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When I reached her door, I hesitated. Wrapping my fingers around the crystal doorknob, my mind stalled.This is it.The most important moment of my career and the thing that would make my and my family’s name go down in history.

Fuck it.

I pushed the door open and slipped in, shutting it softly behind me. The click was like a thunder crack in the silent room. She was there, I could feel her presence in the room, but she made no movement to greet me.

I hadn’t taken a good look at her room the last time I was here, too preoccupied with trying not to give into the ache for her. But even in the darkness, it looked fit for a princess of her status.

Large, fluffy bed against the back wall. Floor-to-ceiling windows letting in the moonlight. A fucking crystal chandelier hanging over the center. The dimly lit candles that were placedall over the room caused light to bounce off it and sent beautiful reflections all over the floor and walls.

Next to the bed was a bird cage covered by a blanket, an odd addition that made me pause.

But then there was a motionless lump in the middle of the bed.Vampires don’t sleep, I reminded myself. She had to be putting on a show.

You don’t want to play?Her words from that night played again in my head, the teasing tone sounding all the more sinister when I was trapped in a room alone with her.

She must have heard me coming down the hallway or smelled the familiar scent of my blood.

But this time, I would play along. I walked forward, one foot after the other, my eyes never leaving the bed.

Isn’t this what you wanted?Thatdamnedvoice. I couldn’t get it out of my head.

I wanted this…more importantly, I wanted this phase of my life to be over. I wanted to turn the shitty cards I had been dealt around and go back to save my brother from the abuse my parents had forced on us.

There is no other way.And all it took was killing a singlespoiledprincess.

I could do it. I had killed for less. I had killed for money.

Fucking move,I commanded my frozen feet. They were as heavy as lead as I closed the last few steps between me and the bed. Where just a few nights before she had been sitting,naked, and spreading her legs for me.

All the while never knowing thatthiswas my true plan.

She didn’t move, not even when I was right at the foot of the bed staring at her.Another game.She wanted to see what I would do.

I grabbed the short sword from my back, ready to pull?—

“I knew there was something interesting about you,little mouse.”

She had moved in an instant. Her vampire speed was too fast for me to catch. She had thrown back the covers and was before me, on her knees and in nothing but a frilly lace nightgown that floated around her sides. It was light pink and see-through, giving me a look at the matching underwear she had on underneath.

It was a sinful image. One that almost made me believe she had been waiting for the moment I would show up.

Her face was inches away from mine, her fangs peeking out of her lips as she gave me a smirk, telling me that she wasn’t disappointed with the turn of events.

She is amused.

My brain took a second to kick into motion, but after all that training, my instincts were faster.

“No hard feelings, princess,” I said as I pulled the sword out of its sheath and pushed it down on her. It had magic woven into it. Even if I had to use it on a human before this, it should still pack quite a punch when it came to vampires.

But herfuckingvampire speed meant that my sword came down onto the soft bed cover, splitting it and causing a burst of feathers to shoot up into the air.

“Aw, too slow,” she teased, her voice inches from my ear. One of her hands caressed my neck, almost like she was ready to choke me, but the touch was so featherlight, it felt more like the touch of a lover than a vampire who was about to murder me. The other grabbed onto my hip, hard enough for me to recognize the pressure but not to keep me in place. “And here I was just thinking of how bored?—”

I twisted around, bringing down the sword where her voice was, but she was gone.

She let out an annoyed huff, calling my attention to my right. She hadn’t moved far and just stood there, looking down at her nightgown, which was now slit at the side.

I got close.