Dark Secrets by Madeline Pryce Read Free Book Online Page A

you
can spend some time with your uncle? He’s been gone for several weeks, has he
not?”
    Before I could answer, he hooked his arm in mine and led me
down the hall. The hard floor was cold under my feet, reminding me I was still
in my workout clothes. Not to mention Eli had shifted on top of me, which was
all kinds of disgusting. I needed a hot shower, clothes and some weapons.
    We passed a rectangular mirror with an ornate, gaudy frame
that went well with the frilly rose Victorian-era wallpaper. Julian stood tall
and regal. At his side, I looked plain and disheveled. Nothing like a queen.
    “I used to walk this path with Lizbeth, arm in arm.”
    “Her name makes me want to vomit.”
    Julian continued speaking as if I hadn’t said anything. “She
didn’t spend much time in this house. There’s an estate up north she preferred.”
    I wondered, without wanting to, how many times in the two
years we’d dated he’d been with her and lied about it after. The thought made
me ill. I wasn’t enough. Not then and perhaps not now.
    “I never touched her while I was with you. And is that why
you are upset, your mongrel found someone to play with?”
    Bastard was reading my mind.
    “Here’s a thought, stay the fuck out of my head.”
    Julian continued down the halls, each step slow and
measured, prolonging our chat, increasing the odds I’d figure out a way around
the sire-fledging restrictions that kept me from killing him.
    “Did I ever tell you how I was turned?”
    “No. I asked once and you told me it didn’t concern me. That
was right around the time you decided you knew what was best for me and changed
me. You want to talk?” I glared up at him. “Let’s start there.”
    “I saved your life, Ella.”
    I stopped and turned to face him fully. At my side, I curled
my hand into a fist. “I seriously hate you.”
    “It’ll pass.” He grabbed my arm and drew us down a flight of
stairs. “I was a whore.”
    His announcement drew me to a stop. I gawked at him.
    “Close your mouth, dear.”
    I snapped it shut and he pulled on my arm until we resumed
walking down the staircase to the lower level of the house where the distant
chatter of voices beckoned.
    “Prostitution is the world’s oldest profession. I needed
money and as you know,” he winked at me, “I excel at pleasing women.”
    “You excel at manipulation.”
    “Lizbeth had a woman’s desires and a girl’s body. Made it
difficult for her to find lovers outside of her inner circle who weren’t, oh
how did she put it…” He paused as if searching for the memory. His face lit up
when he recalled it. “‘Creepy pedophiles’.”
    For years after Julian had abandoned me, I’d been fed image
after image of him screwing another woman. I’d never seen her face, only knew
how bad it hurt to know he was with someone else.
    “I’ve got the X-rated images forever branded into my brain,
thanks for that by the way.” I shuddered. “Keep your pedo tendencies to
yourself.”
    “Age is but a number, you’ll learn that in a few centuries
when everyone around you ages and dies. I became her favorite toy. She turned
me, kept me at her side and invited me into her inner circle.”
    I thought of Micah and the imaginary bimbo. Of how I’d felt
at eighteen while I was forced to watch Julian take another through our mental
connection. “Didn’t it bother you she was with other men?”
    “And women. And no—when you live for eternity, your sexual
horizons are broadened.” He turned to me at the bottom of the stairs and
stroked my cheek.
    I swallowed, vaguely sickened by his words. In a hundred
years—and that was if Micah inherited the immortal life span of a full-blooded
demon—would he want to broaden his horizons?
    He leaned in closer and brushed his nose against mine as if
he were going to kiss me. The tip trailed over my cheek. His breath coated my
skin. He cupped my hip and whispered into my ear, “I’ll never stop loving you.”
    I pushed him