“No chance of that,” I assure him with a tone that I hope conveys how obvious it is. I gather my height. Which isn’t much. I’m somewhat stocky in stature and the muscles the forge has hammered into me emphasize the physique. “But what about you? Will it be uncomfortable to have a human in your midst?”
He doesn’t back away; instead, he puffs his chest slightly. “You could never do anything that would make me uncomfortable.”
“Is that a challenge?” My lips split as I bare my teeth at him, trying to speak to him in a language he understands—threats. He mirrors the expression. His fangs are easily far more fearsome to behold.
“By all means,” he invites, holding out his arms. “Make me uncomfortable. I welcome you.” He takes a half step forward. I blink quickly and lean away. I didn’t expect him to actually… He laughs. At me. “I didn’t think so.”
I attempt to salvage my composure. “I’ve no interest in playing games. I’m here to kill.”
“Good.” Ruvan dips his chin slightly. A shadow falls over his eyes and his expression darkens, growing in intensity. We’re a breath from each other. He’s so close that I can see the streaks of gold so bright they’re nearly platinum, star-bursting around the black of his irises. He’s close enough that I could reach up and strangle him. But the mere thought sets my hands to shaking. “I know you will spend every day of this arrangement plotting my death.” His words are slow. Voice low with what sounds like an earth-shattering sorrow, so deep it rumbles my ribs. “Recognize I made this vow with you, knowing the dangers, knowing what you are—that I will hold the leash of a very dangerous creature, one that will bite my throat the first moment I slip.”
What I am... A very dangerous creature, he says, as if I’m the monster here. “I have already beheld your true form. I know the monster you are as well, vampire.”
He scoffs and pulls away. The tension that ignites the air between us is alleviated some. Though the promise of death is still whispered, just waiting for one of us to make good on it.
“What I am…” the vampire lord murmurs, stalking over to the wall. He grabs a blanket that has been thrown over a frame, yanking it to reveal a mirror. The beautiful lie that is his face stares back at him, myself in the background.
My gaze shifts.
I am once more the woman I’ve always known. My skin is back to its naturally tawny hue. There are no dark, angry veins writhing underneath its surface. No flush or pallor to my cheeks. However, I notice a marking in black at the base of my throat, in the hollow between my collarbones. It’s a diamond shape with a long, slender teardrop underneath it. What looks like two stylized bat wings gracefully arc around either side. I touch it lightly.
“It’s my mark.” He approaches, staring thoughtfully at it. “A signature of my blood, of my magic. It signifies that you are bound to me.”
I inhale slowly, watching as the muscles of my neck strain against the marking. It moves with my skin as though it has been tattooed there. He chuckles.
“Don’t fret. Once our deal has concluded and the vow has been upheld, it will fade from you.”
“Good.” I lower my hand and frown up at him.
He leans forward, nose almost touching mine. “Fear not, the loathing of wearing the other’s mark is mutual.” He reaches for his collar, unfastening the top button deftly, even one-handed. My eyes are drawn instantly to the motion, and a flush rises toward my cheeks despite myself. My fascination with a man undressing is instantly quenched as he yanks the shirt aside, revealing a diamond outline with a smaller diamond in its center. Two sickle shapes envelop it from either side, hooklike points jutting off their ends.
“What is that?”
“Your mark.”
Mine… “But I am not a vampire.”
“Vampir,” he corrects pointlessly. I will never make the adjustment, especially not on his behalf. “And I did not say they were a mark of the vampir, but a signature of an individual’s blood. Your blood holds the power of your life itself, made richer by every experience you’ve ever or will ever carry with you. No two marks are alike.”
That is my mark, I think as he leans away. My eyes are affixed to it even as he buttons his shirt once more, re-situating it. I am in the world of the vampire. I have sworn a blood oath with the vampire lord. But what finally shakes my core is this:
My blood.
My very human blood.
Has magic.
“There’s magic in me?” I whisper. I hadn’t intended the thought to escape.
He turns, a crescent brow rising. “Of course there is. Others might have assumed humans to be completely non-magical, but the vampir knew the truth of it: Everyone has power, if they claim it.”
Power is made, not born, that’s what Drew told me long ago when I asked him why Davos had chosen him to take on as a special student. Anyone could be made powerful. All it took was hard work and guidance. That was why Drew sneaked back to me, almost every night. We are twins, he would say. If I can become strong, so can you. Together, we became more than what we were—than what we ever thought we would be. I wonder if Davos knew that he was really training us both. Likely not. If he had, he never would’ve continued teaching Drew.
I cross toward my reflection. The vampire lord continues to watch me as I gently rub at the mark on my neck. His expression remains guarded and impossible to read. I’ve no idea how I, a humble forge maiden, have ended up here, marked by a vampire lord and wearing the guise of a hunter. I still have my black eyes and dark hair, the familiar scars and burns up my arms, on my right cheek from a forge accident when I was twelve, but I hardly recognize myself otherwise.
“Do you want to harness it?” He jars me from my thoughts.
“Harness what?”
