Her Sweetest Downfall by Rebecca Hamilton

Author:Rebecca Hamilton
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781938750991
Publisher: Immortal Ink Publishing, LLC
Published: 2012-07-18T16:00:00+00:00

Damascus, 1808

After promising to return in the evening to prepare for Ophelia’s transformation, Lenore left for the day. When the cabin door fell shut behind the Cruor, Ophelia turned to Ethan, her hurt and anger rushing through her in a violent upsurge.

“Why?” She lunged toward him and pounded her fist against his chest. “Why didn’t ye tell me it was him?”

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer. Ophelia still pushed, wishing to get away from him and to hurt him at the same time.

“Please, Ophelia,” Ethan whispered, and she froze at the pained tone in his voice. His eyes were moist and his expressed strained. “I wanted to come for you.”

Wanted to? She shook her head. No words were worthy of the moment. All she could do was stand there, searching his eyes for answers to the questions that swarmed through her mind.

Ophelia swallowed around the tightness in her throat. The hurt and anger threatened to rush back. “Go on.”

“I told you not to go,” he said. “If I’d stopped you from going, would you have ever forgiven me? Would you have ever trusted me enough to continue with what needed to be done?”

She bit her lip, but there was nothing she could say. She couldn’t trust him any more for allowing her to leave than she would have if he’d stopped her from leaving. And she couldn’t trust herself. She’d known, somewhere deep down, that her mother was dead. She’d known, yet she’d allowed herself to be fooled, all because of her childish desire to believe her mother was still alive.

Her heart longed to forgive him, but she could not push aside the feelings of abandonment. Her parents had kept the truth from her, and it left her helpless. How could Ethan do the same? Why hadn’t he warned her of these things sooner?

“Ye could have tried ‘arder to stop me.”

“How?” His fists clenched at his side. “By grabbing you and dragging you back inside?”

She shook her head, and unease twisted in her stomach. Was he right—that she would not have listened to him anyway?

“It would have been worth it,” Ethan said, his voice dropping into tones of defeat. “The exposure to the sun. But our world is one of power and deceit. You needed to see for yourself. I allowed it this time, knowing I could soon have Lenore ready to come to your rescue. Or you could have learned that another time, in a more life-threatening situation where no one would have been around to help you.”

The words, a sharp reminder of what her future held, cut into her heart. She leaned against the wall and slid to the floor. Ethan joined her.

“The Strigoi,” Ethan continued, “can track scents easily. Robert knew yours well because you two have met. He did not know the other scent was mine. If I’d been seen, too much would have been revealed. All of our efforts would have been for naught.”

“Robert . . . followed my scent?” Ophelia asked. “All this way? But—”

“He appeared as your mother .

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