LUNA
Closing the book carefully so as not to ruin any of the ancient pages, I buried my face in my hands, sighing.
Three weeks had gone by since the ball, and we hadnothingto show for it. Even though I sent letters to Papa and Marius every night, I still hadn’t received a single reply. Sebastian assured me he was sending them, and I’d even sent a few with Julieta as well, but I couldn’t help but wonder why I wasn’t hearing anything back.
Not only that, but even though I’d searched numerous botanical textbooks, I couldn’t find a single reference to Syndra’s plant.
When I wasn’t researching the mysterious plant for Marius, I was looking into the history of the Binding with Sebastian. While we had uncovered some interesting tidbits about the vampires’ history, we were no closer to learning anything about the Tethering.
For such a long-lived people, the vampires were especially terrible at record-keeping. They could run boiler systems through the castle to provide hot water for showers and baths, but they couldn’t figure out how to write things down about themselves.
I groaned, “Why is this so hard?”
A matching sound came from across the table and a book shut. I rested my chin on my folded hands, looking up at the vampire prince across from me.
Dressed in his signature black, Sebastian’s wings were nowhere in sight as he ran a hand through his hair. It was growing longer, the black locks dusting his forehead and the tips of his ears, and giving him a rugged appearance. I didn’t think he could get any more handsome, but apparently, I was wrong.
“I’ll take that to mean you haven’t found anything either?” Sebastian asked, his voice sharper than normal.
It probably should have struck me as odd that I knew what his “normal” was, but when one spent every waking hour with the same person for weeks on end, getting to know them was inevitable.
Sebastian’s face was worn and the skin around his eyes was gaunter than it had been a couple of weeks ago. He continued sleeping on the floor, and our wedding was still on paper only.
That was a good thing… right?
Every time I slept, I dreamed about him.
“There’s nothing here. Not really. They just keep talking about the Binding and how it’s a blessing from Isvana and Ithiar. The goddess of the moon and the god of blood.” I scoffed, running my hands over the markings on my wrist. “Right now, it doesn’t feel like much of a blessing.”
I hadn’t been alone in weeks. Not really. At this rate, I would never experience the beautiful lull of being in a room with no obligations and no one to talk to ever again. At least I had Julieta.
Ever since the night of the ball, Sebastian and I had fallen into somewhat of a routine. We woke early in the evening and my maid brought me breakfast while he slipped into the bathing room or the hallway to give us some semblance of privacy.
After I ate and Julieta left, he would shadow the two of us to the library. Very few people visited the enormous space, which didn’t bother me in the least. Keven helped us when he could, but otherwise, the vampire prince and I were left alone. The only sound in the library was the ticking of the clock.
Tonight, Sebastian’s black eyes were dimmer than usual. His mouth was drawn, and he kept rubbing his hand over his face.
Leaning across the table, I reached out and touched his arm. “Sebastian, are you… What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he said gruffly.
I raised a brow. “Really? Because it doesn’t look like ‘nothing’ to me. It looks like you’re in pai—”
“I said, it’s nothing, Luna.” Slamming his hands on the table, Sebastian snarled. Shadows gathered around his palms, and above us, the violet lights flickered.
I pulled back my hand, staring at this male I had married as my heart quickened in my chest. This was the first time he’d raised his voice at me since that awful day we discovered the Tether, and I wasnota fan.
“Sebastian—”
“No!” he yelled.
In the silence of the library, the sound was even louder than normal. Keven was nowhere to be seen. We were well and truly alone.
An animalistic growl rumbled through the vampire prince’s chest, and he pulled back his lips, his fangs glinting in the purple light as he snarled at me. “I told you, Luna, I don’t want to talk about it.”
The air grew heavier between us as I drew in a heaving breath. Trying to diffuse the situation, I asked, “Are you sure, because if I can hel—”
“No,” he growled.