Page 78 of Kingly Bitten

Over and over again, always with murmurs of agreement before the formal phrase.

By the time we entered the elevator, my head was whirling with the repeated words.

Then Jace was suddenly in front of me, walking me back into the wall with one hand on my hip and the other at my throat.

I startled, realizing there was no one else with us in this tiny box. Just me and Jace. “Bored?” he drawled, his thumb forcing my chin upward to bring my gaze to his.

Storm clouds stared down at me, a strike of lightning seeming to flicker in his pupils.

“No, My Prince,” I replied, delighting in being able to say something different from all the mundane expressions of acceptance downstairs.

His eyebrow lifted. “You’re amused?”

I considered that for a moment, trying to find a clever way to reply. “I’m thoughtful, Your Highness.” I almost laughed at having to address him so formally again.

I’m losing my mind.

Or maybe I was just tired. Exhausted. Overwhelmed from the last few days. Lost in a world of submissive humans and banal semantics.

He had to be tired of it.

I’d only spent this small amount of time around it, and already I was over the formalities and ridiculous structure.

“Thoughtful,” he repeated. “I see.”

His palm squeezed around my throat, tightening the air supply just enough to tell me I’d done something wrong.

I couldn’t imagine what—I’d remained silent and stared at the floor the whole way. No one spoke to me. Only him.His Highness.

A strange desire to laugh tickled my insides, causing me to squirm a little.

Both of Jace’s eyebrows shot up now.

And for whatever reason, I found that expression downright hilarious.

Was he truly surprised by my reaction? The whole pretense established here was utterly comical.

Lilith had required similar formalities at the lab, but they were different somehow. Perhaps because she’d owned all of us and the labs.

But Jace owned this territory and his subjects.

So no. That couldn’t be it.

“I can’t decide if I want to fuck you or kill you right now,” Jace said, drawing me out of my thoughts.

A ding sounded behind him.

He dragged me away from the wall with his hand still on my throat, his other palm on my hip, and guided me through the elevator doors.

I held his stare the whole time, refusing to glance around to inspect our new surroundings. Mostly because the fury radiating from him captivated my focus.

No. That’s not fury. That’s hunger.

I shivered in response, my body reacting as though programmed to meet his every need.

This vampire had ensnared me. I resembled a fly in his web, waiting to be eaten and craving my eventual death.

“You’re bewitching me,” Jace accused, stealing the thoughts from my mind as he loosened his grip on my throat. “Tell me what you’re thinking. Speak freely. There are no recording devices or spies in my personal space.”