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“I don’t know if this phrase will translate, but he basically love-bombed me. I know that gets thrown around a lot—where I’m from—and I can’t believe I didn’t realize it at first. I don’t want to get into all the details.”

“You can give me details.” He slid the mug across to her, loved the way she faintly smiled as she inhaled.

He also didn’t want certain kinds of details—he was feeling murderous, and her ex was nearby.

It should be easy enough to hunt him down and behead him.

But only if he didn’t mind causing a clash between realms.

“He was constantly praising me, telling me how talented I was, and within a week of dating he wanted to turn me into a vampire. I’m not sure how familiar you are with vampire customs, but that’s ridiculously fast.” She paused.

“To be fair, I’ve had more offers to be turned, but usually by old vamps who want me to paint for them for like a decade.

” There was amusement in her voice as she shook her head.

“They just like that I’m something new and shiny is all. ”

But then her expression sobered. “With Charles, it was different.”

Charles. Yes . He finally had a name. He forced his expression to remain neutral, but she wasn’t looking at him anyway. She was picking apart a slice of bread until it was nothing but little crumbles.

“In the beginning everything was fun and exciting and to him, I was perfect.” There was a hint of bitterness in her voice.

“Everything moved so fast, which normally would have been a red flag for me.” She took a deep breath.

“My mom was in her share of abusive relationships, and I stupidly thought that I’d see one coming. I thought I’d see the signs.”

“That kind of shit sneaks up on you though,” he murmured. He’d seen it time and again with people in his life.

She looked up at him in surprise, almost as if she’d forgotten he was there.

He started to curse himself for speaking, but she gave him a ghost of a smile and nodded.

“Yeah, exactly. He wanted to buy me things, to introduce me to all these important people, and he told me so much about him that he’d supposedly never told anyone else. ”

She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t see it at the time, but he was trying to force a bond with me. Luckily, I guess, my sister knew the signs too. She was an outsider in our relationship and very gently pointed a few things out to me and…”

Mia shook her head and he could see her inwardly berating herself.

“It was like my eyes were opened. I don’t know that I’d have listened if I hadn’t already been having doubts, which scares me.

He had these manic highs and lows where everything I did was perfect, but then the next day I was a stupid human who was lucky he was with me.

He never said it in those exact words, or I’d have bailed.

But I could feel the intent. That he thought I should be grateful to simply be with him, a royal vampire.

” Another eye roll. “Then there were the lies. Little ones that I’d caught him in.

Stupid stuff, but if you lie about little stuff… ” She shrugged.

Oh, he hated this Charles with deep, burning dragonfire.

Wanted to rip his limbs off and let him bleed out before burning him to ash for treating Mia that way.

“Then you lie about the bigger things. If you can’t trust someone to be honest with you about inconsequential things, how can you trust them for the real things that matter?

How can you trust them with you as a person? ”

She nodded again, the tension in her shoulders easing once again. “Yes, exactly. So, I ended things.”

Tiber realized he was holding his breath, waiting for her to tell him the fallout of the breakup. Because he could see where this was going. Or at least the direction.

“I was gentle about it, told him that it was me, not him, blah blah blah. I thought he took it well.”

“Did he hurt you?” He sounded as if he’d swallowed gravel as he tried to force the words past his throat. If that male had hurt her and was here in this realm now, Charles wouldn’t live through the night. Inter-realm issues be damned.

“No. Not… exactly. And this is why I think I’m overreacting.

I can’t prove anything. I literally have no proof other than my instinct, which could be completely wrong, that he was behind some weird things in my life.

My sister’s garden and greenhouse mysteriously burned down.

Then I ran into him the next night and he was so strange, specifically asking about her.

Then a very close friend of mine was injured in what was supposedly a freak accident at work.

But he has no memory of it, just… nightmares.

Same deal, I ran into Charles as I was leaving the healer after visiting my friend, and he was off. ”

“How so?”

“I don’t know how to explain it, but it was the way he looked at me.

As if he was gleeful that someone in my life had been injured.

And maybe that’s all it was. But this happened a few more times and he showed up directly after each time someone in my life suffered something.

Like a warning. Or maybe he was hoping to see my reaction, to see how much I was emotionally hurt.

He asked me out again after the last time and I told him I’d be leaving for another territory.

I hadn’t even made the decision at that point, but running into him made it for me.

I’d just received the invite from Stella—ah, Princess Stella.

I didn’t say which realm I’d be going to, and made it sound like I’d be gone for years.

I’ve been exchanging letters with my sister and friends, and from all accounts, nothing has happened to anyone I care about since I left.

Then… Charles was with the vampire party that night at the auction.

And tonight, at the bazaar. I don’t know if he saw me. ”

Oh, Tiber had no doubt the male had seen her, was hunting her. Too bad for Charles, he would never get close enough to Mia again to hurt her. To touch her. The male shouldn’t even be breathing the same air as her.

Her cheeks flushed pink as she met his gaze.

“I’m sorry how I acted before. I was scared but I shouldn’t have used my…

I don’t know the right word.” Her cheeks flushed an even deeper shade of pink and he was certain that yes, she did know the right word.

“I should have just asked you to leave, but I panicked. Especially since you offered to cut off his head—and I don’t think you were joking.

I don’t want to make any waves here. I love living here.

I moved here when the opportunity presented itself and I would have done it with or without Charles.

I don’t want to be… a silly human who causes drama. ”

He frowned at the way she was downplaying things, at the way she wanted to make herself small.

“You’re not a silly human.” His own words ricocheted inside his brain and he wanted to stab himself for his previous thoughtless words.

“What you described… you will be staying here at my home until this Charles and his party have left the territory.” And Charles would never be allowed to return. He would make sure of that.

“I want to say that it’s not necessary.”

“And yet it is happening.”

“You are the most high-handed person I’ve ever met.” There was absolutely no heat in her voice. “And thank you.”

He shrugged. “So you will not argue about this?”

“No. Charles scares me. And you’re the scariest person I know, but I trust you. Just… don’t cut off his head and cause an inter-realm incident. Okay?” She half-smiled, as if jesting.

But Tiber would absolutely not promise that. As far as he knew vampires turned to ash when they died. He wouldn’t even have to hide the body. No cleanup was always a good thing. “Eat your food. You’ve barely touched it.”

She looked down in surprise as if she’d forgotten about the food and picked up some of the cheese. “I can’t stay here without Neptune. He’ll be fine without me for one night, but I can’t leave him longer than that.”

“I already thought of that. I’ll retrieve him or send someone else to. Do not worry.” It was clear how much she loved the fluffy beast.

“Oh… thank you.”

As she started to eat, he pulled some more things out and started cooking her a proper meal. But while he worked, he started making plans to end the threat against her for good.