Chapter 2

Valerius spun around. His lethal glare melted the second he saw her. "Sera? What are you doing in here?"

He rushed to her side, gripping the wheelchair handles. "The room is full of sterilized silver. You could trigger a toxic reaction."

I had seen her pictures in his hidden folders. The innocent Pureblood princess. But looking at her now, she appeared far healthier than I did. Her cheeks held a rosy flush of life.

Seraphina offered a frail, practiced smile. She reached out a delicate hand toward me. "I just wanted to see my sister."

She wheeled closer and grabbed my fingers. "My body is failing, Elara," she whispered. Fake tears pooled in her wide eyes. "I want to give Val strong heirs. Since your Core is already unstable... let me borrow it. You can't use it anyway."

I caught a sudden whiff of her wrist. Tom Ford. Black Orchid. The exact three-hundred-dollar perfume Valerius bought last Tuesday using my credit card.

My medical training kicked in. I flipped her wrist and pressed my thumb hard against her radial artery. Her pulse was strong. Rhythmic. Thumping with absolute vitality. Her skin radiated natural body heat. The Silver Blight turns a vampire’s blood to freezing sludge.

She wasn't sick. She was perfectly healthy.

"You're faking it," I snarled. "Get away! Don't touch me!"

I shoved her arm.

Seraphina threw her weight backward. She tumbled out of the wheelchair, hitting the floor with a theatrical shriek.

Valerius moved faster than human eyes could track. He scooped Seraphina into his arms. Then he pivoted and backhanded me across the face.

The brutal impact threw me back against the metal headboard. Pain exploded in my chest. The freshly severed Sire Bond tore open all over again, a jagged magical wound bleeding out my sanity. Black spots swarmed my vision. I choked on my own spit, tasting copper.

"You feral beast!" Valerius roared. "She is dying, and you attack her?"

"Check her pulse!" I screamed, wiping the blood off my chin. "She doesn't have the Blight!"

Valerius didn't even look. He pulled Seraphina tighter against his chest. She buried her flawless face into his expensive lapel, her shoulders shaking with fake sobs.

"She hates me, Val," Seraphina whimpered. "Because I'm the one you're taking to the Blood Moon Ceremony. And she's just your blood bag."

Valerius stroked her hair. "Don't call her that. She's a supplier. Nothing more."

I stared at them. The sheer, suffocating audacity choked the breath out of me.

Valerius pulled his phone from his pocket. He tapped the screen and put it on speaker. The dial tone echoed in the sterile room. A man answered.

"Underground Ward," the shelter administrator said.

"Cut Leo's synthetic blood supply," Valerius ordered. "Shut off the UV shields for thirty minutes."

My heart stopped.

"My Lord," the admin stammered. "The boy is critical. Thirty minutes of deprivation will kill him."

"I am his legal guardian. Do it."

Valerius ended the call.

Silence stretched for ten agonizing seconds. Then, echoing down the long, sterile corridor outside my door, a high-pitched alarm started shrieking. The frantic beep of a life-support monitor crashing.

Leo.

My rage evaporated. Blind, suffocating panic dragged me down. I scrambled off the bed. My knees slammed into the freezing floor tiles. The torn bond in my chest screamed in protest, but I crawled toward Valerius and grabbed his polished leather shoes.

"Stop!" I sobbed, tears blurring my vision. "Turn it back on! Please!"

He looked down at me. A god staring at a roach.

"I'll sign it!" I screamed over the wailing alarm down the hall. "Take the Core! Take whatever you want! Just save him!"

Valerius pulled his phone back out. He typed a single text. Five seconds later, the shrieking alarm down the hall sputtered and died, replaced by the steady, rhythmic hiss of a ventilator.

My forehead dropped to the floor. I gasped for air, trembling violently.

Valerius crouched. He grabbed my chin, forcing my face up, and mockingly patted my wet cheek. "Be in the operating room at eight tomorrow morning." He stood up and wiped his hand on a sterile towel. "And wash yourself. I despise dirty things."

Behind his shoulder, Seraphina looked down at me. She smiled, her eyes glittering with absolute malice, and mouthed two words: Thank you, sister.

Valerius wheeled her out. The heavy steel door slammed shut. The magnetic lock clicked into place.

I sat alone on the floor. Total darkness swallowed the room. The cold seeped through my thin hospital gown, freezing my skin.

Down the hall, I heard the faint, mechanical breathing of my brother's life support.

I pressed my hand against the center of my chest, right over my dying Core. The burning pain of the severed bond faded, replaced by an absolute, terrifying numbness.

In that moment, the Elara inside me died.