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My gaze darted over to the decanter, to the deep-crimson liquid inside of it, and my skin began to crawl. Panic wrapped its fists around my lungs, and I sputtered for air. “It’s my blood, isn’t it?” I choked out.
“Partly, yes,” he answered as he sat down on the bed, one leg crossing over the other.
Suddenly, I became aware of a tingling sensation on the side of my neck. A cloudy memory aired, no more than a flash of teeth and a piercing of pain and a swirl of unconsciousness. My expression soured.
Aurelius sucked a tooth, before he admonished, “Oh, come now, don’t make such an awful face.” He paused for a moment, his tone becoming more conversational. “That night in the bathing pool, I debated draining you completely dry, just so I could watch you suffer for a month or two while your feeble body tried to regenerate your blood. It took everything within me not to.”
Debating and doing were two very different things, which begged the question . . . “So then, why didn’t you?” I asked.
“I have a couple of reasons. The first is, as I stated before, I foolishly thought we could make a go of things this time around. When Arkyn told me you were without your memories, I thought that if I showed you the version of myself that you first met all those years ago, the one who charmed you, then perhaps things would be different. But alas, that version of me truly died a long time ago.” He tipped his head ever so slightly to the side in that dignified way of his, but the words he said next were nothing of the sort. “And the second was because I wanted to feel what it was like for you to welcome me between your legs once more.” He bit his bottom lip before he let it spring free, his lips twisting into a malevolent smile. “And true to your whorish nature, welcome me you did.”
Asshole, I screamed internally.
But instead of saying that out loud, I took a good hard look at my losing hand and kept my tongue tucked firmly between my teeth. Something I just barely managed to do.
And I meanbarely.
I thought back to that dreadful night in the bathing pool. That had beenthe trueAurelius. The version I saw after—the Golden Prince—was just as he said . . . that one had died a very long time ago. He had been playing a part, and I had willfully fallen for it.
I had never felt such anger towards myself, such frustration. I hung my head.
Aurelius spoke in a soft voice, as if he were taking pity on me. “Come now, it’s not all that bad. Today should be a day of victory for you.”
“What does that mean?” Wearily, I looked up at him.
“It means that you finally got what you wanted, Aurelia.” He flicked a piece of lint off of his pant leg as he said flatly, “The mortal king is dead.”
Sage
Icould feel it, deep down. What Aurelius said was true. He had no reason to lie about the king’s death. At least, none that I could think of.
The king was . . .dead.
And not by own my hand, as Ezra had once predicted, but by Aurelius’s—a turn of events I had not seen coming.
“Are younot pleased?” he asked, a white brow raising in question.
I . . . I didn’t knowwhatI was. Shocked. Confused. I felt an assortment of things. Curiosity included.
I shook my head. “How did you know that I—”
He cut me off, finishing my question. “Planned to kill the king? It is as I told you before, I have exceptional hearing.”
Which meant . . . “You listened in on myprivateconversation with Kaleb.”
“I did,” he answered nonchalantly.
It was a violating truth—one I did not like. And yet, I wasn’t surprised by it either. He had listened in on my conversation with the healer as well. And he drank my blood when I was unconscious. What else had he done that I was not aware of? I paled at the thought.
“Mortal blood has never held much appeal to me,” he mused.
I glanced up, finding him peering down at his goblet, or rather, what was in it.
“But the blood of a royal mortal? Well, it has a different taste to it. The longer their ancestors have ruled, the more power is sewn into it. Mix it with a bit of immortal blood, and it’s quite palatable.” He raised his glass in cheers to me, and then he took a drink.
That’s when I realized it. He had mixedmyblood with thedead king’s.
It made my stomach roll, to the point that I thought I was going to be sick—
