A Slave to Broken Hearts (A Slave to Love Sequel)

Chapter 33: Blood and Chocolate

It had been...I wasn't sure how many days so far anymore actually, it was hard to keep track, but one thing I knew for sure was that things felt better. Less strained. Ever since the day we snuck pictures of Lexi and Ace napping together, I'd noticed an uptick in my recovery as well as our relationship. Sure we weren't about to go back to how we used to be, we still hadn't even discussed anything that had happened, but I felt a bit calmer, more at ease around him, even if it was still awkward if we were alone for too long.

Which was rare, seeing as someone always came swooping in to save me. But it did mean that our better attitudes were helping my recovery along more quickly, so I'd take the momentary peace.

It was almost to the point where I was almost starting to have doubts about what I'd seen at the ball, that perhaps it had been a trick of my mind from our bond. But still, I didn't dare to get my hopes up, though it was hard not too. 

"Hey Ace?" I asked, twisting my ring around my finger. Blade and Lexi were both off at the moment, Blade to get me food and Lexi to talk to Alek as she had yet to leave the house since I'd been here, same as Ace. Despite how much improvement there was, they evidently didn't think it would last if they left me here unsupervised, not that I blamed them. I was still a bit tired, body still a bit sore, tattoo still rimmed with flaming red, but at least the spread was just shy of my elbow now, and lessening every day.

"Hey Kiana?"

I ignored his attempt at humor. "Did you ever find out anything about Eliza?"

I hated to ask, but a sick part of me wanted to know, couldn't help but wonder. He hadn't said anything about her since we'd asked him to look into her story--I'd almost forgotten entirely honestly--but I wasn't sure if that meant it was a good thing or not. And Blade had been nothing but polite, almost friendly, these days and I had no idea what that meant when I hadn't so much as heard a whisper of Eliza's existence since I'd shown up.

But we were going to have to talk eventually, and when we did, I needed some kind of information or assurance, and if there was so much as a suspicion that she was up to something I wanted to know. Even if he didn't love me anymore, he didn't need to be a part of any sort of stupid plan she might have cooked up with Aros. Just because he cared about her didn't mean he should get himself into any kind of danger for it, he'd suffered enough over the years, especially because of her, as well as Aros.

He let out a breath, like he wished I hadn't asked and had forgotten all about it. "So far nothing to say that she's lying."

"What did you find out?"

"Kiana..."

"I just want to know, Ace. I hardly know anything about her, I can't help it."

"I know. I'm just worried that if you dwell on her too much you're going to--"

"To what? Fall apart again? Like you said last time, things can't possibly get any worse."

"Did I say that?"

I sat up in bed, looking down at him to where he had his head in my lap, imploring him to go on. "Please?"

He held my gaze steadily, then made a face and huffed. "Fine. It's not much, she really kept quiet and isn't terribly splashy, like some other vamps are."

"Whatever you have is enough," I said, putting my hands behind me to keep me upright. 

"So Blade thought he killed her, right? But obviously we all know that she was turned and lived on. Who turned her is still a mystery, but there's definitely a list to narrow it down."

"A list?"

"A pretty long list of murdered scum, actually."

"I'm sorry, what?"