Page 38 of House of Blood and Roses: Vol. 1

"That's where the wine comes in," Linc responds.

"Except that you do that and you still can't be in the room."

"I'll help you next time," he promises.

I look back up and meet his gaze. "You mean that, don't you?" I whisper.

He offers me a weak smile. "I'm not sure how much help I'll be, I've never managed to see an entire Feast start to finish. My father would rather differently, some people would tell him to disinherit me over it."

"If I'm to believe the rumours about my father, he would kill an heir for showing so much weakness."

"Well, luckily for me, I'm not the heir, or in possession of quite such a mercenary father."

"Wait, you're not the heir?" I ask, somewhat surprised until I recall him mentioning a brother a couple of times.

"I believe I'm what most people refer to as a spare. Which is probably how I've managed to be at court for five years and they're only just starting to talk about when I should get married."

"Ah, so I'm not the only one whose life is going to be dictated by the will of my elders."

"I think all newly turned dhampirs find themselves in that position." Lincoln picks up the plate of cake and places it between the two of us.

I take a sip of my tea. It's nothing like the dandelion tea I sometimes used to make when they were in bloom, and is one of the advantages to my new station in life.

I pick up a piece of the cake and take a bite, enjoying the dried cherries within it that are both tart and sweet at the same time. "This has definitely been my favourite cake so far," I say.

"Only so far?" The amusement comes through his voice.

"Well, it's only been a couple of weeks, I can't possibly have tried all of the cakes, can I?"

"I suppose not."

"Which is your favourite?" I ask.

"I've never given it much thought," he admits. "Though I suppose I do like the lemon cakes."

"We should have those tomorrow," I say without thinking. "Unless you'd rather have a day without a library visit."

"Tomorrow sounds good," he responds.

My heart skips a beat, glad that he's not eager to be rid of me already. "I do have etiquette lessons in the morning, though."

"I shall be here waiting for you when you're done," he promises.

I smile at him, suddenly aware that we haven't actually done any reading yet. But this seems to have become the norm. It isn't the information in the books that keeps me coming back to the library each day, even though that is useful.

It's more than that. It's the company of someone who doesn't seem to be as caught up in the vampire ways as much as everyone else. I just hope that I'm not misjudging him and that this isn't going to cause me pain down the road.

THREE

When I first arrived at the castle, I had no idea that I'd end up sitting in a classroom at twenty-one, listening to a vampire who barely looks older than I am trying to teach me about which fork to use for what meal.

Then again, I had no idea what was going to happen when I first arrived here, so that's not that surprising.

"Have we not covered forks enough?" Emilia mutters from beside me.

"Probably not, I almost used the wrong one for my salad at family dinner last night," I whisper back to my new friend.

She laughs, drawing Madame Veronica's attention.