Forever Touched (Touch of Vampire #5)

CHAPTER 25

25

ADALYN

“A ball, a ball, we’re invited to a ball!” Octavia shrieked, bouncing up and down in the foyer. “I’m so excited that I could puke! ”

I grimaced, certain she wasn’t exaggerating for once. She was definitely blood drunk, and if she vomited, I would be the one to clean up the mess.

“Yes, but what am I going to wear? ” Georgina huffed. “How am I supposed to have a new dress made in one day?”

The only one not in a tizzy was Mistress. She continued to stare at the invitation that had arrived just before sunset, reading the words over and over again. I pretended disinterest, my focus on dusting the foyer.

As her two daughters dramatically twittered, she slowly set the gold-embossed invitation on the foyer’s round table and said, “Georgina. Octavia. Go on ahead without me. I need to have a word with Adalyn.”

I froze, the duster poised over a Tiffany lamp. My hand began to shake, and I quickly lowered the duster to the table.

Still twittering about the ball and what they would wear, neither of the sisters noticed how tense their mother had become. When the door shut behind them and their voices faded, the silence that settled over the house was deafening.

I tried not to show my nerves, but I knew my heart was beating faster than it should .

“Come here, Adalyn,” Mistress said.

I did as instructed, clasping my hands together to hide their trembling.

When I stood before her, she whipped up a hand and grabbed my chin. “Did you have something to do with this?”

“No, Mistress.”

“The Faircrofts have never once been invited to attend a function hosted by the royal family. Even when my dear Richard was alive, the king and his sons never acknowledged our efforts to be included in the aristocratic class. The timing of this invitation can’t be a coincidence, especially since they want you to attend. What did you say to the prince when he took you? What does he know? ”

“I didn’t tell him anything, I swear. I can’t tell him anything.”

She gave my head a little shake, spitting out, “Don’t play me for a fool, Adalyn. Did you feed him information while he claimed you?”

“I didn’t! I promise.”

“Well, you must have done something ,” she hissed, releasing my chin with a frustrated huff. “We’ll have to discuss this later. The past three days at the club have been hell, and we can’t afford for you to miss another shift. You still reek of the prince’s claim, but we’ll just have to hope your clients missed you badly enough not to care. Come. You’re riding with me tonight. I’m not letting you out of my sight, especially now that we know Prince Everett still has an interest in you.”

She grabbed my arm and hauled me toward the front door, not giving me a chance to protest. Despite how hard I tried not to panic, my heart started to pound like a runaway horse. She was taking me back to Dreamscape. To the place that had stolen my identity. My soul .

Somehow, I’d managed to survive that hellhole for the past three years, but now that Everett was in my life, everything had changed. My perspective. My will to live. My dreams .

I didn’t think I could return to the place that had taken so much from me. Didn’t think I could pretend to be someone else anymore.

Everett wanted me. Not Star. Adalyn . And he was doing everything in his power to save me from this life.

He wouldn’t understand if I returned. If I slept with my clients again, I knew he wouldn’t be able to forgive me.

I was his soulmate .

Our bond was sacred, and to willingly defile it was worse than stabbing him in the heart with a silver blade.

He wouldn’t understand.

He wouldn’t understand.

As Mistress shoved me into her car and peeled away from the house, my mind was a riot of thoughts. How could I get myself out of this without making her suspicious? If she sensed that I no longer agreed with her mission, she’d thrall me so hard that I’d have no choice but to reveal everything I knew. She’d figure out that Everett was on to her scheming, that he and I were soulmates, and realize that I was too much of a liability. That it was better to cut her losses and kill me so I couldn’t be used against her.

It would be so easy to kill me. She wouldn’t even have to do it herself. But I couldn’t help thinking that everyone would be better off if I died. If I no longer existed, Mistress couldn’t use me anymore. Everett and his family would be safe .

So distracted by my dark thoughts, I forgot to contact Everett about my current situation. We were halfway to Dreamscape when I heard his voice in my head say, Where are you? You’re not in the house .

Struggling to remain calm, I replied, I’m on my way to Dreamscape with Mistress .

You’re WHAT? he shouted, so loudly that I almost flinched.

I’m sorry, but she was really upset about your invitation. She thinks I told you something, and if I refuse to perform tonight, she’ll get even more suspicious. I really am sorry, Everett. I was hoping she’d keep me in the house until the ball so we could avoid all this .

Anger dripped from every word as he replied, If you’re going there tonight, then so am I .

Everett, please don’t. You’ll only be torturing yourself .

I don’t care. If you’re being forced to degrade yourself, then I won’t let you do it alone .

Blinking back tears, I let silence settle between us, even more sick to my stomach now. I knew he was just trying to show his support, but I didn’t want him to be there while hungry males watched me dance. While they encouraged me to reveal more skin and lusted after my body.

I especially didn’t want him to be there when the clock struck midnight and the lights went out, signaling me that it was time to perform my duties as a blood whore.

He couldn’t be there for that. Even if he somehow survived it, I wouldn’t. I couldn’t bear the humiliation, shame, and pain . Not anymore. Not when those feelings were no longer just mine. They were his now too.

