This is where Andrei's perfect face comes from—she shares the same features as him, from the sharp cheekbones to the large eyes that match his deep green colour. I can't take my eyes from hers, mesmerised as if she were pneuma, not hemia.
This woman holds a beauty beyond anybody I've seen—but there's nothing beautiful about the energy surrounding her.
Her small mouth pulls into a smile and she tips her head as she digs into my mind. I instantly dismiss thoughts of Andrei, instead focusing hard on her fingers linked together in her lap.
Gabriella’s laughter fills the room, as derisive as Anastasia's earlier, but with a chill that lifts hairs on the back of my neck. "I know you're close to my son, Maeve. I'm aware of all events lately. I do apologise for almost killing you; that wasn’t my intention."
I look at a spot on the wall behind her head and clench my jaw. “Did you frame Andrei?"
"No."
"Then who did?"
She sighs loudly. "The Confederacy."
I snap my head around. "That's a lie."
"Hmm." She taps her fingernails on the chair arm. "When will you and my son realise that you are fighting on the wrong side, Maeve?"
I take a calming breath. Right now, I don't want to be on anyone's 'side'.
"Can't you see they're suppressing your full capabilities?" she says in honeyed tones. "This witch you work with at the academy—Sofia? She's jealous and doesn't want you to grow into your full potential. She hates that you'll become more powerful than her. We don't want to hurt you, Maeve. The Dominion would like you to hold an important position. You belong with us. Both of you."
"He's not interested. Nor am I," I say stiffly.
"Your friends are planning how to find you, yes. They'll struggle but if they succeed, I hope they'll find that you don't want to leave. After all, Tobias is here and can show you the way."
Anastasia opens her mouth to speak but Gabriella holds up a hand to stop her. "How close to him are you?" she asks and looks at me curiously. "As close as you are to my errant son?"
"No," I mumble. Damn her and her mind reading.
"Liar. Or should I say, you'd like to be. So does Tobias, but he's holding back. The man fears you."
"Why would he be scared of me?" I retort. "I should be scared of him. He kills witches."
Anastasia steps forward. "Why didn't I see this? You're the witch he needs to avoid. So why would he risk his life by offering to help you? That isn't his style at all."
"Explain what you mean," says Gabriella, cold eyes on me.
"Tobias. A witch cursed him. If he ever loves a witch, he'll kill her in the most painful way possible in order to save himself."
My stomach fills with acid. That's not the same story Tobias told me.
"And he'll feel everything. Her shock. Pain. Terror." She wrinkles her nose. "Then he'll live with that for the rest of his days."
Gabriella stands. "I hope you're not serious."
"Remember his spectacular work in ridding the world of my least favourite witches? Tobias always thought he was untouchable, but he suffered for his arrogance. Yes, he killed a family as powerful as the Blackwoods, but not before the matriarch cursed him." Anastasia fights a small smile as she slides her eyes to mine.
"Then you need to return Tobias to his witch-hating state straightaway and keep her away from him," she says curtly. "I can't risk this girl dying."
"I'm working on that," snaps back Anastasia. "Where are your thanks for bringing him and the future-sighted witch back to us?"
"You think that's all she is?" Gabriella laughs at her. "There are depths you're unaware of. She's not aware herself."
Anastasia’s expression changes to distaste and her eyes harden. I’m a threat to her. “I want to see.” Her voice chills my blood. “Let me compel Maeve. Trigger a vision. Something. I'll see beyond what she's aware of.”
“I wish to speak to her alone first.” Gabriella runs her tongue along her top teeth and my stomach lurches as she reveals sharp canines. This is the first vampire I’ve seen with fangs drawn. Anastasia doesn’t respond. “Thank you, Anastasia.”
Anastasia’s displeasure radiates strongly enough for me to detect and I look down at my lap, smiling too. I don’t know why, because being alone in a room with one of the Dominion leaders isn’t something to smile about.
The door closes and the room remains silent. I count the books on the shelves opposite, focusing on the numbers on the spine to disguise my thoughts. Where is Tobias? He said he’d protect me.
“How is Andrei?” Gabriella purrs after a few moments.
I want to snap back, ‘as if you care,’ but swallow down the words. “Andrei struggles but he’s doing okay.”
“Has he recovered from his holiday at Ravenhold?”
I scowl at her amused face. “I said, he’s doing okay.”
Gabriella moves towards me and her eyes steel. “I’m tired of waiting for my son to join me. He cannot hide his nature much longer— he's his mother's son. Not a Petrescu. Perhaps without Tobias guarding him, Andrei will come to terms with who he is and the threat on his life. Andrei needs to be with his mother.” She touches her chest in mock maternal sorrow.
“Andrei isn’t interested in joining the Dominion.” I keep an even expression, desperately fighting my memories of him.
Gabriella moistens her lips as she studies me harder. I jerk in pain as if somebody grabbed my head and tore my skull apart. Crying out, I drop forward and stare at the floor blurring in front of me. The room disappears from view and I’m trapped inside my mind, spinning around and looking for a way out. Images and voices flicker by like a movie playing in the dark and the pressure against my temples grows.
I see my past entanglements with Andrei, feel his love as strongly as it radiates from his eyes. But his face changes into something darker as he suddenly grips my neck and squeezes tight. I cry out to him, but the words are strangled, and my scalp stings as he pulls my hair tight until my head tips back. The pain from his teeth in my skin rolls into my mind but I can't scream. I lash out, clawing him in fear for my life. His head moves back, eyes meeting mine again as my blood smears his face.
Not Andrei. Tobias. I'm sinking towards unconsciousness as the blood spills from me and I beg him to stop.
The pressure on my throat drops and I scream until everything fades and only the scream remains.
The images shift again and I'm sitting in a room, sick with worry as my aunt and mother scream at each other in a downstairs room. I didn't want to come here. My aunt scares me. Pressing my hands against my ears, I close my eyes and retreat into the small dark box I hide in when I'm scared.
I remember this, but hazily. I was fourteen and this is the day I had my first strong vision. Most I understood, but this felt like a hallucination. I saw a man die, his body broken and bloodied. Nearby, people screamed and I caught glimpses of terror and carnage, but I couldn’t see where I was.
Someone pulled me back to reality before I moved close enough to see his body clearly, but I’m sure didn’t know these people.