Page 36 of The Crimson Princess
There is a glow of approval in his eyes shadowed by caution. “While I like where you're going with this, and I do not believe you can risk losing your powers when you have a kingdom to protect, you need to be cautious with your father. If your father finds out—”
“If he finds out now, it’s a problem. I know. But there might actually be a time when what I am brings peace between our worlds. Perhaps sooner than later.”
Something I read as admiration, fills his expression. “You’re wise beyond your years, princess. But we still have yet to talk about your bloodlust.”
“I don’t have bloodlust.”
“You do.” His voice is steel. “I can feel inside you.”
“You made me taste blood.”
“You needed to find it, before it found you. Even now, it might surprise you at the wrong time or the wrong place. When it first comes over you, it’s the worst. You learn to control it. Until then, I can link us and help you control it.”
“Link us how?”
“A bloodbond and a spell.”
A dangerous proposition, is my first reaction, but I don’t say that to him. “And then what?”
“You reach for me. I’ll be there. The magic will not allow me to reach for you. It’s one sided.”
“Reach for you how?”
“Think of me. You’ll figure it out,” he assures me. “I promise.”
“After this magic is in place, can you read my thoughts?”
“No.”
“Did you do this for my mother?”
“No. She and I were not you and I, and I think you know that.”
I consider this response without questioning its validity. I accept it as the truth it screams inside me. “Is the bond permanent?”
“Either of us can reject the bond at any time.”
“How?”
“With your magic. Like I said. You’ll figure it out. It’s as intuitive as your inborn magic.”
A bond to the vampire king is intuitive. What is happening right now? “This is crazy,” I say. “I barely know you.”
“You know me better than you think you do,” he says. “I think you know that, too.”
Exactly, I think.Exactly.“Why is that?”
“It’s in our blood. We shared a part of ourselves with each other.”
That doesn't feel as right as the rest of what he's told me, so I dig for more. “We share a part of anyone we drink from?”
“No.”
“I don’t understand.”
“And you don’t have time to understand right now. As you said. It’s late.” A blade appears in his hand and he wastes no time slicing his palm open. Blood pools on his skin before he offers me the blade.
I hesitate only a moment. I know my father all too well and my mother wasn’t wrong to be afraid of him finding out that we are not full gale. He has so many women in his bed, and so many potential bastard children, that we both could have been replaced.
