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There was something about her aura that told me to stay away from her. She was dangerous. Maybe a little unhinged. Plus, she glared at me the entire time we were together.

If this was the princess’s plan, then she must have really run out of options.

“I have no plans to start a war with your old man,” she said, leaning back in the armchair. She had a glass of blood in her hand and picked it up in the most annoyingly elegant way.

The house wasn’t as crowded that night, but Aurelia had still found us a more private room on the second floor. The music and laughter could be heard through the walls as they floated up the stairs, but not enough to impede their conversation.

“It’s not war,” Aurelia stated matter-of-factly, and took a sip of her blood as well. Well, not a sip…more like a gulp.When was the last time she had blood?

A better question was,Why am I worried about it?But since the incident with the bird, I couldn’tstopworrying about her.

The last shred of self-control I had was waning pretty fast. I’d spent all night in bed just thinking of the various exits Aureliamightbe taking. Anything I could do to help.

That was the dangerous thing—I couldn’t stop myself from wanting to get involved. The only thing holding me back was her. If she even so much asasked,I would drop everything to help.

“Stealing his only blood daughter?” she asked with a raised brow. “Sounds like war to me.”

“The correct term would be kidnapping, and it wouldn’t be true because I would go willingly,” she replied, crossing her legs and giving her a pointed look.

Atlas gave her an infuriating smirk in response.

“Stealing, my love,” she corrected. “Anything his power touches is seen as his property.”

The grinding of my teeth caught Atlas’s attention, and a low growl rumbled in her chest.

“Should she even be listening to this?” she asked and placed her cup not so gently on the side table next to her. “How do you know she’s not some spy for your father?”

Aurelia let out a huff of laughter.

“Because I tried to kill her,” I answered for her.

This caused Atlas to pause. Then, slowly, she snuck back into her chair, a feral smile spreading across her face.

“Perfect!” She clapped her hands together so loudly it caused me to jump. “Shecan kidnap you then! No one would ever expect it!”

Aurelia’s eyes darted to me, looking me up and down before shaking her head.

“I already tried to enlist her help,” she said. “And she refused.”

Atlas gave me a look that suddenly had me wanting to defend myself.

“You wanted me to kill a vampire king instead,” I said under my breath. “That’s nothelping.That’s a suicide mission.”

Atlas clicked her tongue, “Yeah, see, that probably wouldn’t work. If she couldn’t finish it with you, I doubt she’s very proficient at her job.”

I’m going to kill her.

I reached for the sword on my back, ready to unsheathe it, when Aurelia cleared her throat.

“Enough picking on her,” she said before looking straight at Atlas. “You may not want a war, but you have never given up a chance to get back at my father for what happened back then. What changed?”

I relaxed but kept my eyes on Atlas.

“She’s talking about when he went around trying to steal my clans, and when they didn’t join his family, he murdered them, if you were curious, hunter,” Atlas said and lifted her glass in an almost-toast to me. “Something I bet you understand too well.”

“I’m not a hunter,” I growled low.I hate that word.And the connotations that went with it.

“Sorry, sorry,” she said with a laugh. “What is it you call yourselves nowadays? Contractors? Semantics, really.”