We’d only just begun our journey together. Then Silvano had robbed us of what precious little time we had left.
Eight months felt like nothing to one my age.
Yet those months had stretched on for what felt like an eternity.
I guided her back to the ground again with my fangs embedded in her throat.
She writhed in response, her legs automatically parting in blatant invitation. I settled between her thighs, my hand leaving her hair to move downward and cup her breast.
Much better, I thought, pleased with her body’s natural response to receiving proper meals.
She arched into me, completely lost to my bite and the endorphins flooding her system.
Another needy little sound left her throat.
I reveled in it and smiled as I sensed another vampire approaching us. He would have heard the slip in her conditioning. That would benefit me when I stated my desire to keep her for a month.
Unless he chose to take her himself.
But I doubted he would.
I’d seen his interest in another.
I lifted my gaze to find him only ten feet away with that particular female in his arms, her body lifeless. However, the hint of a pulse told me she was still alive.Barely.
“Are you going to kill her?” His deep voice made Lily freeze beneath me. She would recognize it since he’d been her instructor these last few months. “Because I think that would be a waste.”
The warning in his tone was unexpected.
Prince Khalid wasn’t one to care about frivolous deaths. He was a renowned assassin, after all.
When I’d called him with the news about Silvano’s demand, he’d told me he would take care of temporarily reassigning my classes. The university bordered his region, making it his responsibility to oversee.
But I’d been rather stunned to find out he’d flown in to personally cover the classes in my absence. I’d expected him to delegate the task.
However, his name on the schedule read asMaster Khalid,notPrince Khalid, which left me wondering what game he was playing here.
He wasn’t like other royals. He tended to do his own thing and lurk in the shadows.
So if he was here, he was here for a reason.
And I really did not want to intrude on his plans.
I carefully released Lily’s neck and went to my knees between her spread thighs, purposefully holding myself in an inferior position to him as a show of respect.
“It would be a waste,” I agreed with him, referring back to his comments regarding ending Lily’s life.
He studied me for a beat. “Then she’s released?”
“No. I’m claiming her for the month.”
His dark eyebrows rose. “Oh?”
“Is that going to be a problem?”
“Not at all,” he replied. “The palace could use more life.”
A subtle reminder that he was staying there now as well. And his bloodline made him my superior, too. Which meant I would have to share her when he asked.