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A knock came and a maid entered to give Yesenia her restorative tonic. He motioned for her to drink and despite his best efforts to remain detached, he watched her throat as she swallowed, reveled in the small moan she made as the tonic took effect, and wished she currently leaned back against him instead of the chair.
His cock hardened, wishing for her plump arse to wiggle against it.
Bloody ridiculous.His instinct was becoming out of control. It was best to get to the point of his summons. "I want to schedule our claiming for this evening."
She blinked. "Schedule? That makes me sound like a prostitute you can summon at your beck and call."
He grunted. "I've done everything you asked, and I need my wits about me after this week. I need the claiming to be completed, Yesenia. And I'm a busy man, so scheduling it is a reasonable idea."
She muttered, "So much for sweeping me off my feet," but she sat up taller before he could ask what she meant and said strongly, "I want to get it over with sooner rather than later too. But I'd like to enjoy it, and not lay there too weak to do anything."
The image of Yesenia laying on his bed, meek and biddable, didn't sit right with him. Any lingering erection he had vanished. He wanted the female's fire, especially as he'd only have her the one night.
Not to mention his pride bristled at her "get it over with" statement. Without the draw to a fated one, Yesenia must not desire him as much as he wanted her. He grunted. "I know you won't stop practicing your magic to regain your strength for a proper bedding, so what's your compromise? I need to tame my instinct, and soon. There is danger on the horizon."
The tonic had obviously started working as her color was better and she sat up, frowning at him a bit more fiercely. "You mentioned enemies and now danger. If something's going on, I need to know, Leo. I get some males in this time think they have to protect a female's delicate sensibilities." He snorted at thinking of Yesenia as delicate, but she glared and continued, "If that's not the case, then tell me the full truth. Keeping me ignorant will do me more harm than good in the long run."
He held her gaze with his own. "First, you must promise me now not to do something rash or stupid if the danger shows up at our doorstep."
She raised her brows. "Do you make promises without knowing the terms? That seems rather dangerous for a vampire."
He cleared his throat. "Of course not. But despite your claims of being strong, and taking care of yourself, and all the other ideas you've shared, this is still the nineteenth century, Yesenia. Paranormals may allow females greater freedom than humans in this era, but they still use females as a means to punish the males." He leaned closer, to emphasize the next bit. "You need to understand that one of my enemies will think nothing of raping you, or turning you into a forced breeder, or merely torturing you slowly and sending bits of your body back to taunt me. Maybe once you have control of your magic, you'll be able to better protect yourself. But until then, you need me to look out for you and listen to what I say. Do you understand?"
She'd paled again at the mention of the atrocities, but she still sat tall and had strength in her eyes. The sight caused an image to flash inside his mind of her forever at his side, helping to rule over London and the vampires of southern England.
Thankfully she spoke before he could wish too much for what could never happen. "I pride myself on not being that stupid chick who runs into the forest when she knows there's a murderer waiting outside. So of course I'm not going to charge into something and try to fix everything on my own. However, I won't promise anything more without some information. If you respect me at all, then explain about this threat, this mysterious danger, in as much detail as possible so I can be better prepared."
He had no idea what running into a forest full of murderers had to do with anything—who would do that?—so he focused on the sensible part of her words. "Right, then what do you know of the wars with Napoleon?"
Her nose crinkled. "Not much. He was that short human French dude who wanted to conquer Europe, right? And the British fought against him. But I don't really know much beyond that. Funnily enough, history was never my best subject in school."
Sometimes, Yesenia's speech was bloody ridiculous. Height had nothing to do with military prowess. "Yes, the human Napoleon tried to take over large swaths of Europe. And while the British humans have fought the French on and off for centuries now, the British Army conscripted paranormals into their military ranks during the height of Napoleon's power, around 1812. Fae witches mostly stayed far away from the frontlines, their magic being used to help in other ways. Shifters and vampires, however, were sent into battle."
She searched his eyes. "I didn't think you werethatold."
He shook his head. "I'm not. I was still a child then. But I'm getting towhythat time is relevant to the current threats. May I continue?" She waved a hand for him to go on and he added, "At any rate, Napoleon's vampire regiment was the strongest and most difficult obstacle to defeating the French emperor's army. And so the humans forced the British vampires and shifters to do as I mentioned to you earlier, and used the French females as leverage against the enemy. In less than a year, the French female vampires were mostly slaughtered, with some even taken prisoner back to England."
Yesenia gasped. "But why? I can't imagine they were fighting, as female vampire soldiers weren't a big thing until the latter part of the twentieth century, as far as I know."
He nodded. "You're right, they didn't fight at all during the war. And in hindsight, it was a poor long-term tactic since it would keep many of Napoleon's vampires in their frozen states for a very long time if their fated ones were killed."
His fae witch's eyes widened. "Holy fuck, that's right—it'd make them go mad eventually, right?"
He grimaced. "Yes. But the short-term gamble was all the human cared about, and it paid off. The French vampires quickly fled the battlefields in droves to save any of their remaining females, andallFrench vampires took to hiding for the remainder of the war. Deprived of his strongest fighters, Napoleon was eventually defeated by the British. However, as you can imagine, the French vampires hold a grudge against the British to this day."
"No shit," she murmured. And for some reason, her strong language made him want to smile.
If anything, it only proved further how Yesenia wasn't a delicate flower who'd wilt at the first sign of danger or trouble. He needed to remember that.
Clearing his throat, Leo decided it was time to connect his history lesson to the present threats. "I bring all of this up because I recently discovered there is a horde of French vampires in London bent on some sort of revenge. It's most likely retribution for how the British vampires and shifters murdered so many of their females, although I haven't quite confirmed it." He leaned forward, wanting to ensure she understood how serious his next words were. "Even without doing so, I've heard whispers of how they wish to take me down. And I guarantee that the second they find out you're my bride, Yesenia—if they haven't already—they will use it against me."
She frowned. "But why you? You didn't even participate in the fighting."
He blinked a second, wondering why she'd focus on that part of his reveal rather than the danger to her. But his wits returned quickly and he replied, "True, but my father sent his best fighters to join in, and as I mentioned, the French vampires blame any and all British for their pain. As a Dark Lord of London, I have a huge target on my back." He reached a hand and took one of hers on impulse. Squeezing gently, he added, "And because of that, I must do everything in my power to protect you until you can control your magic and protect yourself. I don't want you to suffer at the hands of my enemies, Yesenia." He paused and the words spilled from his lips before he could stop them, "I could never forgive myself if they ever hurt you."
And not just because she'd been unlucky enough to end up his fated one either. Or that she would one day have phenomenally powerful magic.
Despite his best efforts, she'd come to matter to him.
