Page 104 of Fated to the Vampire Prince
“That’s enough, Lady Natalia,” he said between his teeth, seething. Roughly, he took the cup from her, causing a bead of red liquid to slosh over the side and run down his long, pale fingers.
“Claire is my wife, and she has demonstrated her unyielding loyalty to me in more than one way. I will not tolerate hearing her questioned any further.”
My heart swelled as I watched him lift the gold cup to his lips and drink. However, the pride and adoration I felt was tinted with guilt.
“With your blood, your vow is sealed. None will speak of my mate bond to Claire, or death will be your consequence.”
A breath of magick, carrying the familiar fresh scent of garden herbs, trailed around the room, weaving between each one of his council members before it collected around him, the spell binding them all together.
The scent his magick left behind reminded me, shockingly, of home. I’d thought him a Dark Witch, but now I knew that wasn’t true. He had been born of the light. And I was the darkness. The thought caused the magick in me to retreat, and I shivered as my inner flame disappeared.
Bastien set down the cup and took my hand, then lifted my knuckles to his lips.
I’d grown up a ghost. Ignored and left out of important meetings. Shunned for years because of my lack of magick and made to believe I wasn’t good for anything. Told I wasn’t smart or strong. But Bastien believed in me. Where others saw weakness, he saw strength. He raised me up, offered me a seat at his his table, made me powerful in ways I’d never imagined. However, it wasn’t the power of my new position that had my throat burning with emotion.
It was him. Just him.
The blue of his eyes and the fierceness of his gaze when they looked upon me. The careless way his golden hair was pushed to one side. I reached for his face, taking the soft strands between my fingers. Then slowly pushed it back behind his ear. Bastien leaned into my touch, and the feeling was heavenly and sinful at the same time.
He cupped my jaw and leaned in slowly, our eyes locked even when he pressed our lips together like he couldn’t bear to keep me out of his sight for even a moment—even in the middle of this meeting.
His lips tasted of the coppery flavor of blood. My head swam, but I breathed through the feeling, and thankfully, itpassed. Bastien touched the corner of my mouth, trailing his finger along the line of my lower lip, then let out a sigh.
“Would you return to our room and wait for me there?” He glanced at Tyson. “My nephew and I have a few things to discuss.”
I wasn’t sure what Bastien was going to offer Tyson in return for his secrecy, but I knew whatever it was cost him dearly.
“Of course,” I replied. “I would like to bathe.”
He smiled and pressed a kiss to my forehead, just beside the painful gash on my brow. “I will send a nurse to tend to this cut.”
I nodded, and so did he, and I knew this was goodbye for now.
With my hand still clasped in his, Bastien addressed his niece. “Lady Natalia, escort the Duchess to our rooms. Ensure she has a bath drawn.”
Natalia narrowed her eyes. “I’m not her attendant.”
“I do not care.”
The usual warmth between them was absent, and I wondered if it would return any time soon or if my darkness and the need to protect my secret at all costs had severed their bond. For that, I felt guilty, because Natalia wasn’t wrong. Not at all. But I had no other choice when she kept pushing.
“And what of her dogs?” Natalia asked. “Should I bathe them, too? Or should we put them to the question for our werewolf investigation?”
The two great wolves howled outside the door to the council room, which gave many in the room pause.
“They are familiars, not dogs, and not werewolves. I witnessed them bond themselves to her after she received her magick,” Bastien said.
My gaze found Natalia’s, and no part of me wanted to beburdened by her sour mood or to be the target of her insults for the next half hour. I’d experienced enough of that at the hands of my family to know how sour moods festered. Instead, I squeezed Bastien’s hand, drawing his attention back to me. “I don’t require an escort. I have my wolves. I can find my way to our room by myself.”
Pressing his lips together in a hard line, Bastien nodded, then touched the gem hidden under my dress. “If you need me, you know how to reach me.”
I nodded. “I do.”
“Then go. Bathe,” he said. “Get some rest. I will join you later. I swear it.”
With one last look, I exited the council room to find my two familiars waiting patiently for me. Their eyes alight with magick. I ran my hands through their thick fur, and a spark of heat tickled my palms.
Chapter 50
