Jonas stared back unflinchingly, intuition telling him to leave the question unanswered. The longer he could keep his new abilities to himself, the better off he would be if he needed to fight. “Don’t distract from the issue. You’ve tried to kill my mate, too. Twice.”
The smallest dash of regret bloomed in Clarence’s eyes, but it was masked immediately. “I wondered if you’d figure it out. Well done.”
“Why?” Jonas worked to steady his voice. How easily his sire admitted to subjecting him to unimaginable pain. “Why kill her and not me?”
“Is it so outlandish that I desire to have my only son reign at my side?” shouted the king. “That you would covet the accolade so many would kill for?”
Jonas hid his shock over Clarence’s vehemence. “If that is so, if you are being truthful and you care anything for me, please accept my vow of fealty in exchange for…a life with her. A life out of this Order’s reach.”
The king’s eyes widened just slightly, enough to let Jonas know he’d surprised him. “First you choose your precious conscience over the life I offered you. Now you choose a human girl over the honor of sitting on the High Order? How many times do you think I’ll allow you to humiliate me?”
“I do not seek to humiliate.”
“It matters not. Perhaps I’ll give you what you want, my son. Perhaps I’ll sentence you to death. Once you’re gone, I’ll no longer have a reason to fear a challenge.” He cast a look just beyond Jonas’s shoulder. “Isn’t that right, Larissa?”
Jonas reeled from the shock of Ginny’s stepmother waltzing past him in a crimson robe, her movements so smooth, she didn’t seem to touch the ground at all. She curtseyed to the High Order and folded her hands at her waist. She’d just opened her mouth to speak when the suited vampire who’d greeted Jonas at the elevator reentered the room. “King, we have visitors.”
The king’s mouth turned down at the corners. He beckoned the suited servant forward, gesturing for him to come closer. The vampire whispered in Clarence’s ear and he started to laugh, quietly at first, then louder and louder.
Fear prickled Jonas’s skin for the first time. He watched the staircase with the anxiety writhing in his bones. It couldn’t be Ginny. It couldn’t be. But he didn’t like the way his sire watched and waited for his reaction, almost gleeful in his anticipation.
God no. What was this?
The pure scent of Ginny reached him and a bellowed denial ripped out of his throat with such force, he tasted blood. And when she came into view, he could barely register what his eyes were telling him, the scene was such an abomination to his senses. Elias dragged—dragged—his Ginny into the gigantic hall by her hair.
“Oh my God. What is this?” she screamed, twisting in Elias’s grip. “Why are you doing this? Please let me go, let me go, let me go. I just want to go home.”
Jonas’s vision tripled and swarmed back together, his equilibrium diminished almost entirely. Somehow he remained standing under the weight of denial. Ginny in this place. His mate surrounded by beings that could break her neck with the snap of a finger. Vulnerable. Scared. Brought here by a man he’d considered his best friend. No. No.
Was she hurt? Jesus Christ. This betrayal couldn’t be happening.
He’d been prepared to exchange his life for her safety and now she was in the midst of wolves. Exposed. No. Please God no.
“Elias,” Jonas shouted, sounding and feeling like a wounded animal. “What have you done?” Elias threw Ginny down to the ground and she looked up at Jonas…
…as if she didn’t know him. Had never met him in her life. Her gaze went right through him like a sword cutting into water, her pulse erratic and wild, like it had been when she fell from the bridge. “Ginny?” With a shaking hand extended, he went toward her, intending to pick her up, cradle her, find the injuries and try to heal them. Now now now. It was his duty and he craved them, even in the midst of his utter terror. “Come to me, love. I’ll make it all right. I won’t let them hurt you.”
“How do you know my name?” Ginny breathed, crawling backwards, away from him. Away. From. Him? “I don’t understand why I’m here! What is happening?”
Jonas ran into an invisible barrier, ice forming a frigid layer on his skin. His voice emerged sounding like a wheeze. “What do you mean, how do I know your name?”
Elias’s dark laughter rang out. “I did what you were too weak to do. She remembers nothing of Jonas Cantrell.” With a hateful smirk in Jonas’s direction, he turned to face the High Order and executed a sweeping bow. “For years, I’ve urged him to resume his duties and he refuses. He does not deserve the honor—an honor I covet above all else.” He flicked a wrist in Ginny’s direction. “Take this as my show of good faith. Consider me for his council seat instead. I will spend my every waking breath undoing the damage he’s done to your reputation—in a way only I can. I know every place he’s been, every vampire he’s met with, every safe haven he’s established.”
Torment seared Jonas’s insides.
He’d been dropped into hell to be roasted among sinners.
A violent ringing started in his ears and vibrated down his spine and if he had a functioning stomach, he would have emptied it on the ground at that moment.
No.
No.
No.
Yes, the betrayal was equivalent to a spike being driven into his stomach, but he could focus on nothing but Ginny. His love looked right through him as if she’d never met him. Never spent hours speaking to him, never kissed him or enraptured him with her laugh. Every magical minute since he’d woken up on her table…gone? How could that be? How could such valuable, perfect hours cease to exist? His mate didn’t know his touch. She didn’t know he would keep her safe. Didn’t know him at all. These realizations hit fast and hard, leaving him bereft, stumbling sideways in front of the Order and nearly dropping.
“Look at him,” marveled the king. “A shell. Over an inconsequential human.”
“I’m going to kill you, Elias,” Jonas choked out, doubling over, bracing his hands on his knees. “How could you do this?”
Not only to him. But to Ginny.
How many times had she begged him to leave her mind intact? Once upon a time, had he actually considered erasing himself from her memories? The pain of occupying no place in her mind—and therefore her heart—was unfathomable. His bones were turning to dust where he stood.
“I am entertained,” cooed the king, steepling his fingers beneath his chin. “Anyone else?”
The High Order murmured their agreement.
Clarence got more comfortable in his throne. “You want to know why I put Miss Lynn in such perilous situations?” He waved at someone or something, Jonas couldn’t be sure, couldn’t feel or deduce anything. “Larissa, please come closer.”
Jonas watched Ginny’s eyes widen, just a fraction, her attention training on Larissa. Her skin turned the barest shade lighter, as though some blood had left her face. Recognition? Shock? It all happened in the split second before she went back to looking confused and fearful.
That was odd.