Page 100 of A Vow of Shadow and Blood

“Mother,” Ajax says.

“Hush, child, I am not speaking to you.” She gives him one look, and he returns to the silent statue he once was. What is it with this woman, and why is it that they are all bowing to her whims when she is quite clearly a monster?

“Well, answer the question, girl?”

“I advise the prince.” Iza looks so timid in her chair, her blue eyes flitting around the room in embarrassment.

Hira tips her head back and laughs, the lines around her eyes sinking into her tawny beige skin.

“Advise him on what exactly? You have no powers, no house members left, and were too arrogant to merge with a stronger one. Tell me—what exactly do you think you’re advising him on?”

Tears prick Iza’s eyes, and her mouth opens and then closes as though she has no idea what to say. Karius seems tense, but he says nothing. They all say nothing while this woman berates her as if she were pathetic.Like, she is human.Anger swirls inside me, and I fight to calm it down. The black rises and falls from my veins, making the pounding in my head grow.

“I remember Axton House at its height, and your father would be ashamed to see how you have destroyed everything he worked hard to build. You are a pathetic excuse for a vampire, and the only reason you sit in that seat is because, for some reason, the prince pities you.”

“And who pities you? Because from where I’m standing, neither of your children looks particularly thrilled by your presence tonight.” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them, but I couldn’t stand by and listen to her for another minute, not when the entire room just stays silent as she mocks her.

Hira’s attention is on me within seconds.

“How dare you!” She rises from her seat and moves at speed in my direction, but Ajax moves into her path, blocking her.

“No,” he says in a firm command.

“Get out of my way, boy! That insolent human needs to be taught a lesson.”

“She is the prince’s personal pureblood. You will not place a finger on her.”

She growls at him and then pushes against his chest, but he doesn’t budge. She turns her attention to Karius and points a finger at me.

“Is this how you let your humans talk to your guests — like they are one of us? Are you not going to deal with her?”

“Perhaps ifyouwere vampire enough, you’d be able to deal with me yourself.”

“Enough!” Karius’s voice booms through the room, and shadows spill from his hands in thick clouds. “Sit down.”

Without hesitation, Hira scrambles to her seat, but her hard stare is still on me. Karius speaks in a tone that is both calm and deadly as he addresses the room.

“First, you deign to turn up to my home without invitation, then you insult a member of my team, and then you dare to attackmypureblood.”

“She wa—”

“I don’t care what she did or didn’t do. This is my home, and I will discipline what is mine how I see fit, but make no mistake, you do not come into my home and tell me how to run my council or deal with my humans. Do you understand me?”

She nods.

“Answer.”

She jumps along with a few other people in the room.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” I can tell that the words are forced, but she says them anyway. She may be thinking of leaving this court, but right now, he is her prince, and she has insulted him. He swiftly turns his attention to me, and a fear slices through me. His eyes narrow, and I know that I have messed up, yet I do not regret standing up for Iza when no one else was. The glare that I send his way is just as fierce.

He turns to the guard at the door. “Get her out of here. Now.”

Itoss and turn beneath the sheets of my bed, the weight of them a constant frustration. I throw them off and blow out a breath. My eyes fix on the ceiling as my mind spins again and again. After telling the guard to take me away from the room, I’ve not seen Karius, and my mind is reeling with what is going to happen the next time we see each other. I also can’t get the image of his hands on me as I sat on his lap, his thumb brushi—

No. Not going there.

I throw off my sheets and jump out of bed. This is just the bond. These stupid feelings and the odd way that my body is responding—it is nothing more than the bond. I’m not actually attracted to avampire,and I’ve definitely not been dreaming of him biting me, among other things. Anger courses through me at the thought of feeling anything toward him. A vampire prince. He is literally responsible for the massacre of hundreds of mypeople, and somehow, in the midst of all the beauty and glamor, I have forgotten who I am and why I’m here.