The Sacrifice Read online

  “What?” I ask in a whisper. “Who said that?”

  “I did.” The book jiggles a little. “I, your ancestress, Katherine. Speak to me in your witch-whisper. I will hear you.”

  “Katherine?” I send back, my eyes wide with disbelief. “Are you really still here?”

  “Only a small part—a piece of my spirit I left tied to my spell book,” she assures me. “I wanted to be able to watch over my beloved Aiden even after I was gone. I knew, you see, that I would precede him in death. Truthfully, it was what I wanted.”

  “Why are you talking to me now?” I demand of her, still staring at the book. “What do you want?”

  “For you to do what I never could,” she whispers. “I want you to make Aiden happy.”

  “Make him happy?” I snort incredulously. “How? He doesn’t care if I live or die—I don’t think it’s in my power to affect his happiness.”

  “That’s not true and you know it.” Katherine sounds stern, maybe even a little angry. “Would he have come to your aid tonight if he didn’t care for you?”

  “He was responding to the call of your blood, that’s all,” I say dismissively. “He never would have come otherwise.”

  “My blood is long since gone from him,” Katherine says quietly. “It was your blood that called to him, Emma. You that he wanted to save. You that he loves.”

  “Yes, he saved me. Whoop-ti-do,” I say angrily. “And now he’s going to ground and he’ll never see me again. Is that the act of a man in love?”

  “It is the act of a man who feels he has lost your love,” she whispers quietly in my ear. “The act of a man desperate to remove himself from the pain of that loss. He thinks you don’t want him anymore, Emma. And if you don’t speak up and let him know otherwise, he’ll go to his coffin thinking that. And this time, I don’t think he’ll rise again. This time he will let go of his life essence and return to the ground.”

  The thought of Aiden giving up—letting himself die and decay—hits me like a ton of bricks, knocking the emotional wind out of me. I can barely hold back a sob. I want so much to believe her when she says, that Aiden still loves me, that he is only going to ground because he thinks he’s lost me…but somehow I can’t do it. I just can’t.

  Katherine seems to feel my disbelief. “If you don’t believe me, test him yourself,” she snaps.

  “How?” I demand back. Short of going back out to the living room and declaring my desperate love—which I’m not going to do—I can’t think of any subtle way to let him know I care and see if he does too.

  “You know how,” she tells me, the book’s pages rustling with quiet violence. “Submit.”

  “But…what…how…?”

  But the book is quiet now and I sense my ancestress is gone. The little piece of her spirit she left behind to watch over Aiden’s happiness seems to feel it has done its duty. The ancient copy of Farrow’s is just a book now and I’m on my own.

  At first I’m tempted to ignore her advice. After all, what does she know? What will I do if I try to submit to Aiden and he just ignores me? Or worse, politely puts me off?

  What will you do if he goes back to ground? whispers a little voice in my head that I recognize as my own. If you never see him again? Are you really too much of a coward to even try? Which would be worse—his rejection or the knowledge that he might have loved you but you were too afraid and proud to try and find out?

  I know the answer to that. I’d much rather risk rejection and know that I tried than wonder my whole life if Katherine’s spirit was right or not. But how exactly can I do this?

  A gleaming spot of red on the desk catches my eye and gives me the start of an idea. It’s my collar—the one with the ruby pendant that Aiden took from me when he released me from his service. I could have sworn it wasn’t there a minute ago but now it is, lying beside the copy of Farrow’s and gleaming innocently in the soft lamplight.

  Suddenly I know what I have to do. It may win me my master back…or it may end in terrible rejection. But whichever outcome happens, at least I will know I have tried.

  Taking a deep breath, I reach for the collar.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  “Emma?” Aiden calls, just as I finish getting ready. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m just fine…Master.” I can barely get the words out without stuttering but somehow I manage. “I’m here, in the study.”

  “What are you doing in there?” I hear him ask. “Emma, what—?” He stops short in the doorway, the words dying on his lips when he sees me.

  I run my hand through my hair nervously, hoping he likes what he sees. I thought about keeping my nightgown on but it’s sooty and scorched and besides, he always said he liked to see me naked. So I have taken everything off but the collar, which I am wearing in hopes he’ll treat me as his submissive again and not some stranger. The AC kicks on and a cool air current flowing from the vent teases around my naked nipples and pussy, making me shiver.

  For a long moment Aiden just looks at me, and I can’t tell what the hell he’s thinking. “Emma,” he says at last, sounding stern. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  I give him a look of wide-eyed innocence. “Getting ready for my punishment, Master. I…I was very bad tonight. I almost didn’t jump when you told me to and—“

  Aiden is across the room in a flash. Taking me by the shoulders, he shakes me roughly. “Do you think this is some kind of a game, Emma? Some twisted little scenario you can play out one more time before I go to ground?” he asks harshly.

  “No!” I cry, dropping the innocent submissive routine. “This is no game—it’s my life. A life that included you until you decided to throw me away like a piece of trash you didn’t want any more.”

  “A piece of trash?” he repeats hoarsely. “Is that really what you imagine I think of you?”

  “What else am I supposed to think?” I snap, crossing my arms over my bare breasts protectively. Now I wish I wasn’t naked but it’s too late for regrets. “I thought maybe…maybe you didn’t like the way I look now,” I say, making a gesture that takes in my purple eyes and black hair.

  “You’re beautiful, Emma, always beautiful to me,” he murmurs. “Although I must say, I’m very glad you kept your figure. It would have been a shame if you’d become as terribly skinny as your cousin.”

  I try to laugh but it turns into a sob. “That’s…that’s the only part I don’t like,” I confess. “Why couldn’t the magic make me thinner while it was changing everything?”

  “Maybe it knew I like you like this.” His gray eyes flicker over me, taking in my naked body in a way that makes my cheeks get hot.

  “You have a strange way of showing you like me.” I raise my chin, trying not to show my embarrassment. “You left me and never once called, never came over to check on me.”

  “Oh, darling…” He puts a hand to his eyes for a moment and shakes his head. “I’ve been doing nothing but checking on you. I’ve been coming around your cousin’s house night and day, staying out of sight, trying to make sure you were all right.”

  “If that’s true then you must have seen how upset I’ve been,” I whisper. “You must have had some idea of how abandoned I felt. Why didn’t you come talk to me? Tell me you cared…if you do care at all, that is.”

  “Of course I care,” he says fiercely. “I love you, Emma! But I thought…” He shakes his head. “Thought you’d hate me for not being able to save your mother. For not being able to stop what happened so long ago, when you were only a child.”

  “Why would I blame you for that?” I ask blankly. “I blame myself.”

  “It’s not your fault,” he whispers, cupping my cheek.

  “It’s not yours either,” I say in a choked voice. “And I could never hate you, Aiden. Never. I…I love you too.”

  He pulls me close, crushing me to his chest and covering my mouth in a long, delicious kiss that takes my breath away. “Emma,” he whispers when he breaks the kiss at l