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Maximillian slipped his hand beneath the table to find mine, even as he addressed the emperor. “I have no intention of circumventing tradition,” he said as he rubbed slow circles along the inside of my wrist. The gentle touch distracted me, my anger fading as a different emotion stirred my blood. “But this is one tradition I would prefer to conduct in private.”
“I didn’t ask for your preference, Lord Starclaw. You will feed. Now.”
True panic seized me then, and it took everything I had in me, all those meditation and breathing exercises Lucius had put me through during training, to keep from fleeing the room. Melting down would send up a giant red flag to the others—after all, I was supposed to be a thrall, someone who had fed her master countless times over the years.
But that fiction had no basis in reality. I had never allowed a vampire to sink his fangs into my flesh before, and the idea of doing so now was terrifying. Even with the bloodbane taintingmy veins, there was every chance that the taste of my blood could turn him into the same feral monster I’d glimpsed in Sparrow.
Or even worse, he might figure out what Iactuallywas.
“Of course,” Maximillian said, pushing his chair back to make room for me. I struggled against the urge to fight as he circled his hands around my waist, then lifted me into his lap and settled my legs around his hips. The position was horribly intimate, especially considering how many eyes were on us, and it took everything I had not to squirm.
But when Maximillian cradled my face in his elegant hands, something shifted between us. His touch was gentle, tender even, as he stroked his thumb across my cheekbone, and the way he stared into my eyes made me feel like I was precious to him. Something to be cherished, not used or owned like the slave everyone at this table saw me as.
“Do you trust me, Kitten?” Maximillian asked. The words were a breath of a whisper, meant for my ears alone.
And despite my terror, despite knowing what was about to happen and that I had no power to stop it, I nodded.
Because I did trust Maximillian. With my life, and maybe, just maybe, with my heart.
“Good girl,” he murmured, and the velvet caress of his voice stroked some hidden need inside me. My head tilted back of its own accord when he slid his hand into the hair at the base of my skill, and I felt his other hand brace the small of my back, cradling me as he prepared my body for the intrusion. I shivered as he pressed a soft kiss against a spot just above my collarbone,and a breath trembled out of me as his fangs scraped against my skin.
Maximillian struck swiftly, a punch of bright pain through soft flesh, and I cried out, digging my hands into his broad shoulder for support. But the moment he began to suck on the wound, the pain turned into a warm rush of liquid pleasure. My eyes slid shut as the sensation spread through my entire body, a pulsing beat of desire that drove all rational thought from my brain. An unabashed moan slipped from my throat, drawing chuckles from our audience.
But I wasn’t the only one affected. Maximillian’s grip tightened on my hair, and his hand slid down to grab a handful of my ass. He pulled me flush against his body as he continued to drink, and I gasped as his hardness pressed directly against my needy flesh. Unable to stop myself, I ground my core against him, and was rewarded with a burst of pleasure that radiated from my center and sent tingles all the way into my fingers and toes.
Maximillian groaned against my skin, then slowly pulled away. I whimpered at the sensation of his fangs leaving my flesh, and clutched at him as another wave of lust crashed over me. I looked down to see him watching me with heavy-lidded eyes, and the sight of him running his tongue over his bloodied fangs was nearly enough to make me come right then and there.
I wanted him back inside me, wanted it so much I was ready to beg for it right here in front of everyone. And not just his fangs, but whatever else he was willing to give. His fingers, his tongue, his c—
Maximillian’s starfire eyes flared, and he shot to his feet, his chair crashing to the floor as he hauled me up with him. “Pleaseexcuse us,” he growled, and our surroundings blurred as he whisked me out of the great hall using his vampire speed.
Mindless with need, I clawed at the lapel of his jacket, trying to remove the garment. But it refused to cooperate—he was in motion, and my body was in the way. Frustrated, I nipped at his earlobe, then, feeling contrite, licked it to soothe the hurt.
“Fuck,” Maximillian growled, the sound vibrating through my chest and straight into my core. “You’re going to be the death of me, Kitten.”
He shoved into a room I didn’t recognize—some kind of salon on the public meeting area floor, I think—then slammed the door shut. A second later, my back was pressed against it, and he was kissing the breath out of me, his fingers digging into the backs of my thighs as he held me up. I shoved my hands into his hair as I kissed him back, reveling in the decadent taste of him—the coppery tang of blood, the sweetness of black licorice, and a lush note of something dark and sinful that I couldn’t quite identify, but drove me absolutely wild.
“Kitana,” Maximillian rasped against my mouth, pulling away slightly. His pupils were blown, his cheeks flushed from both lust and his recent feed. “I… we shouldn’t do this.”
What? I tried to focus past the lust, to the look of concern on his face. “Why not?”
“Because,” Maximillian groaned, leaning his forehead against mine, “this reaction… it isn’t you. It’s a chemical response to the bite. You’re not in your right mind.”
I could hear the words Maximillian was speaking, but their meaning didn’t penetrate. “Are you saying you don’t want me?”I asked, shrinking back against the door. Could I have been misreading him this entire time?
“Don’t want you?” Maximillian let out an incredulous laugh. “Kitana, I’ve been dreaming about this moment for longer than you’ll ever know. I’ve spent hours fantasizing about what it would be like to have you. The taste of your mouth. The softness of your skin. The sound of your moans. The way your pussy would feel as it clenches around my cock, and the look on your face when you come so hard, you forget all about that bastard who locked you away because he was too weak to love you. Want is an understatement. Icraveyou.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but tears blurred my vision and blocked my throat, rendering me speechless. No one had ever said anything like this to me before, and the wounded animal inside me didn’t want to accept it. But I couldn’t deny the way my heart ached with the need to receive what he was offering. It had been decades since I’d received affection from anyone other than Jinx, and this time, it was being offered to me with no strings attached.
A tear slipped from the corner of my eye, and Maximillian’s gaze softened. He brushed the liquid from my cheek, then kissed the spot where it had been. “I don’t want you to regret this tomorrow,” he whispered. “I don’t want you to wake up with shame in your eyes, not when I’ve waited so long for this.”
Regret?Shame?Is that what he was worried about?
Narrowing my eyes, I slid one hand between us and slipped it under the waistband of his trousers. “The only thing I’m going to regret,” I told him as I wrapped my hand around him, “is if I have to dismember you because you left me standing here, unsatisfied, out of some mistaken sense of honor.”
Maximillian’s laugh choked off as I squeezed his cock, and the moan he rewarded me with sent a heady rush straight to my head. But in the next second, he regained control, and he ripped my hand from his cock with a growl that would have been terrifying if I didn’t want him so gods-damned much.
He hauled me around, switching our positions so that my back was pressed against his chest. The next thing I knew, we were standing in front of an ornate mirror hanging on one of the walls. My breath caught as I stared, transfixed at the sight of us framed like this, looking so wanton and undone. Maximillian’s hair was a tousled mess, his cravat askew, his eyes blazing with lust. And I was no better with my crumpled skirts, my falling hair, and the strap of my dress that had slipped off one shoulder to expose the bloody bite mark he’d left. It was already half-healed, and the sight of it filled me with another rush of longing. I wanted him to bite me again, wanted the same rush of pleasure I’d felt, but this time with his cock inside me.
