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Raphael released the vampire, letting his body crumple to the ground. The vampire was still alive. He’d attack Raphael. Gods, Raphael could get hurt. I was rooted in my spot, unable to slow my heart enough to think past the roaring in my head that bleated Danger, danger, danger!

But the vampire didn’t rise to attack Raphael. He prostrated himself, bracing his hands on the ground with his bowed head.

“You raised those hands at her,” Raphael snarled. His voice… I’d heard it like that only in the echoes of my nightmares of the Monastery initiation. “You reached for what was mine with those hands. ”

“My king! I apologize. I did not realize she was yours. The scent of her blood overtook me. I forgot myself.”

My king , the vampire had called him.

I trembled at the word. King .

Enemy.

“See that you never do so again.” Raphael’s voice was colder than I’d ever heard it. “And let this serve as a reminder.”

He gripped the vampire’s wrists from the floor, and in one sickening movement Raphael ripped the vampire’s hands off.

The vampire howled. Raphael flung the dismembered hands down the hall, a trail of red, red, red blood spraying over the walls.

“Should you or anyone else lay a hand on what’s mine, let your lives be forfeit. You live only as a warning to them.”

The vampire on the floor babbled his agreement, but Raphael was already facing me once more.

I tore my gaze from the sobbing vampire to face him.

His gaze was still icy, utterly opposite to how he’d been the night before.

He grabbed my wounded wrist and lifted it high.

I stared up in confusion, then gasped as he lifted my palm to his lips and gave it a lick.

But he wasn’t looking at me. Around us, a crowd had gathered. He removed his mouth, but held my arm high, as though I were some trophy.

King .

“This woman is mine. No one is to touch her.” He addressed them easily, like it was his birthright. “To do so is to forfeit your right to a quick and easy death.”

No . It couldn’t be. The way he’d been beaten, captured… there was no way I’d been traveling for weeks with the king of vampires. My mind scrambled for any other explanation, grasping at vapors.

But the crowd all dipped to a knee in deference.

When they rose, all I could see was the sea of red.

We were surrounded on both sides, hungry eyes looking at me, bright, wanting.

Oh gods . My heart was a frantic drum beating in alarm faster and faster.

The sharp inhale of my breaths turned into me choking.

I couldn’t get the air out fast enough before I sucked more in.

My gaze swung wildly from eyes to eyes to eyes.

I tried to shut mine, but they were still there, a vision of red, red, red all around me.

My knees buckled. Someone grabbed my arms before I fell. Raphael. Concern was etched on that now familiar face.

But all I saw were the red eyes.

The blood.

I fainted.

When I came to, all the vampires were gone .

All except Raphael. He stood across the room, arms folded. He’d changed, bathed. His white hair was slicked back, his face freshly shaven. He’d traded the stolen cloak and tunic for clothing befitting of royalty.

The room matched his station. It was a sprawling space, with a hearth on the far side where a small fire blazed, and two distinct seating areas: one in front, and one by me. I was lying on a low couch made of purple velvet. My fingers traced the texture, trying to ground myself in the surroundings.

“Tell me it’s a misunderstanding,” I croaked.

Raphael said nothing.

The fog cleared and an incessant need pressed against my chest. “Tell me.”

Raphael shook his head. “I cannot.”

“The vampire… he called you his king.”

“He did,” Raphael agreed. “Because I’m the Vampire King of the West.”

Gods, I’d been such a fool. His strength, his arrogance .

I’d spent enough time with royalty. I should’ve recognized it.

Yet Raphael was also worlds apart from the king I’d known.

He hadn’t ordered me about. He’d treated me, at times, like a partner.

If not an equal, then a close enough approximation.

I swallowed down the thought, the events that had transpired between Greymere and Damerel bouncing around my throbbing head. “You licked me. ”

Raphael’s posture was stiff. “My apologies. I pride myself on keeping my word, and while I did in letter, I did not in spirit. I needed to seal the wound, and I wanted to show them.”

“Show them what? That I’m yours ?”

Mine , he’d called me. I hadn’t belonged to anyone in so, so long. Even though it was for show, I’d come closer to belonging in that instance than I had in the past decade.

“Vampires respect claims like that. Your blood… certain blood is more attractive to vampires. You should take care not to bleed, but by daybreak, all will know what I’ve said and heed my words.”

I shuddered and forced myself up onto my elbows. “Why is my blood so enticing? Is there a way I could change it?” I anxiously ran my fingers over the edge of the settee.

“You can’t change what you are,” he said softly. “You don’t need to.”

“I’m human , Raphael. I’m going to bleed. I’ll be dead in a minute if one of them attacks.” Them . Not you . Somehow Raphael was different from other vampires to my mind. Or maybe that was how I’d reconciled it. “You said I’d be safe here. I was a fool to believe you.”

It was less a rebuke of him and more one of me. How had I been so desperate that I’d trust a vampire—the vampire king, no less—to protect me? “I need to leave. Now.”

Had I really thought I could be safer here than with my own kind? Even for a few days ?

“You are safe here,” Raphael insisted. With vampire speed, he moved from his perch across the room to my side.

He dropped to his knees, sinking to meet me at eye level.

“Anyone who makes you feel any other way dies. I vow this, Samara. The only reason Lucas’s head is on his shoulders is because I want him to spread the message. ”

It was impossible to hold his gaze at this distance. Half-lying down in an unfamiliar room, I felt vulnerable.

No, I felt vulnerable because when he said words like that, I wanted to believe him.

