Page 34 of Claimed

The doors unseal. Malachi, Aaron, Luca and Iskander stand beyond them. Their expressions would be funny if the entire situation were not one bad decision away from biblical.

Malachi’s stare moves over Valentin and I know what he sees. His sire’s restored colour, steady posture. Renewed strength coiled through every inch of him.

Then his gaze cuts to me, my throat, swollen mouth and bare legs. His expression turns lethal.

Luca breaks the silence first. ‘Well.’ His mouth twitches. ‘Maybe he just drank a bad batch before and needed a fresh infusion?’

I tense but Valentin barely reacts.

There’s no suspicion, no echo of the catastrophe that came before. It’s almost as if… the memory has been wiped clean. Or buried? Or Bride’s Mercy has just proved it is more than a gag in my throat?

Sweet fucking Netheris fires. What. Is. Happening?

Aaron steps forward, caution warring with visible relief. ‘Sire. Are you…’ He stops, as if even the question feels too dangerous to shape fully. ‘I’m glad to see you well.’

The same question sits on every face. Malachi hides it behind fury. Luca behind a look far too casual to be real. Iskander behind stone-cold stillness.

Cassian, apparently, has no interest in pretending. ‘As are all of us,’ he says, voice rough, ‘but we need to ask. How the fuck are you standing?’

For the first time since the doors opened, something uncertain moves through Valentin’s expression. His gaze cuts briefly to me, to my throat, to the shirt I’m clutching around myself. Then he looks back at them and gives the barest shake of his head.

‘The curse shifted,’ he says. ‘I adapted.’

No one believes him.

He knows it. Worse, I can see the exact instant their confusion begins to circle too close to the fresh bite at my throat, to the restored power humming through the Vault.

Then Valentin’s presence lashes through the bond.

Kneel your curiosity.

The command doesn’t touch me the way it touches them, but I still feel its force, brutal and absolute, a blade of sovereign will dragged across every mind in the chamber. They stiffen, grins disappearing.

And Valentin’s eyes burn. ‘Report.’

My gaze switches to Malachi, wondering why the Twelve’s leader isn’t echoing Aaron’s sentiment or asking questions of his own.

Aaron recovers first. ‘Rowan is here. She’s in the eastern guest suite under guard.’

Valentin’s face twitches, and his focus rakes over me, searching for nervous tells. I’m not sure what he finds, but behind his calm, something ancient and calculating returns to place. ‘Good.’

‘However,’ Malachi says, ‘there’s a more immediate situation. Congressman Kessler is making interesting moves.’

‘What moves?’ Valentin snaps as he turns and heads back for me.

The feral intensity in his eyes starts a shiver from my toes, and he doesn’t take his eyes off me as his vampires speak.

‘Kessler’s been petitioning you to turn him for twelve years,’ Aaron says, tone clipped with disgust. ‘He’s forty-two now. He knows he’s almost past the point where you’d usually consider it. He’s… desperate.’

‘Desperation makes mortals stupid,’ Valentin replies. ‘I am assuming this stupidity is somehow connected to our quest for answers?’

‘Yes, because it also makes them useful,’ Aaron adds mildly. ‘Until it makes them dangerous.’

‘He’s been visiting Chicago frequently lately. And not for his Finance Committee duties. If he believes Don Navarro might grant him what you refuse, he may be… susceptible,’ Malachi says.

Valentin’s fingers trace over my cheek and lower lip, and were it not for his slight stiffening, I would’ve thought he wasn’t paying attention. That he was more interested in touching me, listening to my breath shortening from his rabid fixation on me. ‘Navarro does not turn mortals as political favours.’

Malachi’s eyes flash. ‘Navarro does whatever pleases him. And he might do it just to fuck with you, sire. Kessler’s been calling all week, pressing anyone with a pulse who might pass a message along. He’s hosting a gala at his estate. A fundraiser disguised as a cultural event. Half of New York’s donors and parasites invited.’