A Violet Fire (Vampires in Avignon #1) - Kelsey Quick Page 0,69
Zein?” I slowly pass through the doors to his room and the blue lanterns flicker on. I see him at the window sill, staring out into the night. His arms are crossed, and his expression... not ideal. Nervously, I tiptoe the rest of the way in, dreading the atmosphere that only thickens the farther I get.
What can he be thinking?
After what happened between us, and summoning me so close after Savvy… I’m almost scared to imagine. Zein turns to look at me and I freeze.
“Sit,” he says.
I scout the nearest chair or ottoman and settle for a raised footrest a few feet away from a perfectly capable sofa. I squeeze my knees together and try to silence my shivering hands as he lifts a bottle from the window sill, pouring its contents into an intricately-carved goblet of glass. The label on the container reads ‘Absinthe’ and is already halfway gone. Zein resets the bottle and strides toward me. His black and layered leather robes—sashed loosely around his hips—drag behind him from his elegant stride. Chains, with Cain’s pyramid symbols dangling, hang off the shoulders. My eyes naturally trail upward from his long legs, to his broad shoulders, to his face. When I catch the sheen of his lips I throw my head down—the memory of how close his was to mine sends the memories from last night to the forefront. Angering me, and yet…
I watch his feet as they pass, only stopping once they arrive and kick back on the adjacent sofa. I dare not meet his gaze, and he seems to notice.
“Did I frighten you so much that you won’t even look at me now?” he asks, taking a drink.
No. I just don’t want to piss you off any more. Like you can scare me… ha.
My internal monologue continues to half lie to itself as I raise my eyes hesitantly up to his. To my surprise, he’s wearing a face of concern. As quick as I note the expression, it fades.
“That’s better.”
The room falls silent for as long as I can bear.
“If I may ask,” I break it with polite bitterness. “Why did you summon me here?”
“To reach an understanding.” He sighs, taking another drink. “One that would make both of our lives easier. And yours, hopefully better.”
The only thing that would make my life better is if he stopped with this hot-then-cold business. Oh, and maybe if he released me from enslavement.
“Yes?”
He takes another moment to shift his weight on the furniture. “You might be interested to know that I find the owning of so many supply units to be unnecessary.”
He’s right, I am pretty interested in knowing that. I blink away the surprise.
“I have as many as I do for the sake of politics alone. If I don’t invest a certain amount at Saya, it looks as if I care nothing for the blood shortage in our country.”
Like that makes it any better. I roll my eyes.
“As you probably know from your unsupported form of learning… Saya cultivates humans who are naturally docile and easy to mold. They raise them to value trivial things, to care about vanity for the sake of pleasing their investors, as if any of it truly matters.”
I grind my teeth just thinking about it—the brainwashing techniques, the gene melding, a way to guarantee beauty and refined blood quality. It’s everything wrong with how the vampire race operates.
Zein continues. “The supply units I never truly wanted stand before me year after year at the Distribution. And while others in my position would just donate them to the fallen reserves or to the fleas on the street, I know my castle has the ability to host a better life. So, I take that route instead.”
My body expels the building tension with wondrous ease. So, Zein isn’t like the rest of them? It makes sense, seeing how different Giomar’s supply unit was compared to the supply units here—to me.
“You see, all the traits that Saya guarantees, I find excruciatingly dull.” He pauses and we reconnect our gaze. “You, however, employ the exact opposite of all those traits. Defiant. Impulsive. Ungrateful, maybe. But yet you are exotic, smart, and you have a mind of your own.”
My eyes widen a little.
What is he—
“I have found, over the last few weeks that I am quite drawn in by your unpredictable personality. I wondered—after I found you all those years ago—how different you would be from the others.”
Tingles fly up my spine at the insinuation. I inhale sharply through