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His room was bright, the curtains thrown wide open and letting the bright daylight seep through. There was no hiding what we were doing. No pretending it wasn’t happening.

“Add something else to sweeten the deal, Aurelia,” he commanded, his eyes trailing down the front of my dress and lingering on my chest. He tried to make his voice come out like a purr, but it sounded terribly forced and cringy. It took a lot to not visibly grimace at his words. “I promise I’ll spill all of Daddy’s secrets.”

“Let’s start with how they are uniting the families,” I purred and placed my hands on his knees, sensually massaging up his thighs, the evidence of how much he liked it already showing in the front of his trousers.

So easy.And here the male vampires thought it was the women who gave their bodies up so freely. Prince Icas was a perfect example of a male who thought more with his cock than his head.

He was a simpleton. I just needed to figure out how to use it in my favor and get over that overinflated ego of his.

My neck was still painfully sore. My venom did what it could to heal the deepest holes, but I hadn’t drunk enough during the day for it to heal fully. If I wasn’t careful, the lack of blood would have me spiraling.

“Come on, baby,” he said, running his hands down my arms. “The engagement announcement was a long time ago, and we still haven’t done anything. Maybe if you show me how grateful you are, I’ll spill.”

Even my blood was more than I should have been forced to give. And I only kept it up so he wouldn’t go squealing to Father that I wasn’t fulfilling my duties.

Worse.There was a chance he could go to the stepbitch, and she would use it as her way to pit Father against me.

I knew her game too well, and I wasn’t going to let her get her way.

But his request? It was too far. There was no way I’d be fucking him.

I leaned forward, getting as close to his face as possible, before grabbing a handful of that offending thing between his legs and squeezing.

The panic and pain that flashed across his face were immediate. The pained groan was more satisfying than anything I’d ever experienced. I wanted to rip it off. Wanted to watch as he screamed bloody murder and begged for me to save him.

It was easy to get drunk on the power…but alas, I had to keep up appearances.

“Tell me now, and you get to keep this,” I warned in a low voice. “What does your father want with me?”

“You’re gonna pay for this, you bitch,” he growled and tangled his hand in my hair, attempting to get me to let go, but I only gripped harder.

“Cooperate,babe,” I said in a sickly-sweet tone. “What does your fatherwant?”

“He wants an heir! One with your mother’s bloodline!” he answered in a pained voice. “Your cheap father wouldn’t give any of his family over, but he had no problem handing you over as a bargaining chip. Do you know how many people your child would bring?”

If the confession wasn’t this shocking, I might have let myself feel proud of how easy it had been to get him to spill.

My mother’s bloodline?

“You’re his heir,” I spat. It didn’t make sense to me.

He let out a bitter laugh.

“An heir who brings in no people and no new money,” he said. “Did you know there’s a bet going around the palace as to who will knock you up first? Him or me?”

I jerked away from him and slammed the palm of my hand into his cheek. The crack of his bones was almost for sure a sign of fracture, but I didn’t care.

The horrifying image of what was to come as soon as I left the palace did enough damage.

What the actual fuck?

That couldn’t be true. Father wouldn’t allow that…would he? That was a new level of cruelty, even for him.

I never expected my father to actually protect me, but it was a new level of betrayal I didn’t see coming.

I had bitterly joked that I was nothing more than a broodmare, but they were serious.

Memories of the way my stepmother’s spawn looked at me and whispered those exact words with an evil grin on her face hit me like a slap in the face.