Page 109 of Pretty Little Prey
She did want to turn back—she missed food—but she hesitated at the idea of losing her now super strength and speed. She was immortal now, about to become a queen to some of the most powerful and dangerous shifters in existence.Drinking blood may turn me into a horny mess, but being a predator after so many years of being a prey is kind of, well,nice.
“Maybe once you are a prey again, the Dark King will not want you,” Conrad said,stillno emotion playing across his features.
“Why do they hate each other?” Luna asked. “Bastille and Daxton?”
The workers all held their breath and paused their work.
Conrad took his time in replying, “They grew up together. The queen—Daxton’s mother adopted the basilisk when he was very young. His family had been killed, but she wished to let him live. Basilisks tend to become irritable and murderous as they age. Evil and irredeemable. Her choice was questioned many times.”
“So, Bastille grew up in a castle full of people expecting the worst from him? Expecting him to turn evil?”
Conrad frowned at Luna’s response, as did the workers around her.
“Basilisks are monsters,” the hairdresser commented.
“Have you ever known one?” Luna inquired and got her hair pulled as a result. “That’s what I thought.”
“It is said that whenever the Dark King and the Light King shared a toy while growing up, the Dark King would break it just so our king could not have it. He would rather neither of them be able to play with it than let it give the Light King happiness.”
“Seems to me, considering we are in a castle, that Daxton had plenty of toys and plenty of possible replacements of toys while growing up,” Luna stated.
Had Bastille grown jealous? If he experienced the same negativity and prejudice she had so far over being a vampire, then maybe he had grown tired of it. Grown cold. She could imagine Daxton was seen as the golden boy compared to temperamental Bastille.
“You defend the Dark King?” the manicurist gasped.
“I’m just saying, when you treat someone a certain way, they can start to become—”
The hairdresser’s fingernails dug into Luna’s scalp so sharply, Luna sucked in a breath and hissed from pain.
“Enough,” Conrad announced, and the women froze. “Leave us. Now.”
The workers glanced at each other in confusion. “My liege—”
“Leave. Now,” he snapped, and they rushed to exit the grand castle bedroom. Conrad silently glared at her as he leaned against the wall.
“What?” Luna asked.
He pushed off the wall and strode closer to where she sat. “Are you hungry?”
Random question, much? “I don’t eat food anymore. Remember?”
Conrad scowled at her mouth. “I asked, ‘are you hungry?’”
Did he mean….for blood?
“I saw your fangs flash in your mouth. They lengthened when the hairdresser hurt you.”
She shrugged. “Maybe it’s a defense mechanism.”
He tilted his head, his long, blond hair flopping to the side as he peered down at her. “So, you do not need to feed?” he questioned.
“Can you not use the word ‘feed?’” She cringed. “It makes me sound like a parasite.”
He remained silent. No doubt thinking:That’s what you are. She glared right back at him.
He informed her, “It is said that a new vampire must feed once every day.”
“Wow, who knew I was in a room with a vampire expert?” she snorted.
