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“Thatwas slavery.Thisis a choice. There’s a difference.”

It was hardly a choice anyone in their right mind would make. The bites were addictive. Of course they stayed and let Latia offer their veins for any vampire with coin. “I never asked my question the other night. You owe me one, Raphael, so tell me truthfully: Do you really think this system is fair? Do you think it’s safe? For all the wordsabout choice, I told that vampire no and he was still going to feed on me. If he killed me, what then? Is it fair that at most he’d just be banned from this den and free to go to any other?”

Raphael was still, yet I swore I could feel the riot of emotions in him. “What he attempted… it will be dealt with.”

“Dealt with?” I flung an arm in the direction of the wall. What had been fear when the vampire stalked towards me was crystallizing now as anger. “Raphael, he’s already dead. And he’s only dead because someone bigger and stronger than him stopped him. Because you took pity on me.”

“Is that what you think?” He cocked his head. “That I pity you?”

I gave that the derisive snort it deserved. “You expect me to believe that’s not what this is? At every turn, I’m weak, and you’re strong. I’m there serving Nelson for years, and one day in, you kill him. I give myself to the Monastery, willing to debase myself for protection, and you kill them all too. Fifth hell, even now I freeze at the sight of blood. I let you feed me, clothe me, like a useless infant. I have no magic, just the barest grasp on a language of a book you don’t even seem to care about. If it’s not pity…” I trailed off.Then what?I wanted to scream.

“It isnotpity.” Raphael took a step forward, and now I inched back, pressed into the wall. “You don’t see the events as I do. Twice, now, you’ve defended yourself frombigger, stronger foes. You work tirelessly to prove yourself. You claim you freeze, but I’ve seen you: when needed, you act. Your mind is always working, solving puzzles at a speed even I marvel at. In the temple, you removed a dozen arrows from my back when I was drenched in blood, so no, you do not ‘freeze.’ Surely food and clothing are the least I owe you for my life. I do not contend you were not afraid, Samara. But you do not let fear stop you.”

He drew closer. I was caged between him and the wall. My heart thundered in my chest, but it wasn’t fear now. Even the anger was distant. The panes of his face were in stark relief, eyes vivid and beguiling. The white strands of his hair fell toward me as he bent his head to look down.

“I do not pity you,” Raphael repeated. “Little viper, I find you irresistible.”

I scoffed. “That’s madness.”

“Because you make me mad,” he growled. His words were like lightning in my veins, electrifying, terrifying. His hand came to my cheek, brushing my hair aside. All my thoughts halted. Moments ago, I’d feared death. Now, I wasn’t sure what to expect. For Raphael to take me back to the castle, or to chastise me for being careless.

What I didn’t expect was for him to kiss me.

He grabbed my cheeks and captured my lips. I stiffened in surprise, unsure and unsteady. I’d never kissed anyone. But Raphael was patient, coaxing. Desire stirred deep inside me, a wick catching fire with every brush of his tongue. He guided me, and my blood warmed,desperation lighting in my veins. His taste was potent and all at once it was everything to me. There was no room where a vampire had been killed, no enemy kingdoms, no spymaster dogging at my heels.

There was only me, Raphael, and this burning tension that had ignited.

Want him. It didn’t matter I only had half a clue what I was doing. He drew me deeper into the kiss, his other hand coming around my side and pressing me against him. He tasted like darkness and temptation. I lifted my hands to his head, pulling him closer. He groaned against my lips at the movement, and I arched at the sound. More. I wanted more of that. My tongue curled in his mouth, a bold exploration.

Then it found the point of his fang. Copper colored the kiss at once.

I jerked back.

Blood.

Raphael didn’t press me into another kiss, but he didn’t move back. His red eyes were lit ruby red, the glow of a vampire who just had blood. Gods damn it. The taste remained in my own mouth. A strange tingle coated my lips, as if I could feel his absence.

Raphael kissed me.

I wanted him to do it again. Before common sense chased away the blissful feeling that had started in my body, before I remembered that the perfect, handsome face before me was normally topped by a crown.

He went still. Waiting. Assessing.

If I reached for him, he’d let me kiss him. Despite all my inexperience, I knew that with every fiber of my being.

“Raphael, you promised me one more answered question. Do you believe this system is fair, with the blood dens and the humans?”The strong ruling the weak?

I wished I could have been surprised when he finally gave his answer.

“Yes.”

There was no more kissing after that.

And as Raphael escorted me back to my chambers—across from his own—I came to another conclusion.

It wouldn’t be enough to translate the grimoire.

I would need to steal it.