A Violet Fire (Vampires in Avignon #1) - Kelsey Quick Page 0,39

overrun by extremes.

“Calling me ‘master’ in the snarkiest way possible doesn’t accomplish what you intend to accomplish, Dimwit.” He sighs, rubbing his temples.

A chuckle snakes its way into my throat. I’m wearing on him.

“No, it does,” I assure. “Am I too much of a handful for you? Do you need to pass me off to someone else?”

His dull, hazel eyes sweep over to me, taking me in with a smirk so cruel that I would never have guessed it belonging to Gemini. He crosses his fingers, and his expression strikes fear into my chest.

“All you see is what I want you to see, darling. It is you who would benefit from other company.”

The turn in conversation freezes me up, a raspberry that was halfway to my gaping mouth fumbles in between my fingertips as I picture every terror that his words could possibly allude.

He laughs a guttural, stomach-turning laugh.

“Nothing is ever fun and games,” he says. “Take what you are given with gratefulness. It is my job to make you feel comfortable here, you know, for heightened blood quality and all that.”

I glower at him, realization slapping me in the face. I didn’t notice how comfortable I had already become with Gemini’s happy-sarcastic nature, and how I never once considered it could all be a show. He reads my face and puts his hands on his hips.

“Oh, come now. I can’t let you have the upper hand all the time.” He winks at me, and suddenly I’m more confused than before. He either speaks sarcasm with much more grace and fluency, or he’s playing me in the palm of his hand. Either way, I’m jealous of the skill.

Gemini struts down the hallway. “Come on, Dimwit. I have to get you back to the seraglio. I’ve got other issues to deal with besides the likes of you.”

I stand dumbfounded for a moment and follow. The first obstacle are the stairs, of which I do my best to descend while inhaling the gold mine of blueberries stuck at the bottom of the fruit pack. We walk in such an awkward silence—well, awkward for me—because I can’t shake this sudden feeling of conflict—one that I never thought I would have. Gemini challenging my trust in his personality made me realize that I actually put trust in it. That I felt a level of comfort around him, and still kind of do.

Why?

I curse myself underneath my breath. Maybe I don’t hate all vampires. Individually, anyway. I despise the ones that attack and degrade humans, ones motivated by greed and malice—perhaps that is most of them, or even all of them. But really, my first impressions of Gemini, Ceti, and even the castle nurse aren’t all that bad. And if I were to pick at straws, Zein catching me earlier... well, that was almost an amiable act, even though the wounds on my neck beg to differ.

I don’t know. The atmosphere feels different here, and I’m not sure if it is the castle or if it is me. It seems different from what I have always assumed, different than what I imagined when glaring at the professors and faculty from across the room back at the school.

Was everything less dramatic than what I thought?

I look down, studying my juice-stained hand and I frown. Despite the disapproval of every bone in my body, my all-consuming hatred of vampires isn’t amounting to a force all-too-consuming.

Why is that?

I think of the doctor back in the Selection Hall. About the water and the blood. Maybe vampires are like us humans, trying to secure their finite resources. I look ahead to Gemini, who seems to be happily humming to himself.

Then again, maybe they are only showing me what they want me to see.

chapter 9

The purple, hazy light from before—the one that led to the library—I see it again en route to the seraglio. I clam up, knowing that Gemini would also notice it. He’s a vampire after all, with stronger senses in every category. But even as we approach the fork, he keeps his eyes fixed ever left. While choking down my surprise, I wonder yet again if I’m crazy… but my curiosity is on fire. If I were to go back, would the library room be there? Was any of it even real?

It doesn’t matter. It would be nice to get lost in something, especially now that I have to face the inevitable problems that come with dozens of other human women cramped up and pining over the same