Page 15 of A Bond in Blood (Blood Bound Duet #1)

Chapter 15

U lrich and I didn’t speak for five days after our encounter in the water. Uncomfortable given I was still expected to sleep beside him. But he stayed on his side of the bed, and I stayed on mine.

One night while I readied myself in the bathing room, the lights had extinguished, and his presence was suddenly chilling the room.

I set my brush down with a sigh.

“Yes?” I asked.

“I apologize,” he said.

I turned on my heel, hoping to see him in the dark but as quickly as he’d slipped into the room, he was gone and the red light from the moon above was filling the room once more.

Twisting back to the mirror, I stared at my reflection. He’d apologized, even if it had been odd and abrupt, it had been an apology.

It made me hate him more.

Another five days passed. Not one word uttered between us.

I laid in the bed, staring at the ceiling, twisting my fingers against each other.

His body was as unmoving as mine.

I sighed.

“Something on your mind?” he asked.

I shifted to my side, propping myself on my arm. “Do you have a winter festival?”

He was silent.

“Forget I asked,” I groaned.

“I didn’t realize we were on speaking terms again,” he replied.

I laughed, pressing my head into the pillow. “Were we ever on speaking terms?”

“A valid question.”

I smirked at the amusement in his tone.

“To answer your question, yes, we do have a winter celebration.”

“When?” I asked, my heart racing.

He was silent once more. The bed shifted and the heat of him right before me, startled me.

“Soon,” he whispered.

“What happens at this festival?” I asked.

“Things.”

“Do I only get one-word responses?”

“That depends, Ursa. What is the reasoning behind the questions?”

A tear fell from my eye, streaking down my cheek.

“I wanted—” My heart thumped in my chest. “I wanted to write my father a letter.”

“This is your request?”

“No!” I exclaimed. “No, not that request tied to our deal. But yes, it is a request.”

“I haven’t prevented you from writing any letters, Brenna.”

He shifted again, the weight of his body moving back to the other side of the bed. I stared through the darkness, trying to burn a fire of irritation through his scalp.

“Tell me about him,” Ulrich said quietly.

I startled. “My father?”

He laughed again and the bed shook with the movement. “Not him. The other man in your life.”

“Oh.” My heart grew heavy. “I don’t wish to speak of him.”

“Are you not mourning?” he asked.

“You know, Ulrich,” I scoffed. “I was just beginning to believe we were having a rather pleasant and cordial conversation.”

I flipped onto my side, throwing my hair over my shoulder and pulling the covers over my head. My tears fell silently while I thought back on Leif’s words. His promises. The hope he’d offered me.

The meeting we’d longed for that had been taken from us.

“What did he do to die so brutally?” I whispered.

“I’m bound by my duties,” was all the monster beside me said before silence encroached over the room once more. Leaving me to wet my pillow while my grief threatened to drown me.

Four months.

One hundred and twelve days.

The number close to the age I was in years. Making me feel like an old woman.

I sat on the settee beside Ulrich’s throne, watching the bodies move, bored beyond belief. Above me was the king, with his lap surprisingly empty.

I yawned, throwing my head back.

“Should we retire?” Ulrich’s voice whispered.

I pulled my eyes up to meet his. “You speak as though we are some couple sneaking off into the night.”

His eyes gleamed with amusement. “Could we not be?”

I shook my head. “No. We cannot.”

Twisting back to the dancing members of Ulrich’s court, my eyes found Olen in the crowd. Once again surrounded by bodies determined to gain his attention.

Without allowing myself to reconsider, I hopped to my feet.

“Where are you going?” Ulrich asked.

“To have fun,” I replied.

I rushed down the dais and the people eyed me nervously, parting like the sea before a water nymph. When I reached the giant that was the king’s right hand, I tapped him on the back.

“Get in line,” he laughed, while he spun a naked courtesan in her spot.

“Do I have to?”

