Page 62 of Fated to the Vampire Prince
Alec let me go so that he could bow, just as everyone else did.
I didn’t.
Slowly, I turned to face him. He was impeccably dressed, of course, with a cravat tied at his throat. I dropped the hand banded over my chest. If he’d come to see me, then he could seeall of me.
Chapter 29
Proposer
BASTIEN
Ahush fell over the room, save for beating hearts and nervous breaths that grated against my patience.
So what if they were afraid?They should be. I’d kill them all where they stood for daring tolookat my mate’s bare chest. None of them mattered to me the wayshemattered.
Claire was the curling ivy inside my heart. The gravity that held me to the ground. The moon on my darkest night. As much as I wanted to deny her hold on me, it was real.
I was beholden to her.
And right now, the woman who captivated all my attention was exposed for every wagging tongue in the room to see—including my whelp of a nephew. Heir to my lands and titles, and yet still a reckless boy. How foolish was I to even consider stepping aside? This wasn’t the kind of behavior expected of the next Duke of Roselyn.
Parting the sea of people standing between me and her, I removed my jacket, then settled it over her shoulders. Claire glared up at me, and I glared down at her. Furious that she could make me feel this way.
“Your Grace, the point of Dépouiller isn’t to put clotheson,” she seethed. “It’s to take themoff.”
I caught the scent of whiskey on her breath and the hazy look in her eyes. She was drunk with her consorts, even though I forbade it. “I know how the game works,” I replied, trying to keep my head.
I didn’t want to play nice in front of all these people. I wanted to rage.At her.At them. At myself. Without breaking eye contact with Claire, I told her guests that the party was over. The room emptied quicker than if I’d announced the château was on fire. Men and women tripped over themselves to get dressed and get out as quickly as possible. A flutter of robes and arms rushing out the door. All except my nephew, who sidled up beside me, clearly intoxicated.
“Don’t be upset. We were just having a bit of fun, Uncle,” Tyson said, clapping a hand around my shoulder. “The journey here was painfully boring. You understand, I’m sure.”
My fury was a living, breathing thing. Had Tyson been anyone else besidesmon sang, my blood, he’d already be dead. My fangs lengthened, and the shadows under my eyes darkened. “If you don’t want your mother to receive your severed head in a box,boy,” I said around a snarl. “I suggest you shut your mouth andget out. You’ve caused enough trouble for one night.”
The color drained from his face, but he said nothing else. Just as quickly as the others, he vacated Claire’s room, closing the door behind him. I had a mind to shove him in a coach and send him back home. But it wasn’t him I wanted to think about. It washer.
Once again, I found myself alone with Claire. And despite my anger, something inside me relaxed, knowing that it was just the two of us. I drew in a deep breath through my nose, trying to calm my temper. When I turned my attention backto her once again, I found her angrily collecting playing cards.
“Have you been harmed?” I asked. “Didhecoerce you to do anything you didn’t want to do?”
If he had, even the goddess wouldn’t be able to save him.
She expelled a loud breath, marched over to where I stood, and, without warning, threw the cards in my face. They fluttered to the ground like tree leaves. I didn’t react, except to pick one of the cards from my collar and toss it on the ground.
“You are such a spoil sport!” she screamed, poking me hard in the chest. “And confusing! I mean, what is actually wrong with you?”
That was an excellent question. One that I had been asking myself ever since I met her, despite knowing the answer. I folded my arms across my chest. “You’re drunk.”
“And you’re an ass!” she countered, poking me in the chest again.
This time, I grabbed her wrist, if only to steady her. She was teetering like we were on the deck of a ship. “I’m an ass? I’m the one trying to keep you safe. You’re the one disregarding your own welfare.”
She laughed and rolled her eyes. “We were just playing a game!”
“And drinking. Which I specifically prohibited with your consorts,” I reminded her.
At this, her sarcastic laughter ceased, and she poked me again with her free hand. “You can shove all your rules up your entitled ass!”
I captured her other wrist and drew Claire closer to me until her body was flush against mine, and her heat burned into me. “Those rules are for your safety.”
