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“He did,” Raphael agreed. “Because I’m the Vampire King of the West.”

Gods, I’d been such a fool. His strength, hisarrogance. I’d spent enough time with royalty. I should’ve recognized it. Yet Raphael was also worlds apart from the king I’d known. He hadn’t ordered me about. He’d treated me, at times, like a partner. If not an equal, then a close enough approximation.

I swallowed down the thought, the events that had transpired between Greymere and Damerel bouncing around my throbbing head. “Youlickedme.”

Raphael’s posture was stiff. “My apologies. I pride myself on keeping my word, and while I did in letter, I did not in spirit. I needed to seal the wound, and I wanted to show them.”

“Show them what? That I’myours?”

Mine, he’d called me. I hadn’t belonged to anyone in so, so long. Even though it was for show, I’d come closer to belonging in that instance than I had in the past decade.

“Vampires respect claims like that. Your blood… certain blood is more attractive to vampires. You should take care not to bleed, but by daybreak, all will know what I’ve said and heed my words.”

I shuddered and forced myself up onto my elbows. “Why is my blood so enticing? Is there a way I could change it?” I anxiously ran my fingers over the edge of the settee.

“You can’t change what you are,” he said softly. “You don’t need to.”

“I’mhuman, Raphael. I’m going to bleed. I’ll be dead in a minute if one of them attacks.”Them. Notyou. Somehow Raphael was different from other vampires to my mind. Or maybe that was how I’d reconciled it. “You said I’d be safe here. I was a fool to believe you.”

It was less a rebuke of him and more one of me. How had I been so desperate that I’d trust a vampire—the vampire king, no less—to protect me? “I need to leave. Now.”

Had I really thought I could be safer here than with my own kind? Even for a few days?

“You are safe here,” Raphael insisted. With vampire speed, he moved from his perch across the room to my side. He dropped to his knees, sinking to meet me at eye level. “Anyone who makes you feel any other way dies. I vow this, Samara. The only reason Lucas’s head is on his shoulders is because I want him to spread the message.”

It was impossible to hold his gaze at this distance. Half-lying down in an unfamiliar room, I felt vulnerable.

No, I felt vulnerable because when he said words like that, I wanted to believe him.

“You don’t need to send a message. I’m not staying.”

“You need rest,” he countered. “Supplies. A few days of real food, not whatever small mammal I drain for you. Sturdy clothing. Maps. Remember your plan?”

Valid points. But that didn’t change the fact he was the king of vampires. “What I need is the truth. You lied to me,” I accused.

Raphael arched a brow. “How, dove? I cannot tell untruths.”

“You deceived me, then,” I corrected. “I never would have let you out of that cell if I’d known you were their godsdamned king.”

Raphael’s voice dropped low. “You would have done anything to leave that prison, and we both know it.”

I looked away, not able to meet the truth in his eyes. “Just show me how to get out of this place. If it’ll take too long to get maps, I can go without, or I’ll just hide out in theWitch Kingdom.” Anxiety caged my heart and constricted it into shallow, shallow beats that left me dizzy.

“Nothing has changed, Samara. You would be found and executed for escaping your sentence.”

There was sense in Raphael’s words, but I couldn’t get the sight of all those vampires out of my mind. I’d thought one was terrifying. Dozens—hundreds—maybe thousands. Just the thought made it hard to breathe again. “Your vampires won’t just tolerate a human walking around.”

Raphael snorted, dismissing the argument. “They’ll tolerate anything I tell them to or suffer the consequences of their treason. Besides, you are hardly the only mortal here.”

Yes, me and the other humans they kept for food. It was well known the vampires stole humans from the bordering towns to keep themselves fed. And that was to make me feel better? “I’d rather take my chances against the king’s witches.”

“You can’t go back there,” he said with infuriating patience.

I frowned. “Am I to be your captive, then? Not allowed to leave?”

Did I imagine his hesitation? “You would die, Samara. I gave my word I would protect you—that means not letting you go off to your death.”

I looked away, scanning the room. “Then I’ll stay here. Give me whatever supplies thevampire kingis willing topart with in exchange for helping you retrieve the grimoire, and I’ll be on my way.” At the thought of the grimoire, my fingers twitched. “Where is the grimoire anyway?”