Page 13 of Imprisoned with the Vampire King

"This is going to be a really fun eleven and a half hours," I said, after a few minutes.

Dante didn't laugh.

He either agreed that it was going to be long, or didn't catch the sarcasm. Probably the former. He seemed like a smart guy.

"What did you do before you came to the prison?" I asked. "Is being the vampire king a full time job, or…"

"I ran our businesses. Spent most of my time in meetings, improving the way things functioned, and fixing messes."

I scrunched my nose. "Gross."

"It wasn't glamorous," he admitted. "I was good at it, though. I liked it. Feels like a distant dream."

"Twelve years in this hellhole is a long time."

"It is."

"What do you miss the most?" I asked.

He didn't answer right away.

I wondered if he would, watching the colors of his aura and the soft gray of his shadows dance over and around his body.

He lifted one of his hands to my knee, resting his gigantic palm casually on my skin. The physical contact felt nice.

"Feeling safe," he finally said. "That's what I miss the most. I felt secure, before the coup. In control. Untouchable. It was a false sense of security, obviously. I don't think I'll ever be able to go back. But that's what I miss the most about my old life. The safety of it."

"Is it not safe down here?"

"Did you just ask me if a magical, high-security prison full of deadly immortals is safe?"

"You're one of those deadly immortals," I pointed out.

"Maybe if I had enough blood, I would be."

"Who's feeding you?"

"Shiv, usually."

My eyebrows shot upward. "Seriously? Why would River offer you his throat?"

My brother's real name slipped out before I could stop it.

Dante didn't seem surprised to hear it. I guess if he was mated to Jazz, she might have called him by his real name, too.

"I bite his wrist, usually. Jazz and I were feeding from each other when we first came down here. It was awkward, but we did what we had to. When Jazz and Shiv started fucking, he didn't want me biting her. She told him he had to offer his blood if he wanted her to stop, so he did."

Somehow, the story made me like my brother just a tiny bit more than I had. Which was still not much.

"Well, you can bite River after we get out of solitary, then. You'll enjoy his personal sunshine more than my dark blood, anyway."

Dante's grip on my knee tightened slightly. "I enjoy your blood plenty, Ophelia."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm sure. That's why you'd rather bite a mated man than me."

"I don't want to weaken you. It's a compliment, not an insult."

"I'm not that fragile. I've been bitten by vampires before. If we end up fucking, you won't be anywhere near the first demon I've hooked up with."