The master bedroom was hauntingly vast, the air thick with the oppressive scent of cold sandalwood. Alaric set me down on a colossal four-poster bed; the black silk sheets felt as chilling as the underbelly of a serpent against my skin.
I huddled in the corner, trembling and drenched. The muddy water bled into the pristine silk, a stark, ugly stain.
He didn't snap. Instead, he methodically peeled off his soaked overcoat, revealing a black dress shirt buttoned tight to his throat. He brought a basin of warm water and knelt by the bedside.
He gripped my ankle—a hold so firm I couldn't move, yet his movements remained agonizingly slow. With a soft white towel, he wiped the grime and blood from my soles, inch by inch. Every time his fingertip brushed my arch, a jolt of terrifying electricity shot through my spine.
"My Evangeline, such beautiful feet shouldn't be treading in the filth," he murmured, his eyes as cold as a winter grave. "Do it again, and I might have to keep you chained to this bed until you forget how to walk."
I shivered. This brand of tender intimidation was far more paralyzing than mindless rage.
Once I was clean, he stood, his towering shadow swallowing me whole.
"Learn the rules of Blackwood, little bird. There are three things in this manor you must never touch." He held up three slender fingers.
"First, never attempt to open the locked red door in the attic."
"Second, never look into the antique mirror at the end of the hallway after midnight."
"And third," he leaned down, his icy breath ghosting against the back of my neck, "never try to leave my arms while I am sleeping."
Before the words could fully settle, his hand clamped onto the back of my head, jerking me toward him. A sharp, searing sting pierced the skin of my nape before I could even scream.
He bit me.
It wasn't a lover's caress; it was a predator's mark. As the blood welled, an unnatural chill flooded my veins through the wound, as if an ancient shackle had just snapped shut around my soul.
"You are marked," he rasped, tasting the copper on my skin. "Now, no matter which corner of hell you run to, I will find you."