A Violet Fire (Vampires in Avignon #1) - Kelsey Quick Page 0,94

out.”

She laughs before rolling her eyes upward, thinking of how to proceed. “Well, you know Master Gemini.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Yes...?”

“The first day we had arrived at the castle, you were summoned, and you had fainted. Remember?”

I nod, smiling as I recall. “And you had stayed by my side, waiting for me to wake up for hours.”

Savvy smiles back. “And in the midst of those hours, Gemini requested something of me...”

She takes a deep breath and bites her lip for a hair too long.

I tilt my head. “Are you not supposed to tell me?”

She nods and glances at me. “You have to swear not to tell anyone. You’re the only one I’m telling. Please?”

A warmth fills my chest at that promise of exclusivity.

“Yes, of course.”

“Especially not Lord Zein.”

“What makes you think I would tell him anything?” I scoff.

She gives me a fresh ‘I’m not stupid’ look, making me wonder if I ever had a secret to begin with.

She continues. “Master Gemini told me that on behalf of Lord Zein, I had an assignment. I would be summoned to talk to him about things rather than summoned to give my blood. At first it was just—”

“Wait what?” I interrupt. “But you were summoned to give your blood at least once, right?”

“No,” she sighs. “I’m sorry. At the time, I needed to lie. It was the only duty I could offer to my new and merciful lord.”

I fight back an eye roll.

But during that synthetics batching, when her wrist sounded…

“But your kortrastet wound?” My voice quivers.

“It was just a bandage,” she admits, “Gemini gave me the ribbon to wear so it seemed authentic.”

I swallow so hard it’s audible.

“So, what things were you summoned to talk about?” I mutter, a bit enraged by her secrecy.

“Life in the seraglio, human nature, the things the girls talk about, and… you.”

My heart seizes.

“Me?”

“Nothing weird just… monitoring. Making sure that you were feeling alright and that you weren’t sick or anything. The whole purpose is to make sure the supply isn’t in jeopardy while Zein is attending to more important matters.”

“That’s weird,” I say. “Zein was the one asking you about them?”

“No, it was Master Gemini. But Lord Zein knew about it.”

“Did you tell him about our conversations?” I add with an accusatory tone.

She shakes her head. “In fact, after about the third time, we stopped talking about that stuff, aside from what was required to fill out his parchment sheets.”

It hits me all of a sudden. What she’s been wanting to tell me.

“Oh.” I straighten in the bath, the water sloshing around us. Her cheeks grow red.

“First it was him talking about his achievements and his family, his duties and such. Then it slowly turned into how he felt about all of them. Then it was my turn, but I didn’t have much of that to talk about.” She laughs, but my mouth falls to a frown. I wonder if she knows how sad that statement actually is. “A couple more sessions like that and then one day, as he was showing me the study, he…”

“He what?” I whisper, dreading the suspense.

“...kissed me,” she says softly. “We both stopped instantly, knowing that what we did was against the law. Especially because I don’t belong to him. He sent me away and didn’t summon me again for weeks.”

The shock swirling through my body could knock down a dozen trees.

“The next time he did, he made sure it was known that he was made to by Zein. That something had happened to you in the seraglio the night before and Zein wanted to know what exactly happened.”

“Oh, when Anaya and Danny attacked me?”

She nods. “He also wanted to tell me that if anyone asked, Madam Seriesa had been relocated to a different province.”

I purse my lips recalling that woman’s bruised face just before she died, and how I’ve been keeping that from Savvy all this time because of my promise to Zein. What that says about my loyalties, I don’t even want to know. Guilt works its way up into my throat.

“Anyway,” she chuckles, “After one too many scowls, I called him out on everything. On how he was the one who kissed me and that it was his fault. He asked me if I knew what would happen if he slipped up and drank my blood. What would happen to both of us.”

“What did you say?” I can barely hear myself speak.

“I told him to just not drink my blood, then. That he should be able to