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NO ONE SAYS A word about one less place setting at the lunch table. Mistress Ell enquires after my health and drops a few glowing comments about the prince’s bride, and that’s it. Lorene isn’t just gone. She was never here.
I don’t challenge the status quo or demand any explanations. Other things on my mind. Lunch is zucchini lasagna with greens and I scrape my plate clean. The next few days just got very complicated. I’m eating for three—me and two Vampyres. If it wasn’t so sad, I’d laugh.
After lunch, I give Amanda a look and head out to the walled garden. The sound of piano notes follow me out the door, stay with me as I lie down flat on my back beside the pond. A window must be open in the living room.
I turn my face up to the scorching sun and wisps of cloud, content to let the music wash over me. A haunting melody in a low, depressing key that’s drawing me in to a dark place. I almost let it, but something inside me is still fighting for the light.
I’m not sure what.
I’m not sure why.
The music stops and I drag myself upright, blinking away tears that don’t belong to me. They belong to a girl in Ironcross. The girl I left behind.
A short while later, Amanda joins me in the garden.
“You’re the pianist,” I realize. “You play beautifully.”
“Thank you,” she says graciously as she plants herself on the bench beneath the rowan tree.
“I made a deal with Nial,” I tell her. “Four days.”
Her mouth quirks.
“You knew what he’d want in exchange for his help.”
“Nothing comes for free.”
“You could have mentioned it.”
“Would it have changed anything?” she says. “He didn’t force your hand, Senna. You made that deal freely with your eyes wide open.”
“That’s not the point.”
She watches me, a long, searching look. “You can still back out of it, you know. Once Nial has you in his clutches, he doesn’t easily let go.”
“Are you saying he won’t honor the deal?”
She shakes her head. “He’ll honor the deal.”
That’s all I need to know. “Okay, then.”
Now I just need to ensure the prince never figures out I’m no longer his exclusive blood bag.