Rites of Blood: Cora's Choice Bunble 4-6 Read Online Free PDF Page B

have obligations that I must fulfill, but I’ll come for you as soon as I can.”
    I blinked at him as I realized that despite the intensity in his voice, there was no force of compulsion behind it. He wasn’t making me stay—he truly was asking. Had my plea on the dance floor really meant something to him, then?
    “I just want to leave now,” I said. “I’ve seen enough. Heard enough. I just want to go.”
    His expression softened. “That would not be a good idea. Be brave, Cora. I promise you that our cause is worth fighting for.”
    He kissed me gently, chastely on the lips and left me with my nerves jangled, standing next to the buffet table, Tiberius at my elbow and a circle of servants around me.
    Alone again, though in the crowd. Trapped again.
    Numbly, I ate the dinner that Tiberius had brought, drinking far too much from the wineglass I put at my feet. The guests paraded through the buffet near me, and Clarissa joined me briefly until my short answers and long silences sent her restlessly into the ballroom again.
    The two children I’d seen earlier reappeared, hovering near the buffet until one of the servers looked away. Seizing the opportunity, they swiped an entire plate of finger-cakes and ducked under the edge of the heavy table skirt with their plunder. There was no sign of them except the occasional giggle until a woman in a plain black dress suddenly appeared. I straightened slightly as I realized that, like the servers, she was fully human.
    With unerring direction, she went straight to the table and jerked up the edge of the skirt.
    “There you two scamps are!” she exclaimed in a crisp British accent. “Come out this moment.”
    “Go away.” The boy’s voice was clear and firm, and in it, I heard every ounce of influence that he could muster.
    The woman swayed for a moment, and then an expression of indignation crossed her face. “You little monster! You tried to enthrall me. I don’t know where you got my blood, but I’m telling your mother, and you’ll be on restriction for a month.”
    “I told you it wouldn’t work.” The little girl’s whisper carried easily from under the table.
    “Shut up, Anna,” the boy snapped. He climbed out, looking shamedfaced. “I’m sorry, Miss Goring,” he said, every word infused with a sincerity I was certain he didn’t feel.
    “Oh, you will be,” the woman said, but already the conviction in her voice was slipping—the thrall had some effect, after all. She stooped to peer into the shadows of the table. “Your governess is looking for you, too. You’d best get out, or your father will hear of it.”
    The words were meant to be tart, I was sure, but a note of indulgence had crept in.
    “Yes, Miss Goring,” said the girl resentfully. She clambered out, too, all smeared with chocolate frosting, and Miss Goring walked off with them on either side.
    As I watched, she petted the boy’s head affectionately, then absently hugged the sticky girl against her hip. The last traces of irritation faded from her face to be replaced with a soft smile. I caught a glimpse of the boy smirking at the girl around the woman’s skirt before they were swallowed in the crowd.
    I pushed the plate onto the chair next to mine, no longer hungry. Those children were budding sociopaths, with their slippery, reflexive manipulations that eroded the wills of every human they came into contact with.
    Yet they were the future that Dorian had planned for me.
    I emptied my wineglass quickly, setting it down again a little too hard. The lights, the music, the glittering crowd—it all ran together then. I hugged myself as the swirling skirts turned into a whirling muddle of color, the strains of the orchestra bleeding into the murmured conversations.
    And over and over, the same thoughts circled in my mind: There had to be a way out. Whatever the cost, there had to be a way out.

Chapter Five
    I opened my eyes, and for a disorienting moment, I didn’t know where I was. I