“You don’t need to send a message. I’m not staying.”

“You need rest,” he countered. “Supplies. A few days of real food, not whatever small mammal I drain for you. Sturdy clothing. Maps. Remember your plan?”

Valid points. But that didn’t change the fact he was the king of vampires. “What I need is the truth. You lied to me,” I accused.

Raphael arched a brow. “How, dove? I cannot tell untruths.”

“You deceived me, then,” I corrected. “I never would have let you out of that cell if I’d known you were their godsdamned king.”

Raphael’s voice dropped low. “You would have done anything to leave that prison, and we both know it.”

I looked away, not able to meet the truth in his eyes. “Just show me how to get out of this place. If it’ll take too long to get maps, I can go without, or I’ll just hide out in the Witch Kingdom.” Anxiety caged my heart and constricted it into shallow, shallow beats that left me dizzy.

“Nothing has changed, Samara. You would be found and executed for escaping your sentence.”

There was sense in Raphael’s words, but I couldn’t get the sight of all those vampires out of my mind. I’d thought one was terrifying. Dozens—hundreds—maybe thousands. Just the thought made it hard to breathe again. “Your vampires won’t just tolerate a human walking around.”

Raphael snorted, dismissing the argument. “They’ll tolerate anything I tell them to or suffer the consequences of their treason. Besides, you are hardly the only mortal here.”

Yes, me and the other humans they kept for food. It was well known the vampires stole humans from the bordering towns to keep themselves fed. And that was to make me feel better? “I’d rather take my chances against the king’s witches.”

“You can’t go back there,” he said with infuriating patience.

I frowned. “Am I to be your captive, then? Not allowed to leave?”

Did I imagine his hesitation? “You would die, Samara. I gave my word I would protect you—that means not letting you go off to your death.”

I looked away, scanning the room. “Then I’ll stay here. Give me whatever supplies the vampire king is willing to part with in exchange for helping you retrieve the grimoire, and I’ll be on my way.” At the thought of the grimoire, my fingers twitched. “Where is the grimoire anyway?”

His head cocked at the sudden question. “Safe.” Raphael regarded me for a moment. No doubt he saw I was unsatisfied by the answer. Taking pity on me, he moved and pointed to a table his body had blocked across the room.

Something in me unclenched, just slightly, when I laid eyes on it.

“There’s another option,” Raphael said slowly, like he didn’t want to startle me.

My shoulders tensed. “What?”

“Before I tell you, I want you to answer a question for me. Do you trust me to keep you safe?”

The word no was on the tip of my tongue before I even considered the question. Safe wasn’t a word that had applied to me in a long, long time. But as Raphael stared at me, red eyes warm and utterly still while he waited for my answer, it wasn’t so easy to spit the word out.

“I don’t know if I believe there’s such a thing as safety,” I admitted.

To my surprise, he didn’t tell me I was wrong. “That’s a fair answer, so let me change the question. Do you think anyone will do a better job keeping you safe than I would?”

“No,” I conceded .

Raphael nodded. “That’s right. As long as you’re here with me, dove, you’re mine. And I protect what’s mine. Ruthlessly.”

Ruthlessly . With dismembered hands and decapitated bodies. The thought should be chilling, especially given my aversion to violence. But… violence done to protect me felt altogether different than violence done against me. Hypocrite .

“Then let me place another card in your hand. Instead of scurrying off in a few days, you could stay longer and do one more task for me.”

I should say he was insane. Say there was no possible reason I’d stay. “What task?”

Raphael flashed a grin, just for a moment. “You could translate the grimoire for me.”

I blinked. Of all the things I’d expected… my gaze immediately landed on the enchanted book once more. I wanted to know its secrets, even if they were useless to a void like me.

“I told you I barely remember Old Runyk.” I’d had a knack for languages as a girl, something my mother had hoped would impress my father, but most of what I’d learned was forgotten.

“I have a library that would be at your disposal. I’m confident with enough time, you could decipher the text.”

“Why would I do that?” I demanded. What use did a vampire have for a witch-less grimoire ?

“Because, if you do that, I’ll pay you five hundred gold pieces. Enough to not just start a new life as a beggar in the west, but to live like a queen.”

The offer was tantalizing. Too good to be true . “If you have hundreds of gold pieces lying around, you should give them to me anyway for getting you the grimoire. If not for me, you wouldn’t have been able to take it from the temple,” I reminded him.

“If you wanted payment for helping me retrieve the grimoire, you should have negotiated before,” he countered, with a smirk that made me want to hit him. “This is my offer. Five hundred gold pieces for the translation. While you work on it, you’ll live here, under my protection.”

But I’d still be working on his behalf. This was witch magic. It didn’t belong in a Vampire Kingdom. I didn’t belong here. “It’s treason.”

Raphael made a valiant effort to resist rolling his eyes. “Breaking me out of prison wasn’t?”

I flinched. “That was survival.”

“Then survive here, Samara,” he urged. “Thrive here. You’ve never had a chance to know yourself—I’ll give you that, and more.”

My heart slowed, the panic somehow easing, impossibly. For twelve years, my only thought had been how to survive the trials of each day. The only part of me I recognized now was the rat who would gnaw off a limb to survive. Could I betray my kingdom for the chance to find out I was something more ?

“One thousand gold pieces,” I countered.

“A queenly sum indeed,” Raphael said, without so much as balking at the number. “It’s a bargain, then.”

I swallowed. For the second time, I’d made a deal with the vampire.

“Now, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”