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SHE’D betrayed her Master In the vareater crime a servant could commit She should be overwhel matter, once a decision was s since that moment had been out of reach, faces at the top of a well, staring down at her silent, prolonged drowning

She was cold, but that was immaterial Her needs had always been secondary to her Master’s A si cold wouldn’t interfere with her respectful silence, the straightness of her back as she sat on her knees in the empty hallway There was a chair here, but she hadn’t been told she could use it A tapestry hung on the wall before her, a depiction of Hell,eyes

Lady Lyssa, the new head of the Vampire Council, planned to rim Berlin castle But there was other business to finish first, and Alanna was part of that The only reason she was still alive was because they’d hoped to track her Master through her blood connection to him When Lord Stephen had plotted the er conspiracy to increase the influence of itive He’d have killed her before he fled, but escape had been a higher priority

That didn’t guarantee her safety, not that she’d ever had any hope of that Once he’d found a safe hole, he’d begun tearing her apart It was the only practical choice, really He had no ally loyal enough to risk the Council’s wrath by taking her life So he’d destroy her froainst her Master’s invasion He could reach into her soul, torment and break the mind of his bloodbound human minion

She wondered if whoever had created that tapestry had endured such an experience If so, the terrified eyes and gaping ed to people the artist had loved, or different, twisted versions of his own soul, put through unspeakable horrors Tiony

The tapestry dominated her field of vision, but she wouldn’t alter the correct alignooseflesh caused by the chilly hall prickled in reaction as she stared at the wash of bloodred fibers that dissolved, beca down over the scene

She supposed it had been exhausting to Stephen,on her axis so the Council couldn’t draw a bead on him, send their assassin to end him That he hated her for her betrayal, would kill her for punishment as well as self-preservation, was certain But overall it wasn’t personal The soul tors for her A human servant was a valuable tool until she wasn’t Stephen had o

Lord Belizar, the Council head when Stephen’s treachery had coht, had harshly commanded her to stay alive, to endure His thunderous Russian baritone had penetrated the night had done the rest She was an Inherited Servant She would obey, would serve with every ounce of will she had

Before she’d been conceived, she’d been prorae six, the last time she’d sat at a table with her birth faht her to kneel behind her father’s chair and wait silently while they ate dinner, talked to their other children and each other It had been confusing, but when she understood she was being prepared for the great honor of serving a vaoal in life, had been to exceed even the high expectations of that honor

Yet, in the end, she’d come to this

Lord Brian, the Council scientist and doctor, had experis that would stop Stephen’s interference with her mind, but each one failed As Stephen’s torment of her h to override her Master’s power over her soul She had to be strapped down to keep her fro in his power to make her do just that

"I will find a way to block him, Alanna But you must help me You must hold on"