“I don’t need to explain myself to you or anyone else.”

This approach wasn’t working. He got up and walked to her, stopping a couple yards away. Like her glow, her scent had changed as well. It was deeper and sharper, but just as seductive. The perfume wrapped around him, teasing him with the promise of blood. Blood he could taste by memory. Blood the voices howled for. “I know you’re angry. What I don’t get is why.”

She barked out a short laugh and, at last, faced him. “Are you kidding? Velimai told me what you and Creek did to me.” She grabbed the back of the nearest chair as she approached. Using the chair for support, she stabbed her cane into his chest. “You put your blood into me.”

“I saved your life.” This attitude from her, this sharp tongue and verbal biting, wasn’t something he was entirely used to, but he understood she had a right to be angry after what Rennata did to her. He just hadn’t expected it to be aimed at him. Get used to it.

“You had no right to defile me that way. It wasn’t your place.”

“Defile? Is that what I did to you?” He knocked the cane away. “You would have died.”

“I doubt that. The comarré ability to heal is more than sufficient.”

He wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake some sense into her. Do it. Bite her. Drain her. “Your signum had been stripped off your back in two bloody filets. By Rennata. You were bleeding out faster than any of us knew how to deal with. And then there’s that whole thing where you’re not comarré anymore.”

Her clear, blue gaze pierced him. “Not with your blood in me.” She pulled herself up a little taller. “I may be disavowed, but I am as much comarré as you are vampire. If you’ve ruined things for me, I will kill you myself.”

“Ruined what things? Is this some fever madness?” Maybe he should call Velimai, get Chrysabelle back to bed.

“I have to go back to the Aurelian.”

“Yes on the fever, then. Why would you go back to her? She’s the reason you almost died.”

“No.” She walked around him and took a seat on the edge of a chaise, resting the cane beneath the folds of her flowing white robe. “You and Creek are. Following me to the Aurelian was what got me disavowed. Now I have to find a way back to her to ask who my brother is.”

“Following you was an accident. You know that. And we’ll find your brother together. Creek isn’t without skills. Dominic might know someone to talk to as well. The man’s better connected than anyone I know. You can’t go back to her. It’s too dangerous.” Not as dangerous as you.

“There you go again, telling me what to do.” She shook her head and looked away but not before the reading lamp caught the glitter of angry tears in her eyes. “I hate this life. Always on guard, always waiting for the next attack. It’s no way to live. I’m done with it. Done waiting for Tatiana to show up again. I’m taking control and doing things my way, and you can’t stop me.”

“Chrysabelle, please—”

“Shut up, Mal. Every time you patronize me, I just want to stick something sharp through you.”

Smart girl. “I wasn’t patronizing you.” He backed up a step, her demeanor more serious than he’d seen before. “There’s not a sword hidden in that cane, is there?”

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

“I’ll put money on maybe.”

The shadow of a smile danced across her face, quickly replaced by stern determination again.

It was enough of an opening for him. He kneeled at her feet. The position grated against every fiber of his being but seemed the perfect way to show his sincerity. It also put him in striking range. If she chose to lash out with a hidden blade, she could do him real harm. Even kill him. “I am sorry that putting my blood into your body has upset you so much. My intention was to save your life, not further complicate it. You must know that.” An apology. Someone’s in love.

“I do,” she said with a heavy sigh. She lifted her hand like she might touch him, then dropped it back to her lap. “I appreciate that you and Creek saved my life, but I wish you’d found another way. What happened to me happened because you two interfered, plain and simple. And now, once again, I am left to deal with the consequences of your actions. You don’t think. You just do. Both of you.”

At least she was mad at Creek, too. “I don’t blame you for being upset, but as far as saving your life… there was no other way that we could see. So you know, I would have done anything to make sure you lived that night.”

She stared intently into his eyes. Almost challenging him. “Why is my life so important to you?”

The true answer that came into his head made him dizzy. He couldn’t say what he felt. Wouldn’t give it words like the voices in his head. She’d threatened to kill him once already. She didn’t need ammunition. “For the same reasons you wouldn’t let me remain mortal and age to death. We’re… friends.” What a strange way to describe what they were. “More than friends. There was no way I was going to watch you die knowing I could have prevented it.”

She narrowed her eyes, assessing him. “Dominic’s mortality potion made you soft.”

Yes, the voices chimed. No, he wanted to say. Knowing you has given me a heart again. It was a weakness, but one he was willing to bear. Fool. Fool in love. “Then he’s the one to blame for giving it to me in the first place.”