Page 7 of Fated to the Vampire Prince
She was afraid of what came next.
My instinct was to offer words of comfort. To take her inmy arms and tell her she would be safe. Because I’d make her safe. An instinct that I had to fight against with all my willpower.
Chest tight, I slowly lifted my hand and waited for Marius to place hers in mine. When he did, a pop of something that felt like magick stirred between us. A jolt of heat that I felt in every corner of my body—the first ounce of warmth I’d experienced since my death.
I tried to look unaffected because I knew Marius was watching me. Studying my reaction. He might come off as a playful host, but there was a reason why my brothers and I named him High Prince. He was cunning. And I knew he was suspicious of my intense opposition to Claire. However, Marius wasn’t the one I was worried about at the moment.
Claire was grimacing at the place our bare skin touched like my flesh had just burned her, and I wondered if she had felt it, too. The snap of magick. If the stories were true, she should be able to feel the pull of our bond. I hoped in this case the stories were wrong. Or, that, because her blood was tainted with magick, she was temporarily immune to it.
My attention shifted down to her throat and the black lace choker coated in blood. I used the sight to fuel my anger. I was only in this situation because she so unwisely dabbled in magick.
Falling back on the courtesies Marius expected of me, I placed my free hand behind my back. “Shall we give the people what they want, Miss Donadieu?”
“Oh, we’re going now?” she asked, her voice wobbling. “You’re going to claim me r-right away?”
I narrowed my eyes. “That’s how this works. I drink from you, and they all clap. The first bite seals our contract. That’s what you want, isn’t it? For me to drink your blood?”
Say no. Say you want to run away.
The scent of her fear intensified. My need to comfort her became almost unbearable.
Instead, I instructed myself to focus on how angry I was. She had thrown the fate of so many in jeopardy just by daring to be in my presence. If I let my guard down for one minute, for onesecond, everything I’d worked to build would come crashing down. I hated her for who she was and for ruining what little peace I’d found in this life. To my surprise, focusing on anger seemed to work. It cleared my mind. If I could only stay angry, I could survive this.
“Yes, that’s what I want,” Claire finally said, even though the scent of her fear was omnipresent. The fragrance clinging to my clothes and sticking to my tongue. “Okay, I’m ready.”
“Then follow my lead.”
The attendants opened the balcony doors for us, revealing a massive crowd of nobles. Drinks in hand. Glasses raised. Marius strode forward, making his announcement of the imminent joining between Claire and me.
“Oh wow,” Claire muttered under her breath when everyone cheered. “Are they all waiting for us?”
I shifted my gaze to her face, hoping to watch her squirm under the pressure, but instead was captivated by the way moonlight streaming in from the stained glass windows illuminated her lavender hair with an iridescent glow. It was breathtaking. The world could’ve been burning, and I wouldn’t have noticed.
“We are the entertainment,” I forced myself to say.
“That’s really intimidating,” she replied, still staring at the crowd.
Meanwhile, I was staring at her. At the way the light caught her hair.“Yes,” I said, the words dripping from my lips, “it’s all very intimidating.”
Somehow, I forced myself to tear my focus from her andcarry out my duties despite everything in me screaming to claim her mouth as mine, to seal the bond between us with a kiss.
Step by step, I led us to the dais at the front of the ballroom, where the rest of my brothers and their sanguine partners stood waiting. Tibitha, the woman I’d been feeding from for the last year, stood off to the side next to my second-in-command, Natalia. Unsurprisingly, my niece looked miffed that I’d selected someone without consulting her. Claire’s hand trembled as I guided her up the stone steps, and my anger wavered.
“If this is too much?—”
“I’m fine.”
She wasn’t, but I couldn’t let that thought consume me.
I knew this was why our laws forbade taking your mate as a sanguine partner. The bond was consuming enough without their blood running through your veins. The elders warned it made us too impulsive and rash. But I didn’t have a choice. I’d have to force myself to drink from Claire in front of an audience because my only other options were death or admitting the truth to Marius, which would destroy everything.
The violins played while I bowed to Marius. Claire, following my lead, curtsied. I tried not to take notice when the swell of her breasts strained against the black lace bodice of her gown as she did.
“As all good matches begin, so does the one between my brother, Prince Bastien of House Allard, Duke of Roselyn, and Miss Claire Donadieu. With a first bite.” He canted his head to the side and grinned coyly. “Or rather, a second, in this case.”
Soft chuckles sounded from the crowd. Others whispered, clearly offended that I hadn’t chosen their daughter as my sanguine partner.
Claire’s cheeks flushed at the attention,and I felt the thrum of her heart beating faster against my chest. Pulsing from the bloodstone I wore on a thin gold chain around my neck.
