Page 25

Then she changed. Her hands were no longer gripping my uniform but my wrist, forcing it closer. Her gulps were getting quicker. So quick, the blood flow wasn’t enough.

I hadn’t expected her fangs to pierce my skin. The groan that forced itself past my lips was evidence of that. And it was the clarity I needed.

I should have let her die.

But I couldn’t because then it wouldn’t bemewho killed her, right? Then what would have been the point of it all?

It didn’t explain why I continued to rub small, comforting patterns on her throat. Or why I held her gaze even as the warm vampire venom worked through my veins.

I had heard of the effects, but nothing prepared me for the way it caused my belly to clench. For theneedit started in me.

“Keep going,” I whispered as the veins started to disappear. Her eyebrows pushed together, the red in her eyes flickering to show the blue hidden behind all the bloodlust.

She tried to pull back, but my grip on her throat was tight. For good measure, I tangled my hand in her hair, forcing her against my wrist.

“You were poisoned,princess,” I said in a low warning tone. The heat was becoming too much. It traveled through my body, down to my core. “You will drink until your body has enough to heal.”

A low growl sounded from her throat.

I couldn’t help it. For the second time that day, I learned that my mouth was much harder to control than I anticipated. I leaned forward, my lips brushing against her ear.

“You may be able to push your daddy around with that attitude,” I whispered. “But it won’t work on me. Drink the fucking blood and stop whining about someone saving your life.”

In response, she bit down even harder on my wrist, pulling a shaky moan from me. The pain mixed with the venom was too much. I craved more of it. Craved more ofher.My body was getting embarrassingly reactive, even when my mind tried to remind me where we were and what my purpose was.

Stay centered. Breathe. Breathe. Hold it in. Breathe.

I heard the sound of the head guard rushing into the room behind me and yelling orders. One of them was to stay where I was.Fuck.

I needed to get away from her. Get her teeth out of me.

He leaned down beside me, getting a look at the princess.

“She’s almost done,” I reported, trying to keep my voice neutral. “Black veins, unable to breathe. Weak and clammy. I had to puncture a wound and stimulate her throat to make her drink.”

“Magical in origin, it would seem,” he commented. “You’ll need some blood replenishers after this?—”

“I’ll be fine,” I said quickly. I did not want any palace magician near my body. “The magic didn’t seem potent enough to take her out right away. Or maybe it was diluted.”

Just as he was about to fight me on my refusal of help, the princess pulled her fangs from my wrist and gave me a glare.

Seriously? She is pissed I saved her?

Arousal shifted into a different heat.Anger.It coursed through my veins and reminded me that the vampire in front of me didn’t deserve my help.

“If I didn’t want to drink?—”

“You would have di?—”

“And you had no right to interfere,” she said and pushed herself to her feet, shoving me in the process.

The princess folded her arms across her chest and sent a scathing look at the guards, who were still frozen at her feet.

“Well?” she asked. “Don’t you have anything better to fucking do?”

I shared a look with the head guard.

“I know who did it,” I said after a moment of silence. He gave me a stiff nod.