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“There is no one in a better position than me to get you the king’s head,” I said. “Why would you stop at a princess who’s about to be married off? I am of no use to you. I cannot control anything. I do not have any power. I will never have any power, but I can give you the keys to toppling this family.”

Her smirk faltered for just a second.

“And how am I to believe that you hate your family so much you would allow me to kill the only one of your parents still left alive?” she asked. Her words were hurtful, her tone even more so. I pushed her away.

“Then you haven’t been paying much attention,” I hissed and stood up, trying to straighten my clothes. She did the same, trying to cover as much of her skin as she could with the scraps she had.

I almost offered her a shirt, but that would be going too low, even for me. She was a guard. One who tried to kill me and insulted me.

It was embarrassing. I had let myself fuck my assassin-to-be and then concocted this crazy plan in hopes of saving myself…How low was I willing to go?

That familiar sense of shame was playing on my senses.

Maybe it was the years I’d been locked in that cage I kept hidden in the back of my mind.The years of having to obey my father as he continued to look down on me. The last-ditch effort at trying to avoid becoming a Solei plaything. Maybe it was the heat I had seen in my stepmother’s eyes that was finally pushing me to do something as insane as trusting her.

But nonetheless, it was more of a plea than a bargain. And for her to deny it so abruptly…it hurt.

“Get out before I’m summoned,” I ordered. “If anyone asks, just tell them that I requested you.”

“Worried about me, princess?” she asked as she walked toward the far wall, where her short sword was sticking out.She grabbed it by the handle and pulled it out, looking it over and nodding with satisfaction when she realized there was no damage to it.

“Well, you have proven interesting,” I said with a shrug. “Even if you’re a coward. At least we’ll have a bit of fun until you can sneak back up here again.”

Her jaw clenched, the sound of her teeth grinding together hitting my ears. She then let out a huff before bending down and grabbing the dagger as she made her way toward the door. She didn’t pause until her hand was on the crystal doorknob.

“Next time, it won’t end like this,” she vowed.

“I’ll be waiting,” I said, trying to muster as much of that fake confidence as I could.

I hated her. I wanted to hate her for the hurt she caused. She had a job to do and probably wasn’t reading into everything that went on with the family. But I had run out of options.

And she’d taken the last sliver of hope I had left.

Aurelia

“When have I ever let you down, Father?” I asked, turning my head back to look at him.

He sat back in his desk chair like he did in all of his seats in the palace, making it look more like a throne than anything else. His dark hair was pushed out of his face, the same exact eyes that looked back at me in the mirror staring at me.

Vampires really didn’t age, or if they did, it was so slow it would be thousands of years before any of it showed on their faces. Father had little signs of age besides a few wrinkles by his eyes.

He reached forward and pulled the papers that I was sitting on out from under me with a sigh.

“Off the desk, Aurelia,” he grunted.

“Father.”

He gave me a warning look. Hehatedthat whiny tone that seemed to work so well on him. I had seen the stepmonsters use it more than once to get their way, so it was only a matter of time before I implemented it myself.

I jumped off the desk and went around it. He let out another sigh before leaning back in his chair to watch me.

“It’s just a little tantrum,” I said in a low voice, fully aware that he surrounded himself with vampire guards and not the normal human ones he assigned to the rest of the family.

Since he’s the most important one, he can give us the scraps. Even ones that try to kill us.

Anger and embarrassment flashed through me again, even if just for a moment before I could push it deep down.

It was foolish to think I could utilize someone. I had never been able to rely on anyone in my entire life—why would that change now?