Page 61 of Blood Day

Feeding me. Healing me. Giving me water.

But what is waiting for me behind this door?I wondered as Iapproached it. I still had my towel wrapped around me, which was better than nothing. For some reason I felt the need to wear the fabric as armor, which was ridiculous, considering how often I was forced to walk around without clothes.

Regardless, I held the knot at my chest as I used my opposite hand to open the door.

A petite human female stood outside holding a tray, her gaze averted. “I’m sorry for knocking more than once, Sire. Mistress Adrienne t-told me to kn-knock again,” she stammered, her skin a sheet of white against her darker features.

“Master Cedric is in the other room,” I whispered, trying to keep my voice as low as possible. He’d told me not to speak. But maybe he’d just meant as he answered the phone. Or maybe he’d meant now.

I didn’t know.

I didn’t really know anything at all.

The human didn’t acknowledge me, her gaze still on the ground. “Master Cedric asked for me to deliver this.”

I assumedthiswas the tray in her hands. “Oh.” I stepped backward into the room to search for an appropriate place to set it down, but the female moved in after me and went straight toward the bedroom. “He just took a call out on the balcony,” I warned her. “With Prince Silvano.”

She froze, then turned abruptly. Her hands were shaking as she set the tray down on a table near the corner of the room. It seemed like an odd choice, given the larger table near the two couches in the center.

I nearly asked, but she fell to her knees onto the marble floor beside the table, taking a submissive pose without a word. Then she unbuttoned the top of her shirt to make her neck more accessible.

And bent her head next before going perfectly still.

Did Master Cedric intend to feed from her after already biting me today? Would he give her blood afterward?

Was this another lesson of some kind?

He’d told me to answer the door and not speak.

Okay, so what now? Did I bow like her? Kneel and await my fate?

A fate that couldn’t be good, considering I’d just screamed at him.

What was I thinking? How could I be so free with my emotions?

Maybe it was his blood. It left me feeling alive. Invincible.Strong. And I hated how grateful that made me, how indebted to him I felt for giving me such an amazing sensation.

Oh, and the pleasure. Dear Goddess, he’d awakened a warmth in me that I wanted to experience again and again. Which terrified me, given that it washimevoking those feelings.

As though I needed another reason to be drawn to him.

He was handsome. Powerful. Intimidating. Strong. And now I had to addgivingto the list.Considerate. A man possessing a rapturous touch.

I nearly groaned, my thighs tingling with awareness all over again.

I wanted him.

Yet I disliked him.

Well, no. Ifearedhim. Except I also didn’t.

And I’d screamedat him. Yeah, back to that transgression again.

I’d been so focused on fighting him, on looking for a way to play this game, that I’d grown frustrated by his responses.

What’s he going to do to me now?

Maybe I should kneel with the other girl. At least that would give me a somewhat contrite appearance.