Olen’s body twisted my way immediately and he offered a wide grin.

“You’re off your seat.”

“I’m no pet ordered to stay in my spot,” I replied.

Olen’s eyes traveled beyond my head to where the king’s throne lay.

“That’s debatable.”

“Olen,” I stated. “You have practically begged me to play with you for the last four months. You either dance with me now or lose the chance.”

His braided hair clinked with the gold rings tied into the plaits while he shook his head.

“What kind of dancing are you thinking about?”

I fluttered my eyelashes up at him while I grinned. “Why don’t we find out?”

My scream of surprise drowned out the music when his hands wrapped around my waist, swinging me around in a circle.

“Gods! Stop!” I laughed.

“That’s a good sound,” his voice boomed.

“I need a drink!” I yelled over the music.

Olen winked, rushing us across the room toward the table lined with every kind of liquor one could think of.

“There’s no faerie wine here, is there?” I asked, trying to determine which dark liquid would numb my senses the best.

Olen shook his head. “Ulrich has that poison banned. It’s not allowed past the mist.”

I moved my head to the throne, finding Ulrich straight as a statue. His eyes wide and watching me.

“Is he jealous?” I asked while Olen passed me a full cup of golden liquor.

“Maybe jealous he can’t join,” Olen laughed.

I threw back the drink, setting it down on the table. “You two?”

Olen winked. “Your highness, where is that mind traveling to this evening?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I replied.

The liquor instantly warmed my blood, and Olen was swinging me around the room again, pulling uncontrollable laughs from my lips.

The music shifted. Something sensual, tempting. A beat pulsing through my blood. Begging me to move.

Olen stared down at me and I moved around him, my hand trailing down his chest.

“Princess,” he grunted at my touch.

“Could you make me forget?” I asked, pressing myself against him, moving my hips with the beat.

Olen’s dark eyes stared back at me, an unfamiliar concern flashing across his gaze.

“Forget what?” he asked. His finger brushed my lip.

“Everything,” I whispered.

His hands landed on my hips holding tightly while I moved in circles. Then he was lifting me, placing me on his leg.

“This is not very proper, princess,” he chuckled.

I breathed in, wrapping my arms around his neck. “Olen, I am not a pure virgin. I am a woman with needs and both you and Ulrich have continually claimed I should partake in the nightly activities.”

Olen’s eyes glistened and a smile graced the corner of his lip. He dipped closer, placing his lips against my neck.

“Dance,” he ordered.

“Thank you,” I replied, grateful for the control he was allowing me.

The tips of my toes barely reached the floor being raised on his leg, but I did as he said. I moved. Circling my hips on his thigh. Bringing a quick ache tight in my belly. A plea for release.

“Are we becoming friends?” I asked, shouting over the music.

“Are we?” he replied with a grin.

I returned the grin, throwing my head back while I moved. His hands held my hips in place. The size of his palms was maddening while his fingers rested against my soft, lower stomach.

“Your curves,” he groaned. “Gods.”

“They are magnificent.”

My eyes snapped open, and I stopped moving. Olen didn’t move, but he winked as his eyes traveled behind my head.

“Your grace,” he said, tilting down his chin.

I turned my head, finding the king I was trying to forget standing right behind me.

“Ulrich,” I said coldly.

“Oh, don’t stop on my account,” he grinned. “I was rather enjoying the show.”

Olen’s hands tightened around me. “Well, princess.”

“No!” I protested. “No, I’m not your entertainment.”

I scrambled off Olen’s leg, straightening my dress. Ulrich leaned down, his beard tickling my ear as he dropped his voice.

“ Ursa , the obvious arousal you left on my right hand’s knee says you are.”

My hand connected with his cheek, slightly knocking his mask to the side before I could stop myself.

Gasps rang out around me and Olen’s arms gripped my shoulders.

“You are so stupid,” he groaned, holding me back as Ulrich straightened his mask.

“I hit a nerve,” the king laughed.

