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Vivienne was more of a wild soul, while this woman carried herself like a queen. Her hair was short, with large waves reaching just below her ears, bangs swept to the side out of her pale doe eyes. She was of a higher class, and her attire was the kind that I would never have afforded in my lifetime.
Her face turned to me, and the way her eyes passed over me gave me the feeling that I was beneath her, inferior. No surprise for someone of her beauty. Confusion slipped through her mask of calm, and I knew what she was thinking, new without diving into her thoughts.
Why would the king be so infatuated with such a plain human as me? Why, indeed, when he could have someone like her? I bit my lip as her eyes drifted from me, like I were nothing more than a passing thought.
Damien welcomed her. “Thank you for coming, Calista.”
“I’m honored you’ve called me to serve you again, Lord Damien.” Something crawled over my skin at the sound of Damien’s name on her tongue and the wordagain. I shook it off as best I could, staying silent. The situation was bad enough; I didn’t need to say something that would make it worse.
“Shall we move to the bedroom—”
“The couch.” Damien’s voice was a harsh command.
Her expression made it clear that she was shocked by his words. My hands clenched involuntarily at my sides at her assumption that he would feed from her in his bedroom.Our bedroom.Given her words and reaction, she wanted to serve him there, or had done so in the past. It left me nauseous, and I wanted to walk out the door and leave them to it.
She didn’t argue, only obeyed as she dipped her head in subservience. “As you wish, my lord.”
Wrong. This was so wrong. I did my best to brush it off. I had to get over this. This was the reality I was going to have to deal with if I was going to be with Damien as a human. I could never provide for him in the way that she could.
She eased down onto the couch slowly, her delicate fingers unclasping the buttons of her sleeve before rolling it up to reveal her wrist. Her skin was perfect and unmarked, hands smooth as satin. It was clear to me she’d never worked or fought a day in her life.
Damien lifted his eyes to me, his hand extended out to the couch in a quiet gesture for me to sit next to her. I hesitated, but obliged, easing onto the couch cushion. She didn’t even seem to take notice of me as her eyes followed every movement Damien made. He kneeled, lowering himself to the floor in front of her as he took hold of her wrist, but his free hand took mine and gripped it tightly.
I struggled in that moment, knowing what was about to happen. I should get up, should leave. There wasn’t a place for me here in this room, but Damien’s eyes locked with mine. There was something in those warm eyes, as if he was trying to reassure me I was the only one he saw, not Calista. It did little to ease the upset in my gut.
My body tensed as I watched his fangs lengthen, and he bit into her wrist. Calista’s chest expanded, a deep breath filling her lungs, her eyes closing as he took from her. My heart raced, my chest swelling with an agonizing feeling I’d never felt before. It was painful, air refusing to fill my lungs, so much so that I could barely handle it, and I wanted to run.
I tried to avert my eyes from her, focusing instead on Damien, whose eyes remained fixated on me. His gaze burned into me as he drank, his thumb rubbing over my hand, trying to ease my suffering. I knew it had only been a minute, but it felt like hours.
Calista’s head tilted back, her breath heightening as her chest expanded and contracted in a heavy rhythm. I saw in my own mind her thoughts, her desires, her wishes. Damien’s face appeared in her thoughts, the things she wanted to do for him.To him. Her thoughts formed into words, rolling through my mind.
If you would only have me, Lord Damien. I could satisfy your hunger. I could give you a worthy heir.
Before I knew what I was doing I was up off the couch. My hand knotted in her hair as I jerked her head back into the cushion, my dagger out of its sheath, flipped backward in my hand, and pressed to her throat. She gasped, her eyes popping open as I pressed down on her, my face inches from hers.
Something had come over me, and my body moved as if it wasn’t my own. I wasn’t the only one who spoke. Moira, Elena, and Lucia spoke through me now. A strange, overwhelming possessiveness consumed me, and I had to stop myself from slicing the blade across her throat.
I didn’t know what language passed through my lips. I only knew what it meant as I spoke through gritted teeth.
“Touen estin emós.”
He is mine.
28
“Easy, Cas.” Damien’s voice was cautious as I stood frozen, holding Calista pinned against the couch. Her thoughts were still fresh in my own mind, the images of him she envisioned, the ways she wanted him. I couldn’t explain what had come over me in that moment, but I couldn’t let her continue to serve him, couldn’t allow her to so much as touch him, let alone look upon him. Everything in me screamed to end her where she sat.
She stared up at me, eyes wide, frozen in place. My chest heaved as I stared down at her, adrenaline flooding me, and my muscles twitched as I fought to hold myself back. Everything in me wanted to cut her throat then and there, but I couldn’t. There was still a part of me that didn’t want to hurt someone like that, but my rationale was failing. I wanted her out of our house. I wanted to never see her face again.
Damien’s hands slowly glided over my shoulder. His voice was almost a whisper as he tried to talk me down from the ledge. “Release her,mea luna.”
“I saw her thoughts,mea sol.” My voice was almost a hiss, glancing over my shoulder to him for a split second before looking back to her, my past lives speaking again.“Vou nolos gravosia miño en touen paios!”
You will carry no child of his!
She nodded slowly and I released her hair before I pushed myself to my feet. My eyes remained on her as she wrapped her hand around her throat where my blade had been. Her panicked breath flooded and escaped her chest as she tried to compose herself, her fear thick in the air, so sour and acidic that it burned my nose.
Damien pulled me against him. “That would never happen,mea luna.”
