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Istvan took him by the arm. “We say hello, you drink another cup of that fine blood you wasted earlier, and then we go to our chambers before dawn comes. All right?”
Severin nodded tightly. He walked forward as Istvan weaved between vampires and Emil’s human waiting staff. He kept his head down, not wanting to set eyes on Nikolaus until the last possible moment.
Soon enough they reached Emil.
“If it isn’t my two favourite vampires,” Emil said, crushing Severin’s hand in his. “I was just thinking you had spurned my invite.”
“We wouldn’t do that,” Istvan said, always in favour of keeping the more powerful vampire sweet. Severin wondered how their roles went in the bedroom and could guess. Istvan didn’t look like a man to be dominated—although Severin knew better—and he doubted Emil had ever let anyone master him.
Emil’s coal black eyes bored into him, head cocked as though he read Severin’s shameful thoughts. “You seem out of sorts, Severin. You’re even more ghastly pale than usual.”
“I’m thirsty,” Severin said. He chanced a glance over Emil’s shoulder and saw Nikolaus’s head jerk up, gaze fixed on Severin.
“Then why to God aren’t you drinking? Do you know how many Bavarian virgins had to die to provide you with that blood?” Emil grinned, fangs out.He’s on his guard, Severin thought,he knows something’s afoot.
He looked again at Nikolaus. The human looked like he’d seen a ghost, pasty and fragile as though he might faint. His dark eyebrows were knitted together in a frown, his violet eyes soft and afraid. He was ten years older now but barely looked it, still so achingly beautiful.
Severin’s gaze slid down beneath his jaw and found what he sought. A set of purplish puncture wounds on Nikolaus’s neck.Oh God, no. The thing Severin had fought and fought against. He would have died rather than bitten Nikolaus and in the end he had given him up rather than turn him. And Nikolaus had merely gone to someone else and let them have him. More to the point, he had let the wicked vampire king keep him as a pet.
Severin clenched his jaw. “I’ll do that,” he said. “Thank you for the invite.”
“You’re welcome and oh,” Emil leant close to Severin’s ear and whispered, “if you want to play later, I’ll be expecting you.”
Severin shivered in helpless excitement—damn Emil—and then his blood turned molten when Emil held his gaze. He meant his pet too, Severin just knew it, and he could barely breathe.
“You too, Istvan,” Emil said, almost as an afterthought, as he yanked at the chain and pulled Nikolaus away.
Istvan’s face was tight and cold. “No, thanks, I don’t share.”
Severin knew that wasn’t true. Vampires were polyamorous by their very nature, with no inhibitions. Blood and sex were part of their existence and the two things their world pivoted upon. Severin had witnessed vampire orgies that would make a human’s hair curl. And Emil was the worst of all.
His gaze followed Nikolaus’s slight figure across the room. He had lost weight and his shoulders were slumped. He didn’t look back. Severin looked at Istvan. They had never discussed what either of them did with Emil and they had never played together with him. Istvan had never shown any jealousy over Emil’s many sexual partners. Jealousy wasn’t an emotion vampires felt. So Severin had thought until he’d seen that collar around Nikolaus’s neck and wanted to kill Emil. If Emil’s offer was a clear invitation to a ménage à trois with Nikolaus, then Severin was interested. It was probably going to be the only way he would ever get his hands on Nikolaus. But how would he contain himself when he finally had Nikolaus at his mercy?
“Who don’t you share?” he asked Istvan. “Emil?”
Istvan reddened, the blood flowing into his alabaster skin. He said nothing.
“I’m sorry,” Severin said. “It’s the only way to…”
Istvan held up a hand. “I don’t care about you sleeping with Emil. He does what he wants.”
But hedidcare, that was the sad thing. Severin wondered if Istvan and Emil had ever invited other vampires into their bed or if their sessions involved them alone. Certainly he had never heard any rumours involving other vampires, when usually Emil was very keen to take on more than one lover. As many as he could, really. Severin had heard tell of Emil playing on one occasion with seven or eight people at a time, both human and vampire. An orgy that had ended with the walls splashed red with blood. It had been a while since Emil had got his claws into Severin, but he hadn’t forgotten the vampire king’s insatiable appetite. It was enough to stiffen his cock when he thought about it.
They wandered to the back of the room and ensconced themselves on a couch with goblets of blood. Severin drank deeply and felt the life-force stimulate his every cell.
“He’s handsome,” Istvan said. “Your human.”
Severin wiped his hand over his mouth and burped. “He’s not my human. He never was. He’s Emil’s as you can see.”
“And he looked at you like you had unfinished business.”
Severin closed his eyes. The goblet shook in his hand. “I loved him,” he said in a barely audible voice.
???
Nikolaus knew that Emil had waited until Severin and his friend had left the ballroom. He turned on Nikolaus viciously in the centre of the floor, surrounded by vampires. He bent his head and hissed in his ear.
“Tell me why your heart beats so hard and why your cock has been standing to attention since we spoke to my friend.”
