Because while Master Cedric might say all the right things, I was a passing amusement for him.
He’d been upfront about my fate.
Although, he’d also told me he’d tried to change that fate.
So what am I to him?I wondered, feeling dizzy.
“Sapphire courtyard,” Master Khalid reiterated. “One hour.” His gaze slid to my breasts before shifting to Master Cedric. “Heal her. Feed her. Make sure she’s prepared.”
He wrapped his arms around Prospect One Hundred and Thirty-Nine and disappeared.
Master Cedric said nothing for a long moment.
Then he grabbed me in a similar way.
My stomach screamed at the wrongness of being whisked through time and space. It went on far longer than ever before, my skin clammy with sweat and pebbled with goose bumps by the time we finally stopped. The tunnel-like sensation left me dizzy to the point of exhaustion, causing my legs to buckle beneath me.
But then a soft pillow met my head, and I realized Master Cedric had phased us back to his room.
From the university.
I gaped at him and our surroundings. “How…?”
“I can phase for a mile or two at a time.” He shrugged and vanished. Then he reappeared a second later with a damp washcloth that he pressed to my forehead. “I didn’t feel like driving today, so I ran instead.”
Ran, I repeated to myself.Right.
“Do you know who Khalid is?” he asked as he drew the cool cloth along my temple to my cheeks, gently providing me with a comfort I hadn’t even realized I’d needed.
“A Master like you,” I replied.
“Yes. But no.” The cloth continued downward to my neck. “You know all the royal names, yes?”
I frowned. “Yes. And alphas, too.”
He nodded, the cool sensation dropping to my breast as he gently cleaned the wound he’d created. Then he bent to seal it with blood from his tongue. I wasn’t sure how it worked, but it felt divine. And when he finished, he kissed me again, giving me more of his essence.
I no longer felt hungry at all. Or tired. Just alive.
And safe, I marveled.He makes me feel safe.
Which was insane. I couldn’t be in more danger than I was now, and not just because of his power over me. It was the emotions he awoke within me that were the true danger.
“Tell me the names of the vampire royals,” he instructed.
I started down the list. “Jace, Kylan, Claude, Goddess Lilith, Silvano, Naomi, Sahara, Kha—” My eyes widened. “Khalid…”
He waited.
“Prince Khalid.” I started to shake, my head moving back and forth. “No. He doesn’t look like…” I trailed off, thinking of the images I’d seen of him. “He’s always wearing a scarf.”
“He likes to hide,” Master Cedric replied. “But yes, it’s Prince Khalid. And for whatever reason, he has chosen to train you and Prospect One Hundred and Thirty-Nine together. In both combat and sexual gratification.”
My lips parted. “I’m… I’m to please him?”A royal? A prince? Someone who isn’t Master Cedric?My legs crossed on instinct. I didn’t want that. I didn’t want that at all.
“Maybe.” Master Cedric didn’t appear all that thrilled by the reply, his gaze narrowing as he set the washcloth off to the side. “For now, he’s only requested that your female-on-female course be redesigned to focus on just Prospect One Hundred and Thirty-Nine. With us being your instructors instead of Master Peyton.”
“Oh.” My brow furrowed. That didn’t sound all that bad. “Okay.”