“You speak to me as if I were anything other than a princess. A princess who deserves respect! Even a sliver of it!”

“I have yet to see a princess dancing—grinding—on a knee so publicly,” he shot back.

Snickers came from all the sneering faces surrounding me. I turned my nose up, scowling at him.

“Are you jealous, Ulrich? Upset I was enjoying myself with Olen? That I won’t allow you to touch a single curve of my body even when I’m always but a fingers-length from you?”

The king smiled, snapping his fingers instead of responding. Three naked women appeared, their hands instantly eager and moving across his chest.

“Is this jealousy?” he asked. His hand grasped the back of one woman’s head, and he pulled her face to his, kissing her hard.

“Yes,” I replied blankly.

Olen snorted beside me.

Ulrich pulled away from the kiss, his eyes burning with hate.

“Do you want to watch me fuck them, Brenna?”

I raised a brow. “ Them ? Do they not have names, your grace? Are they not your subjects?”

The women all threw nasty scowls at me and Ulrich grinned. His hand grabbed the breast of the woman he’d just kissed, his fingers tugging at her nipple.

“This is Liv.”

She groaned, offering me a smirk.

He pulled his hand away and I bit the inside of my cheek when his fingers entered the next woman. His eyes staring straight into mine.

“This is Ola.”

The woman rolled her hips against his fingers, throwing her head back with her groans.

He pulled from her, standing and ran his thumb across the third woman’s lips. They parted willingly and he slowly slid the fingers he’d had inside the previous woman into her mouth.

She moaned while her lips wrapped around his fingers, and I scowled.

“And this is Sylvi,” he sneered.

I took a step back, bumping into Olen.

“Congratulations, you know the names of the women you bed. Do you want a prize?”

His green eyes lit behind his black mask.

“Olen, have your way with her.”

His hand waved and I smiled with triumph then yelped at Olen throwing me over his shoulder.

“Gods,” I grunted. “Not this again.”

His hand slapped my backside, pulling a rageful yell from my lips.

“Don’t worry, princess,” He laughed. “You only get my cock tonight if you ask for it.”

I had a perfect view of Ulrich as Olen carried me away. He was stoic in his place, his face emotionless as the women before him all fell to their knees, pulling at his clothing. Lowering his trousers.

Yet he kept his gaze on me.

I returned the hate back to him. Cursing his name while Olen carried me away. Holding my rage until we’d rounded the corner, and the man dropped me to the ground.

“I guess you’re my bedmate tonight,” he groaned, running his hand over his jaw.

“Sorry I’m a disappointment,” I replied.

Olen leaned down, pulling me up by the wrist.

“Stop baiting him, Brenna. Stop trying to get under his skin.”

I stared up at Olen then lifted myself onto my toes. “Kiss me,” I begged.

His gaze was blank, his mouth unmoving while he stared back at me.

“Princess.”

“Please,” I asked, pulling at his shirt. “Please give me control over something.”

Olen’s head turned back as though he were checking for any prying eyes. His calloused hand brushed my cheek.

“I thought we were friends,” he chuckled.

“Friends do favors for one another,” I countered.

He tugged on the end of my hair, eliciting a gasp from me. “Not those kinds of favors.”

He released his hold on my hair and turned on his heel. My pulse raced while I stared after him walking away, leaving me in the hallway alone with loud screams and moans of pleasure coming from the ballroom.

“Olen!” I yelled.

“Try becoming friends with him, princess!” he shouted over his shoulder. “You may actually like him!”

I turned back to the ballroom, determined to knock the doors down. To ruin Ulrich’s night of pleasure. Only, when I arrived at the doors, throwing them open with a thud , he was no longer in the middle of the room. The women were still there, but each of them were being pleasured by their own man. And the throne?

Well… the throne was empty.

I didn’t miss, however, the hidden door—still slightly open just beyond the dais.

No—I couldn’t miss it at all.