Page 8 of Hunger in His Blood (Brides of the Kylorr #3)

CHAPTER 8

KALDUR

T he relief that spiraled through me was dizzying. I’d never felt anything quite like it. Because, truthfully, I didn’t know what I would’ve done if Erina had rejected my offer.

That’s not true, I thought. I would have pursued her until she changed her mind.

But she’d made this easy, and I was grateful for that. Tension unknotted in my shoulders. I felt like I could breathe freely again.

“When would you like to begin?” came her quiet, shy question.

My fangs elongated in a rush, and I grabbed for my tea to wash down the sweet venom that flowed from them and to hide the physical response from her. I hadn’t had this loss of control over them since I’d been young.

Raazos’s blood , what would it be like to feed from a blood mate? I was both wary and impatient to find out.

But reason won, in the end.

“Once a contract has been signed,” I answered, replacing the tea on the saucer, retracting my fangs slightly so they wouldn’t bite into my lip during the meal.

“A contract?” she repeated, seeming surprised .

“Will that be a problem?” I asked.

“No,” Erina said. “I just…I don’t know how these things are done.”

She acted as if this was normal to me. As if I struck contracts with blood mates every day.

She doesn’t know, I reminded myself. She doesn’t realize how abnormal this situation truly is.

Which was why I needed to navigate it with the utmost care. My reputation and family name were on the line. I didn’t need the tittering speculation, not when House Kaalium needed to remain an unstoppable and powerful force. We were on the cusp of change, of an impending war, and the last thing I needed was to be gossiped about among the nobles who would help fund Kaalium’s victory if that war came or if the Kaazor to the north went back on their word.

To distract myself from the dark thoughts, I motioned toward Leeta, who I spied hovering discreetly along the edge of the terrace. Trays of food were perched on her arms, and she came forward quickly, depositing them before each of us and taking away the covers with a small, practiced flourish.

I noticed that Erina flashed Leeta a small smile, though it struck me as embarrassed. “Thank you, Lee,” she said to her.

Leeta only nodded, her expression carefully blank as she left.

Perhaps I wasn’t the only one who feared being gossiped about, I remembered, eyeing Erina. The mere thought made amusement slide into my chest, that she would be embarrassed to dine with me publicly.

“I have a contract already,” I informed her, wanting to see how she would respond.

Erina’s gaze flashed up to mine. “You do?”

“You’ll just need to review and sign it.”

“In my blood?” she asked.

“Naturally,” I replied. All contracts of importance were signed in blood. That was how they were binding .

“After breakfast?” she asked.

I needed to speak to Maudoric first, one last pressing detail I needed to make certain of, before I signed.

“Tonight,” I replied, though I knew the wait would be strenuous for me. Now that I’d found my relief in this human female, it would be difficult to wait mere hours for my next fix of her. I was using her like I would a medicine, a drug. But the thought of feeling that familiar aching restlessness build inside me once more felt unbearable, though it’d been my constant state for nearly two years. “I’ll give you the contract to read over today. I’ll send for you this evening.”

“All right,” she said, before her eyes dropped down to the breakfast before her. Marinated laak eggs over seasoned rusk grains. A variety of fresh slices of ripened fruits, from all over the Kaalium and my own orchards, and fresh syaan -berry bread with a little jar of red sweet jam. I watched, a little fascinated, as her gaze went to the slice of bread she’d brought, two bites taken from it—one hers and one mine—and she sighed a little, placing it down on the table next to her plate.

“Eat,” I ordered her, wondering for the hundredth time if I was making a grave mistake. A familiar mistake. She was keeper, for Alaire’s sake. And young, at that. She was twenty-four or twenty-five, I guessed. Around seven years my junior. She had no place in my bed. Young females tended to have foolish ideas about love, when all I wanted was a transaction. She would get something and I would get something.

It was unfortunate she was my blood mate. The one female in this universe whose blood would call to me above all others.

For the first time in my life, I didn’t know what to do. This was an entirely novel situation. And while I’d navigated similar ones, no situation had ever come close to a kyrana . A fated mate.

Raazos was laughing at me, surely, or testing me. The god of battle had a dark sense of humor, for certainly this would end me. This wasn’t Alaire’s doing. The god of mercy would never give me a wide-eyed keeper as a mate.

And yet…I couldn’t help but stare with fascination as she ate her breakfast. She ate heartily and quickly, making my lips quirk more than once, as if she was afraid the food would disappear.

“It’s not going anywhere,” I told her, taking another long drink from my tea as I leaned back in my chair. I savored the calm of my body, the peace of the morning.

She blinked, confused, wiping her mouth with the edge of her fingers in a strangely erotic gesture. I swallowed, my cock pulsing suddenly as I straightened up, especially when her tongue licked at her fingertip, catching a stray drop of fruit nectar on the delicate pad.

When she looked down at her plate to see it nearly empty, her gaze then darted to mine, which I had yet to even touch. She blushed, the pink tantalizing as want curled in my belly.

I frowned, however, not meaning to make her feel embarrassed. “Don’t misunderstand me, zendra . An appreciation for food is an attractive quality. You wouldn’t believe how many females I’ve witnessed not eat a single bite at a dinner in fear they might stain their dresses.”

“Do you fear staining your vest, then?” she asked, the question oddly innocent. “Since you’ve not eaten anything?”

I laughed, leaning forward. “Fair enough. I picked this color for you. I wouldn’t want to ruin it.”

She blushed an even redder color, making me grin shamelessly. I hadn’t intentionally picked the color for her, but the small lie was a happy accident since I happened to remember the vase color from yesterday. The small lie was worth her blush—I didn’t even feel bad about how easily it fell from my lips.

