29

But her expression became sad, her mouth downturned. “It’s you who threatens her, vampire.” She shook her head. “A marked human will eventually fade away, becoming a mere shell of themselves, only finding pleasure in the bite.”

“What?” My ass landed on my chair as I sat down unexpectedly. “But I…I… What the hell? I’ve claimed Leia. She’s mine. She’s my true mate.”

“Yet you know of no human true mates?” The witch’s suddenly clear eyes met mine, intelligence gleaming from her gaze. Then she reached into the folds of her cloak. “I’ve brought something for the girl. It should stave off the worst of the thrall if she wears it at all times.” She handed me a charm bracelet, decorated with small chips of glittering stone. “Each of these has protective and healing properties, but I can’t offer anything more than a temporary solution. You started this chain of events, vampire king. Now to prove your worth.” She bent toward me and lowered her voice. “You must turn her.”

The air around her shimmered, and I leaned forward urgently. “What? But I have questions!”

But she faded as she sat in front of me, only the scent of her herbs lingering in the air and the charm bracelet lying on the desk proof that she’d been here at all.

I reached for the bracelet, but a knock at the door stayed my hand. “Come in,” I called.

Sebastian entered first, closely followed by my uncle. I stood to greet them, and Sebastian’s smile widened. “Well, well.” He grinned.

“What?” My head was still too full of the things the witch had said.

He grinned wider. “Someone finally made his claim. Congratulations.” He and my uncle made themselves comfortable in the small seating area on the other side of my office.

I rarely used it, but I joined them. “I don’t think this is all going to be as straightforward as I anticipated.”

“Oh?” Sebastian cocked an eyebrow. “Why? Is Leia unhappy?” For a moment, his eyes glowed a dull red.

“Far from it,” I snapped.

He held up his hands. “Okay, but a man can dream.”

A growl ripped from my chest. Dangers were everywhere. Francois, other men, the witch. My own damn brother.

“Sebastian,” my uncle counseled. “Be sensible. Don’t provoke Nic. A newly mated male is very dangerous, and I would guess a newly mated—truly mated—king is excessively so.”

I sighed and pushed a hand through my hair.

“I think I have bigger problems than Sebastian.” I filled them both in on everything the witch had said. “Have you ever heard anything like this?”

Sebastian shook his head, but my uncle’s face paled, his lips thinning.

“Thralls,” he whispered.

“Thralls? What the fuck are they?”

Sebastian shuddered. “I thought they were just stories.”

“They’re humans who don’t get turned after they’re marked.” My uncle’s voice was stronger now.

“For fuck’s sake. Why am I only finding out about this now?” I stood and paced away, useless anger humming through every part of me. “Why has no one ever told me this before? I’m the king.”

And fuck, I should have known.

Sebastian shrugged. “Nic, you drink blood baggies. When would you ever have marked a human before? Why would you know the dangers?”

“Fuck,” I barked as I continued to pace. “So the witch was right? I’ve got to go back to Leia and tell her I was wrong? That claiming her wasn’t enough, that it was never going to be enough? That I’ve condemned her to death?”

“No, you haven’t,” Sebastian said carefully, but I rounded on him anyway, looking for an outlet for my anger.

“I might as well have when the only fucking alternative is to turn her.”

9

Leia

M

y sides actually hurt. I’d heard people talk about laughing until their sides hurt, but I hadn’t believed it was really a thing.

“What?” Aimée turned to me and made her eyes so wide in protestation of her innocence that her carefully placed slices of cucumber fell away. “Fuck,” she said mildly as she replaced them, smearing Chef’s homemade avocado facemask in the process. “But I am serious. Tomas’s idea of a grand gesture was naming a star after me. A star I’ll probably live to see fucking explode or something.” She sighed and shook her head. “But I love that crazy guy. That’s got us through the first fifty years, right?”

I chuckled again but my mind whirled with thoughts. Fifty years was a hella long time, but it was almost nothing in Aimée’s lifespan—the way she spoke about it, anyway.

“I can’t imagine being with someone for fifty years.” I slid my own cucumber slices into place, grateful for the excuse not to have to meet her gaze. It felt strangely intimate to talk to this other woman about anything more than the weather or current events, but I liked it.

Aimée and I had an almost instant connection, and I hadn’t even found the energy to be mad at Nic when he left me with a complete stranger.

“I miss him,” I blurted out. “I feel like something has been taken from inside me.”

Aimée didn’t even ask who. “Of course, you do,” she said. “You’re true mates. That’s one stage up from what most of us get.”

“But you and Tomas…” I let my question trail away, no idea what I’d even been about to say. I didn’t know the first thing about vampire relationships, and it wasn’t my place to ask.

“We’re together by choice. Not by some sort of biological compulsion.” She chuckled. “I can’t imagine that at all. A need to be with someone else? What about free will?”

“It’s not really like that.” I shifted and smoothed the fluffy bathrobe Nic had provided for me, my skin heating even as I thought of him. “I don’t feel like it’s a lack of choice. The world feels opened up. Like I can feel more, see more. Like I’m somehow doubled through Nic.”

“Tell me, tell me, tell me, because I’ve always wondered… What’s he like in bed? There has never even been the smallest of rumors. He must have been very selective in the past.”

I lifted myself onto my elbows and removed one of my slices. “Uh, Aimée. He’s your brother,” I said like she might have forgotten.