Page 134 of Claimed

The young girl in the shard raises her hand again. Valentin looks from me to the Glass and back. His voice barely emerges. ‘Eira? What do you mean?’

Pain spears through my throat before I answer. The gag knows, understands the door I have reached. And this time, when it bites down, the force drops me to one knee.

‘Eira!’ Valentin lunges.

I throw out one hand. ‘Stay back.’

He stops because the bond tells him I mean it, and because some part of him still honours my choice even when it kills him.

Blood pours faster from my mouth and my tongue feels split by fire.

The room blurs but I keep going. I’ve come too far to stop. ‘I’m⁠—’

The spell seizes my throat, and the world goes black at the edges. I hear Rowan’s voice somewhere in the Tower, distant and alarmed. A wave of panic tears through the Twelve as the Heartshard Glass begins singing like a cracked cathedral bell.

Valentin’s voice roars through the bond.

Stop. Eira, stop. I release you from every answer. I release you from every lie. I release you from this. Stop.

I look up at him through blood and tears. He’s devastated.

That is the word my mind gives me, and this time I don’t shove it away. His face is ruined by it. Fury, terror, helplessness, love wearing no civilised name.

Yes. There he is. The monster who could have killed me and did not. The king who could have forced me and stopped.

The vampire who begged.

My vampire.

Gods help us both. ‘I can’t,’ I whisper.

‘You can.’

‘No.’ My breath shudders. ‘I ran for… years. I can’t run from this too.’

His eyes burn silver now, bright enough to hurt. ‘Then take my blood first.’

‘No.’

‘Eira.’

‘If I drink, I might stop.’

His jaw clenches.

‘I might let you save me before I save myself.’

My answer hits him with visible force. He looks like he wants to argue. To command. To drag me into his arms and make the world obey by sheer will.

But he does none of it. Instead he stands there shaking with the effort of letting me choose.

And I love him a little for that.

The thought moves through me like light through a broken door.

Terrifying. True. Extremely inconvenient.

I love Valentin Moret⁠—