“Keepers learn to eat quickly,” she confessed. “There’s always much to be done. I’m sorry for my poor manners—it’s habit.”

“Don’t be sorry,” I said gruffly. I was hungry but not for food. It didn’t tempt me one bit at that moment, and I’d only ordered a platter so it would make her feel more at ease. “If I were feeding on your blood right now, I assure you I’d be more ravenous than you. I wouldn’t care about my manners.”

She gasped.

“And once the contract is signed, you won’t have to worry about rushing around the keep,” I added, hiding my smile.

She fell silent. That was when I noticed Maudoric, lingering by the terrace door, a bundle of parchment in her grip, rolled and tied with a red ribbon.

Perfect timing, I thought. I gestured her forward as Erina finished her meal, washing it down with a swig of her now cool tea.

Erina didn’t meet Maudoric’s eyes as I took the contract from her grip. “I’ll meet you up in my study shortly,” I told the Head Keeper. I needed to have a talk with her. Maudoric left again after her nod, and I handed the rolled-up parchment to Erina.

She took it and tucked it into her lap, suddenly shy again, as if the appearance of the contract made everything real.

I stood from the table as she blinked up at me, her brows furrowing. “I have to meet with Maudoric, and then I have business in town. But take your time finishing your tea. Afterward, I recommend going through the gardens. There are quiet places inside where you can read over the contract.”

“Oh, but I have duties to?—”

“Maudoric is aware of the offer I made to you,” I informed her. “You’re not expected to work today. Read over the contract and take the rest of the afternoon to yourself. I’ll send for you later this evening, and we can sign it together if we’re in agreement with the terms.”

Erina peered up at me and then her gaze flashed to the garden. I wondered if she’d ever been inside, but judging from her hungry gaze, I thought that unlikely.

“It’s beautiful,” I told her, softening my voice. I gestured with my chin toward one of the arched stone entrances. “Go. I’ll see you tonight.”

With that, I left. And with every step I took away from her, I felt that irritating buzzing begin again.

Vaan, I cursed silently, clenching my jaw tight.

In my study, Maudoric was waiting.

“You have the documents I sent for?” I asked, cutting straight to the purpose of our meeting, no pleasantries. My mood was souring, but I’d always endeavored not to take it out on anyone else, especially my Head Keeper. My brothers, perhaps. But never Maudoric.

She nodded and wordlessly handed the papers over.

“Did you read it?” I questioned.

“Yes,” she said.

“Anything out of the ordinary?” I asked, already skimming over the citizen’s file I’d requested.

“No,” Maudoric replied. “It’s what I know about her, what Syndras told me when she requested I hire her on.”

“She came to work here on a referral?” I asked, half-distracted. “From Syndras of…House Terasyn?”

A strong, noble bloodline, though they had fallen on financial hardship in the last couple decades after Axia’s death. I’d heard they’d needed to cut their staff.

“Yes. She’s an old friend of mine,” Maudoric said. “I trusted her recommendation. And she was right to recommend Erina. She’s been a good, reliable keeper.”

On the file, I read her full name.

Erina Denoren.

She was twenty-five. I’d guessed correctly, then. Location of birth unknown, though the first reported record of her was at three years old in Vyaan.

An orphan, I realized, frowning, seeing the name of a familiar orphanage that had once been situated on the outskirts of my territory. One that had been shut down years prior due to neglect.

I grunted. I hadn’t guessed she would be an orphan. But according to her file, she’d been there nearly her entire life, until she’d aged out and gotten work at a noble’s House. Her work history was normal enough, and she had worked at House Terasyn for two years before coming to work in my keep.

A small relief threaded through me, even though the section for her past known associates was blank. I wondered about the lover who’d gifted her that awful perfume, feeling something wiggle in my chest, something that felt awfully like possession .

“Will that be all, Kyzaire ?” Maudoric asked me, even though she knew I didn’t like it when she called me by my proper title.

“Do you think I’m making a mistake?” I couldn’t help but ask, the words clipped but clear. But Maudoric was the closest thing to family I had near me at that moment. She knew Erina. I trusted her judgment, even though it wasn’t her place to give it me. Right then, I didn’t care.

Maudoric studied me. Then she sighed.

“I trust that you have your reasons for this,” she told me. I hadn’t told her that Erina was my blood mate, but Maudoric was shrewd and intelligent. She would realize it sooner or later, if she hadn’t already. “You wouldn’t do this if you didn’t think it was necessary. I know that.”

She turned. But at the door, she paused.

I cocked my head and watched her. The expression on her face was reluctant.

“Erina is a sweet girl, Kaldur,” she said quietly. “Be careful with her. I don’t think she’s had an easy life…but I also think she’s too naive for someone like you. For this life. For your life.”

My jaw tightened. I knew what she meant. The life of a Kyzaire , the life of a son of House Kaalium was not an easy thing. It wasn’t for the weak. I’d been born into this, and so I’d been well prepared all my life. But to an outsider, especially one who wasn’t a noble…well, there was a reason noble Houses tended to marry into other noble Houses. The transition and high expectations weren’t as jarring.

“And she doesn’t deserve to be broken,” Maudoric finished. “You wouldn’t mean to do it. But she’s not hardened enough to withstand it.”

“She might not have a choice,” I admitted quietly.

Because this had already been set into motion. Fate was a fickle thing. And more times than not, it demanded to be obeyed.

If she hadn’t guessed Erina was my blood mate yet, I had a suspicion she just did, judging by the look of pity that flashed over my Head Keeper’s expression.

“Neither do you, it seems,” Maudoric said.

With that, she left. And my mood soured even more.