“You as well, Lady Blaque.”
“Yes, yes, all good and lovely,” Soren said with an acid drawl. “I’ve come as you instructed, like a good little pet, now I’d like my dinner. Warm this time, if you please. If I can’t have it from the source, you could at least make certain it’s not the same temperature as your precious ice river.”
Dinner? I shivered. He meant blood. Where did they get it? Not from people, I hoped.
“Relax, sweet. He feeds from animals while he’s here.”
“Soren,” Rhys said to the insouciant vampire, ignoring his demands. “I’d like to introduce you to my mate, Princess Elena.”
“Unless you’ve brought her as a snack, I don’t give a damn.”
“Ignore him, Elena,” Alaric drawled. “He gets cranky when he hasn’t eaten. Or when he has. Truth be told, he’s cranky more often than not.”
“You would be too if you were being kept against your will. Not all of us areroyalty.” For a moment, I thought he was talking about me, but his eyes were on Alaric.
Royalty? What did that mean?
Before I can ask, Rhys said to me, “Soren was caught feeding on our people—”
“Like the parasite he is,” Alaric mumbled, to which Soren bared his sharpened canines.
There were vampires who traveled outside of Erebus, their territory? Everything was hanging. Humans were attacking Immortals. Fae and vampires were migrating outside of their territory. I couldn’t discern if Acasia was changing for the better… or for the worse.
Naturally reading my thoughts, the oaf, Rhys added, “Soren is finishing up a five-term sentence as one of our spies. One for each life he took.”
I turned to Rhys with an amused glance. “You have spies? Why?”
“I like to keep abreast of the goings-on,” he answered with frustrating vagueness. I wished I could read his mind, too.
Soren snapped his fingers and shook back his too-long ebony hair. “Dinner,” he ordered, then gritted his teeth together. “Please.”
“In the kitchens,” Rhys answered.
Soren got easily to his feet. There was an animal grace about his movements, almost feline, as he ambled out of the library. He couldn’t shift into a bat like ancient myths, but the demons that infected the vampire race may as well have been animals, only they possessed the worst characteristics of us all. Dark, soulless creatures, all they cared about was feeding their appetites. Lust, power, sex. They could never have enough. Without morals or ethics, they took what they wanted without remorse.
“Are you sure it’s safe to have him around?”
I knew Rhys would be listening. I smiled a little when I heard, “We forced him to do a blood pact. He can’t feed on anyone or leave the castle without my approval until his terms are up. You’re safe here, I promise you. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
He lifted my chin for a kiss. “I promise,” he said out loud.
“All right,” I said.
“I have to meet with my men, they should be here soon, but Alaric would be happy to give you a tour of the castle.”
I experience a flash of dismay, but it passed quickly. I couldn’t be with Rhys in our little bubble forever, much as I’d enjoyed it.
“Of course,” I said and kissed his cheek. “I’ll see you later?”
“I’ll be back in time for dinner.” After one last hand brushed over my hair, he was gone.
I turned to Alaric, who didn’t alarm me quite as viscerally as Soren, but that was the allure of the fae. If vampires were demons, the fae were angelic. Except not as pure of heart. Fae were devious. They loved to play tricks and delighted in always having the upper hand. If Rhys left me with Alaric, he must trust him. Truth-be-told, his golden good looks made me want to be at ease, but I made myself remember you could never drop your guard around a faerie.
“I’d tell you that you have nothing to fear from me, but we both know you’re going to be on your guard, so I’ll refrain. Instead, why don’t I show you the castle and you can ask me anything you want to know about Rhys?”
I was too intrigued to be cautious. “Really?” I asked, and followed him out again with one last glance as the library. I couldn’t wait to go back and explore when I had more time. Considering this was now my home, I supposed I had all the time in the world.
“The castle is organized in levels. The main floors are for meeting areas: the ballroom, dining room, the library, etcetera. Above that are the guest levels, then the living quarters. When we’re finished with the tour, I’ll show you to Rhysander’s room.”