We pulled into the Dreamscape parking lot an hour earlier than I usually arrived. Mistress marched me up to the third floor, slowing only when Heath hurried down the hallway toward us.

“Her new room is all ready,” he said, wrinkling his nose when he came within sniffing distance. “She still stinks.”

“I know,” Mistress replied with a huff. “We’ll have her soak in a heavily perfumed bath for the next two hours. That should help. See to it that the bath is set up properly, then meet me in the hallway. There’s been a new development.”

“But of course, Madame Faircroft,” he smoothly replied, taking my arm as she handed me off.

His fingers tightened possessively, and I almost begged Mistress not to leave me alone with him. But he was already whisking me away at a fast clip, forcing me to lightly jog so I wouldn’t be dragged. We passed by my usual room in a blur and stopped at the very last one. Heath slid the keycard in, and the door unlocked, allowing us entrance.

The room was identical to my old one, and Heath quickly marched me past the kitchen and living room to enter the bedroom.

Once there, he let go of me and ordered, “Strip. I’ll fill up your bath.”

As he headed for the bathroom, I blurted, “I can do it myself.”

He froze in his tracks, then slowly turned to face me. “I don’t think you realize how stressed we’ve been this past week, Star. How close we came to having all of our hard work ruined. You’ve been attacked, stolen, and now you’re drenched in the crown prince’s scent, making it nearly impossible for us to use you. I have the right to ensure nothing like this ever happens again, so get undressed and meet me in the bathroom. Defy me, and I’ll have no choice but to use force.”

He smiled a little, as if the thought of stripping me bare and bathing me excited him.

I quickly started to undress, relieved when he turned and disappeared into the bathroom. The bath started to run, and I waited as long as I could before joining him. At the sound of my arrival, Heath stopped pouring lavender-scented oil into the water to glance over his shoulder. Seeing me naked, lust immediately dilated his pupils. He set the oil on the cart and slowly approached me, boldly raking his eyes down my body.

“You really are an exquisite creature, Star,” he purred, reaching out to touch my hair. I held perfectly still while he slid his fingers through the strands. As his knuckles bumped my left breast, a growl of need rumbled from him. Quick as an adder, he gripped my neck and jerked me against him. “What I wouldn’t give to spend an hour alone with you. To taste you, to feel your hands on me, to seek pleasure in your gorgeous body. Maybe after we’ve fulfilled our mission, you and I can come to an arrangement.”

Disgust roiled in my gut, but instead of shoving him away like my instincts screamed at me to do, I gave him one of my secretive little smirks and cooed, “Maybe we can.”

His face split into a pleased grin. I almost gagged as his groin brushed against my thigh, revealing how hard he was. Years of pretending kept me from fighting tooth and nail to get away.

“Go ahead and wash up,” he said, his voice creepily soft as he released my neck. “I’ll be in the bedroom to give you a little privacy.”

And probably so he could jerk off to the image of my naked body.

When I stepped around him, his hand came down and smacked my butt. I almost whirled and clawed his eyes out. Instead, I threw him a sultry wink and sauntered toward the tub, pretending for all the world like I enjoyed his attention.

But inside, I was tightly curled in the fetal position, praying that Everett couldn’t feel how miserable I was.

Two hours later, I was primped to perfection and sliding onto my aerial hoop for another night of dancing. As I waited to be lowered, I searched the undulating crowd below for Everett. He hadn’t contacted me again, but I knew, just knew that he was here somewhere. I touched my mask, reminding myself that I was no longer Adalyn. No longer Everett’s soulmate . But the more I reminded myself, the louder my mind shouted that it was a lie.

You’re not Star, you’re not Star, you’re not Star .

The shouts were so loud that I couldn’t hear anything else. Not the pounding sensual music. Not the crowd’s raucous laughter. Not their moans and cries of pleasure. I was deaf to it all, drowning in my mind’s frantic insistence that I was no longer Star.

You’re not Star, you’re not Star . . .

The hoop started to lower, and I desperately tried to clear my thoughts. To focus. I couldn’t let them see me without my mask. My shield . I needed to be the confident, alluring witch that everyone came here to see.

But when the hoop stopped and the fog began to clear, I still wasn’t her. Light blinded me, and I had nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.

They could see me. The real me. They could see Adalyn .

The crowd below froze at the sight of me, and I froze as well, utterly terrified. Everything I’d been taught, everything I’d done to survive this place, completely fled my mind. I was prey dangled before bloodthirsty predators, exposed and scared witless.

The music started again, my cue to dance. But as the crowd continued to gape at me expectantly, a dull roar filled my ears. My breath came in short spurts, my heart thundering out of control.

Realizing what was happening, I ordered myself to breathe. To calm down. Darkness crowded my vision anyway.

You’re having a panic attack, baby girl, I dimly heard a voice say. You need to breathe. Adalyn? Adalyn!

The room precariously tilted. My hold on the hoop slipped.

As I started to fall, everything went black.