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“I’m River Corwin,” he said, meeting my gaze with deep crimson eyes lit with curiosity. “From the Corwin family.”
I meant to open my mouth and saynice to meet you, but instead what came out was an embarrassing, desperate gasp for air—and then my breathing was gone, wild and uncatchable.
“Roxana?” River asked, the smile falling from his face as he hurried up the last step. “Are you alright? You look pale. And coming from a vampire, that’s really saying something,” he added with a laugh, maybe as nervous as I was.
“I’m—fine,” I choked out, desperate for air, my chest so compressed that it hurt.
“Well, you’re clearly not,” he replied mildly, reaching me and—and stunning me into stillness by sweeping me into his arms. One hand ran up and down my spine, the other pressing into the back of my neck.
My first instinct was to recoil from this stranger who thought he could grab me, but the comfort of his embrace hit and I sagged, my lungs allowing a trickle of air in. My knees still felt like they’d give out at any moment, but I leant on River, the suitor I was supposed to be charming, winning over, and maybe marrying, and who I was making a total embarrassment of myself in front of.
“Your breathing’s all…” he trailed off.
“Fucked,” I croaked. “I know.”
He laughed, sounding amused at my language rather than offended. He mustn’t have been from a traditionalist family—there was no way he could be. “I’m not sure I’d be able to breathe if my whole family had left me to the mercy of three vampires I’d never met before, either.”
River gave me a squeeze, my breath coming a little more under my control with each soothing touch. “Sorry if I was too forward,” he said, the smile gone from his voice. “If you want me to let go, just give me a shove. My mum says I’m far too touchy feely, but it just comes naturally to me.”
He was tactile, I realised, and maybe … maybe he was used to being kind? The Corwin family matriarch was exceptionally old, I knew from my obsessive research, and though River wouldn’t be her direct descendant, he was probably her grandson. Maybe he was used to caring for her.
I was leaping to conclusions, but it made me feel easier about both the hug and the meeting. Not to mention sharing my house with this man.
“You’re fine,” I said, my voice a little more normal. “Sorry for completely losing it before I could even say hello.”
“Nah,” River replied, squeezing me again. “Nothing to be sorry for. Am I the first one to get here?”
I nodded, wondering if he planned to let go of me. He didn’t seem inclined to.
“Well, thank fuck for that,” he said, making me laugh. “Claude’s a mad, old bastard,” he added, although with clear affection, “I doubt he’d have known what to do with a panicking woman. And Silas … you don’t want him anywhere near when you’re freaking out.”
I drew back, wincing as I met River’s eyes—deep crimson but flecked with a hazel colour that hinted at their previous hue. “Is he horrible?”
“Foul,” River agreed, but he stroked down my arm, reassuring me. “He’s a vampire through and through, and if I were you, I’d pick either me or Claude. Or both,” he added with a wink, making my face flush red.
Choose two? Marrytwomen?
“If it’s good enough for Matriarch Alberson,” River added with a mischievous grin, squeezing my waist once more before letting go.
Yes, butshewas the head of a ruling family and could get away with anything. Me marrying two men would only win me scorn, not the acceptance I wanted for my family.
“But—surely you wouldn’t be okay with … sharing a woman?” River’s eyebrows rose into his hairline. “Not like that!” I hurried out. “I meant romantically. Making a life together, with an extra man … how would that even work?”
River shrugged, leaning against the doorframe and watching me. His skin was nowhere near as pale as my parents’, as if he’d been deeply tanned when he was alive, and it was dotted with faint freckles. “You’d have two people to yell at when we don’t put our plates in the sink? Two men on your arm at every function and ball? Two men to kill bugs for you?”
“Hey,” I huffed, feeling more myself with every minute. “I kill my own bugs, I’ll have you know.”
“Oh, thank hell,” River breathed, looking genuinely relieved. “Please marry me, I need a woman like you.”
I laughed, and the sound of it surprised me. I hadn’t expected to feel comfortable enough to laugh, and especially not on the first day. “You’re afraid of them?”
“Deathly,” he confirmed, his eyes wide. “Tell me you don’t keep them as pets like some weirdos.”
“No,” I assured him, gesturing for him to enter the house and closing the door behind us, leading him not into the pristine sitting room as I’d planned but into the kitchen where my family and I usually gathered, casual and homely. “I did have a pet chihuahua when I was six, but my brother drank it dry.”
River had the decency to wince, running a hand over his head.
“Would you like a drink?” I asked, remembering the script I’d meticulously written these past few days. “Our fridge is stocked, or we have blood and wine at room temperature if you’d prefer.”
