3:00 a.m. Kadence stared at the creeping hands, the book in her lap all but forgotten. She hadn’t been able to concentrate on anything since Ronan and the others left. Setting the book on the small stand beside the chair she reclined in, she climbed to her feet. Pacing the large room, she scanned the thousands of volumes lining the floor-to-ceiling shelves of the two-story library.
Marta had explained that Ronan and the others had brought the books with them from wherever they’d been before. The older woman had stayed with her for a good hour, pointing out her favorite books while she gave Kadence a tour. Marta exuded enthusiasm and warmth as she shared her love of the books and the vampires in residence. She hadn’t left until Baldric came to retrieve her for help with something.
Normally, being alone in a room such as this would be her idea of heaven. Reading was the way she spent most of her days. It was her only refuge from a life of boredom. Now, she found herself unable to concentrate on the endless spines lining the shelves.
Kadence pulled back the navy blue curtains covering the windows. She peered into the night, barely able to discern the bars on the outside. Releasing the curtain, she strode to the center of the room. She had traded one prison for another, but at least there were no expectations of perfection for her here, no one for her to marry. She may not be free to go outside or travel at will, but she still had more freedom than she’d had before.
She felt liberated. Yet, there was a constricting grip on her chest that she’d never experienced before.
Turning away from the multitude of shelves, she left the library. Baldric was descending the staircase when she walked into the foyer. He smiled at her as he stepped off the last stair and onto the marble. His brown eyes were warm when they met hers.
“Can I get you anything, miss?”
