Bleeding Hearts (Once Upon a Monster Book 1) by Emma Hamm

Author:Emma Hamm [Hamm, Emma]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-09-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Maeve sighed and strangled the gloves in her lap. She’d wanted to save them as a memory, maybe press them in between the pages of a book. Of course, she didn’t have that luxury. Instead, she had a priest standing in her doorway, refusing to let her leave.

“I will only ask this one more time,” Leon snarled. “What happened at the opera?”

“Is that your exorcism voice? It’s not as terrifying as you think it is. A demon would laugh at you.” She set the gloves on top of her belongings, carefully packing them away.

“Maeve.” Leon was obviously over her snarky replies, even though that was all he would get out of this conversation. “I cannot do this. You know the dangers of being here. We’ve both seen what he’s capable of and I think we have enough proof to return to the Church.”

She snapped her bag shut and glared. “We know nothing more than superstition and rumor.”

“That’s not true! He’s all but admitted it himself, and the Church will take our opinions as to what they are. The opinions of experts.”

If he continued like that, she would laugh in his face. Yes, she was an expert. But he was a green priest who’d never done this before in his life. Would they believe him?

Unlikely.

“I’ve done this for a long time, Leon. I know exactly what they’re looking for, and it isn’t the fears of two people who should have done their job right in the first place.” She planted her fists on her hips. “I’m not leaving with you. I have to stay and get the evidence they want because they’re going to send you right back here when you show up empty-handed.”

“You’re coming with me,” he argued.

“You have absolutely no right to tell me where I am or am not going. If you want to run back to the Church only to be told that I was correct, then so be it.” She crossed her arms over her chest and widened her stance. “By all means, Leon. You may go. But I’m staying here and I’m finishing the job.”

She told herself that it was because she wanted the Church out of her life. This was the first and last job they would ever offer such conditions on, and she would do it right. If that meant her freedom, she would do anything.

But the truth was that she had fallen under the vampire’s spell. Leon wasn’t wrong. Every day in this castle lured her into a darker, more perilous side of the vampiric world. One she hadn’t realized was there.

Maeve could lie to herself all she wanted, but her heart knew there was only so much she could withstand. Martin had weaved a web, and she’d walked right into it. The more she struggled, the more tangled she became.

Maybe vampires could perform magic. Maybe the Duke had cast a spell over her or had somehow entranced her with his gaze.

What if she didn’t want to leave his web?

And therein lay the problem both she and Leon recognized.

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