Page 55 of Fated to the Vampire Prince
I swallowed hard. That was an idea I hadn’t thought of.
Tansy had seemed amenable to this Devlinn, and she’d named him as her favorite of the group. And while I was unsure about this whole thing, I couldn’t deny I was curious toknow how people moved together. To learn more than what Bastien had shown me.
“Is that… pleasurable?” I asked him. My words slow and barely audible. “To watch?”
His nearness had my pulse pounding in my ears and my heart fluttering in my chest. Something about him did that to me. No matter how much I despised him for marching nine Dark Witches into my room.
“Some find it very pleasurable.”
“We don’t mind at all, Miss Claire,” Devlinn said. He took Tansy’s bare waist and dragged her against his hard, muscled frame, pressing her close in a way Bastien had done to me before.
She looked eagerly up at him as she wound her fingers through his red hair, twisting the strands until her fingers were threaded in it. Then, slowly, he lowered his lips to hers. Kissing her like he wanted nothing else in the world. I lifted a hand to my lips as the ghost of a kiss I didn’t remember tingled. A song of gasps and sighs began as his hands explored her body, cupping her backside and squeezing. Molding his hands to her flesh.
Bastien and I had become very still. His lips were hovering beside my ear, like he had more to whisper, but the only thing I could hear was the sound of his breath. I turned toward him, the slightest movement of my head, and found he wasn’t watching them,but me.And the look in his eyes was anything but gentlemanly.
I quickly turned back. My breath coming in jagged little sips. Desire ignited between my thighs as I continued to watch them. Their kisses became rougher. Their cries sharper. Until he had her bent over, and… and…slid inside her. Tansy’s cry of pleasure made my legs too wobbly to stand. Bastien’s hand found the small of my back, and he let me lean against him. Hetucked a strand of hair behind my ear so his lips could press flush against my skin. Everything inside me clenched.
“Should I tell them to stop?”
I bit my lip hard. Watching. Feeling the way Bastien’s cool hand drew circles on my back. It was too much and not enough at the same time. But did I want them to stop? “No, they can keep going.”
Chapter 26
Proposer
BASTIEN
After the performance was over, Claire and I were alone again. She was standing at the window with a hand pressed to the cold glass, silently staring at the mountains beyond. Her heart rate had settled; the reassuring beat pulsed inside my bloodstone.
I wished I knew what she was thinking, but that wasn’t one of my gifts. As casually as I could, I plucked a moonflower from a crystal vase and stood beside her at the window. She drew in a deep breath and blew it out, her warm breath fogging the glass, but otherwise didn’t acknowledge me. Awkwardly, I offered her the flower. “Would you care to see the greenhouse where these moonflowers were cut?”
“No,” she said, softly shaking her head. “I want to be alone, Your Grace.” Alone? But she looked so…sad. Standing in front of this window. I took a step closer, but she recoiled. “Please, Your Grace.”
I studied the lines of tension around her eyes. The way her lips pressed together in a quivering line. There was somethingwrong. And by the way she was acting, it was my fault. “You’re upset with me.”
She faked a smile. “No, Your Grace. Just tired.”
She might be tired, but that wasn’t the only thing bothering her. She wouldn’t have recoiled from me if she was sleepy. “Claire…” I said as tenderly as I could. Unsure what to say or how to frame my thoughts, when tears welled in her eyes and frustration furrowed her brows.
“Of course I’m upset with you,” she said, refusing to look at me.
I’d caused her pain. Not physical pain, but emotional pain. It lodged itself in my chest like a knife. “Is there something I can do?”
Hugging her arms to her chest, Claire shook her head. “Just leave, Your Grace. Please. You’ve done enough today.”
Every cell inside my body told me to go to her. To comfort her. To hold her. To take away whatever pain she was experiencing, but that’s not what she wanted from me. She despised me, and there was nothing I could do to change her opinion.
My gaze fell to the black lace around her throat. The cursed necklace that she couldn’t take off. The one she’d bought to try and make a better life for her sister. She was selfless. And here I was, being selfish. Just like everyone else that made her feel less than perfect. That realization nearly brought me to my knees.
I might be a prince, but I wasn’t the right person to be this woman’s mate. That much was plain. The gods had gotten this mating wrong. I couldn’t make her happy. She was far too sweet to be mated to a man like me. But I could promise her one thing. “I promise I will not force Dark Witches on you again.”
I backed away, step by step, wanting to do as she asked, but I stopped halfway to the door, needing to say something more—then thought better of it. She didn’t turn around, not even when I whispered, “I’m sorry.”
Once I closed the door, I couldn’t make myself leave. I lingered, torn between returning to explain our bond and tending to the other matters awaiting me. I reminded myself that Claire wasn’t the only thing that needed my attention.
I was awaiting word about the state of my continued negotiations with the witches of the Lawless Lands. If they agreed they were ready for peace, I’d need to meet with them in person. It involved negotiating the construction and placement of new châteaus and selecting representatives from each coven who would move to the capital of the Unified Territories to speak for their people.
But, again, it was tenuous.
