Chapter 4 CHA

ELARA MONTOYA POV)

The one solace I had was the Fledgling Quarters' garden. Most vampires, especially the purebloods, despised the raw, "unclean" earth. I didn't. At least the soil was real, natural, and not the residue of someone else's drunken decadence. The root vegetables and night-blooming flowers offered a strange comfort; they thrived regardless of my hybrid status, as long as I meticulously cleared the solar-poisoned weeds.

They never laughed at me or smirked. I snorted, self-deprecatingly, scooting along the row. I was humming a tuneless chant to the thriving, fresh-scented blood-root vegetables, picking the dry weeds out from their territory.

"Sun-parasite," I whispered, holding up a dried stalk. "I cast you hence from the domain of the Montoyas' Garden forthwith. Begone!" I flicked the desiccated weed over the rough stone wall. "May the mortal scavengers pick the marrow from your-"

"What do you think you're doing, half-breed?"

The voice of the Sire, Lord Severino Montoya, was pure, panic-inducing poison. I spun around so fast I nearly toppled headfirst into the delicate lettuce beds.

Oh, hell.

No one could inspire pure, raw terror like the Sire. Cruelty was their nature, but he was the source point of all my pain. My arm began throbbing at once, a muscle memory of torture, just at the sight of him.

"Sire, I am. only. tending the Clan gardens." I was shaking. Even the plants seemed to quiver.

He didn't act like he noticed me kneeling. He simply stomped a polished boot onto a thriving blood-root vine as he approached, snapping it in half. I felt a reflexive twist of grief-a small, unnecessary death.

"You do not have the leisure for 'tending' if the work at my manor is incomplete," he snarled. "And judging by the abysmal state of the scrying room, the job is far from done. Vikki and her parents are arriving tonight. Now get your worthless backside up to the Manor and finish your servitude."

He grabbed the top of my head, his fingers tangling in my hair, and lifted me to his height, suspending me by the roots. Pain exploded across my scalp. I clawed uselessly at his hand. Before I could connect, he released me, letting me fall into a bruised heap on the earth.

I didn't want to look at the few brown strands of my hair woven between his pale fingers. The sight was a sickening omen.

"Rise to your feet, you wretch."

I forced myself up on shaky legs, hating the weakness he so easily commanded from me. I stood, body trembling, staring at his boots while my blood ran cold. He lifted a hand and ran it slowly down the side of my scarred forearm.

"One strike for not completing your task."

I froze in my entirety. He raised his other arm, showing a length of black iron rod-one he specialized in using on me. My forearm still throbbed fiercely from his last 'lesson.'

"Just finish it!" I ground out, jaw clenched. I finally lifted my head to meet his ancient, predatory gaze. It was the only defiance I had left.

He grasped my arm and whipped me around so I was pressed against the hardness of him. His body trapped mine, his arm caught taut as he raised the rod.

"This is the result of insufficient devotion. There is no tolerance for weakness or flawed lineage in the Crimson Talon Clan." He hunched over, whispering into my ear, his hardness pressed against my backside, his dry lips skimming my lobe. I almost dry-heaved, stopped only by the paralyzing fear of earning a second strike.

The rod came down right in the middle of my forearm. I clamped my teeth, determined not to scream or show one flicker of pain.

"Next time," he purred into my ear as my stomach twisted with revulsion. "Next time I will apply it to a far more sensitive section of your impure body, and then, if you're lucky, once you've Ascended, I will show you how I really like to use this."

The pain from the rod was nothing compared to the absolute, consuming filth of his intent. His voice penetrated my skin and delved so deeply that my very marrow shook. He was more disgusting than Kael's blood-packs or the vomit-covered blankets.

"Now, back to work!"

I stayed on my knees, pretending to weed, until the sound of his footsteps disappeared completely.

It's just you and me, power. When you decide it's time to show, we hit the road. I made a silent, internal vow. We're not spending another minute more than we have to in this hell.

I went back to the Quarters, desperate to clean the raw welt.

"What in the name of the Void?" Lili stopped her kneading of black bread, hurrying over.

"I didn't finish the cleaning up in Sire's Manor this morning." I avoided eye contact. "I accidentally... caught Kael and his chosen Blood-Bond in a rather compromising position."

Lili snorted, laying a cool cloth against the welt. "Chosen Blood-Bonds. What crap. No wonder you ran."

I swallowed against the urge to correct her: Kael's backside was anything but flabby. The sight of him, moving against Vikki, still held my attention captive-a disgusting addiction.

"There is more," I said, detailing Kael's humiliation at the Academy and the Sire's threat, including the nauseating, intimate press of his body as he struck me.

"Gods above and below, that man is the very shadow of the devil," Lili gasped. She turned to the sink, muttering to herself as she always did. "So, he knows your Ascension is imminent. I suspected. Your blood's scent has changed."

"What does that actually mean?" I asked, turning to her.

Lili let out a little yelp, soapy water spraying. She smiled, pushing back gray hair. "It means I can scent a massive surge of power hormones on you. That's all. Your potential power spikes when Ascension is near. It is a good sign."

It is a wonderful sign. It means freedom.

I couldn't tell Lili my plan; she was the one good thing here, and my leaving would crush her.

"You are stronger than you know, Elara," Lili went on. "They don't know what to do with a will like yours. So, they try to beat it out of you. But you will not be broken."

I forced a snort. "Are you sure? Because right now, I feel pretty busted up."

A soft smile touched Lili's face. "Just maintain that defiance. Once you Ascend, you will be the one shaking the very foundations of this Clan."

Lili had no idea how true that was. I just wouldn't be doing it from inside the Clan.