Page 128 of Cruelly Bitten
But she wasn’t exactly right either.
I’d handled her roughly because I knew she could take it. More than that, I knew it would intensify her pleasure, which it had.
However, she’d been too distraught to truly enjoy it.
She was used to a male who treated her like a fragile object, not an equal.
That’s a mistake from my past self,I thought at her.One I will be rectifying.
Ismerelda wasn’t a docile doll; she was so much more.
You’re my queen,I whispered to her.Why have I never turned you?
The answer didn’t reveal itself, her memories not touching much on the topic of her not becoming a vampire.
Did we never discuss it?I wondered.
Had I kept her human for her blood? Or had I kept her human because I preferred to keep her weak?
The former would be a practical reason. The latter… a selfish one.
Sighing, I focused on our surroundings again, noting the wildness growing alongside the roads. Vines and other greenery had taken over the vacant storefronts, gas stations, and various other structures. It was clear this area hadn’t been inhabited in well over a hundred years. And other than the road, nothing else had been looked after.
“Is it like this everywhere?” I asked Keys. “The run-down buildings and out-of-control greenery?”
The human blinked up at the mirror before refocusing on the road. “I… I don’t know, Sire. The airport is the farthest I’ve been from the Coventus. Other than my time at the Blood University, anyway. But that… hadn’t been like this.”
I considered him for a moment. “What had it been like? At the Blood University, I mean.”
“Cold,” he replied without missing a beat. “There was ice everywhere.”
“Hmm, one of the Nordic schools, then,” I guessed, recalling the map of Blood University locations.
There were ten scattered across the globe, some of them on random islands and others in locations vampires and lycans didn’t want to claim—like lands covered in snow.
“You were either in Svalbard or Greenland,” I told him. “Not that those names mean anything to you now.”
He said nothing, just focused on the road, but I caught the subtle interest in his features—the flare of his nostrils, the wayhis throat worked as he swallowed, his gaze chancing a glance at me in the mirror once more.
“You have no idea who I am, do you?” I asked, the realization yet another punch in the gut.
Lilith’s logs had claimed the humans were taught about royals and alphas, our identities well known and revered.
But Keys hadn’t mentioned my name when he’d made his call earlier.
I hadn’t thought much of it, my concern having been on getting the fuck out of Rome.
However, now I grasped the fatal error of that conversation.
“Hazel has no idea I’m coming,” I mused aloud, the human seemingly frozen in the front seat. “Did the checkpoint personnel not ask for an identity?”
“You’re a vampire, Sire,” Keys said slowly. “It’s not our place to ask for a name.”
I nearly laughed. “Of course.”Because humans serve in this world. “But you don’t know me at all. My name. My reign. My royal status?”
The human’s shoulders went rigid, his gaze returning to the mirror long enough for the car to swerve.
“Focus on the road, Keys,” I told him conversationally. “I’m not upset.” Well, not at him, anyway. “I’m just… absorbing the information that you have no idea who you’re driving to Slovenia.”
