Page 64 of House of Blood and Roses: Vol. 1

"Well that just makes me want to get married even less," I murmur. How am I supposed to even try to forge a relationship with someone after I've seen them take part in a Feast?

"I can't say I'm thrilled at the idea, I'm hoping Father will let me forgo the Feast at my wedding in exchange for me being a willing participant."

"Do you think he'll say yes to that?"

"I guess we'll find out." He takes a deep breath.

The song comes to an end and we break apart, bowing to one another again.

"Should we dance again, or do you think we've done enough to sneak away?" I ask.

His lips quirk up into a smile. "I think we've done enough." He reaches out to take my hand and pulls me towards one of the tables.

"Someone's going to notice if you act like that," I say, not really caring.

"No one's going to be paying us much attention right now, all eyes are on the happy couple." He nods towards where a large group of people are crowding around Eliza and Lord Tyberan.

"Is she Lady Eliza Tyberan now?" I muse.

"No. Still Lady Eliza Fallmartin," he responds. "It saves any confusion when vampires remarry, everyone keeps their original names."

"Well, that's good for me to remember what to call everyone, not so good for remembering who is aligned with who."

"Mmm, true." He hands me a goblet of blood. "Drink up."

I tap my goblet against his and drink the blood, enjoying the sweet, rich taste. I never thought I'd like this, but there's no doubt that I do. I set my goblet down and check around us to make sure no one is actually paying us any attention. I know he's confident that no one is going to care that we're sneaking off, I want to make sure people aren't paying too much attention.

"Meet me in the corridor at the back in two minutes," Linc says.

I nod and watch him disappear, knowing it's better if we split up even if I don't want that. I avoid making eye contact with anyone so I don't get sucked into a conversation with anyone, while checking the room for my family. Bella and Thomas already seem to be missing, just like she promised, while Eliza is busy being fawned over by several adoring women who I assume must be her friends.

It takes me longer to find Lord Fallmartin, and when I do, I'm marginally surprised to find him talking to the King and Marcus, all three of them with serious expressions on their faces. At least that takes care of any of them paying attention to where I'm going.

Which means it's just Bastian I need to be careful of. I don't know where my brother is, but I don't want to get caught by him right now.

Slowly, I make my way through the crowd until I'm by the back exit to the ballroom. I take one last look around me and step backwards into the shadows.

Someone grabs my arm and I let out a small shriek of surprise until I recognise the amused face looking at me. "Sorry," Linc says.

"You took me by surprise, I was trying to be sneaky."

"And you're terrible at it," he teases, pulling me further into the alcove.

"I thought we were going to the library?"

"We are, but I want to do something risky first."

I raise an eyebrow, only realising what he means when he pulls me closer. My eyes flutter closed and I lean in. I know this is a risk we shouldn't be taking, but there's a part of me that doesn't want to wait until we're in the library to kiss him again, and that part of me is winning right now.

His fingers thread through my hair, and I'm sure it's going to look a mess once we're done, but I don't even care.

Footsteps sound in the hall and we jump apart, both of us laughing and trying to cover it at the same time.

"Maybe not the best place to kiss," I say.

"Probably not," Linc responds, a smile in his eyes that wasn't there when I left Marcus on the dance floor to go see him.

"Is there going to be anyone outside?" I ask Linc.