Page 83 of Kingly Bitten

“First, I don’t take orders from anyone other than myself. Second, he’s a servant. That’s why I had him bring up my bags.”

“That’s only one reason you called upon him. The other was to put on a show downstairs so everyone believes your royal vampire charade. And you also had two questions for him, one of which has been answered. Save him and you can ask your second question.” Calina spoke without a care in the world, her confidence resolute.

And fuck if that didn’t make me hard.

In addition to that, she seemed to see right through me. Likely because I’d given her enough details regarding my true intentions for her to make reasonable guesses as to my motives. But I suspected it went much deeper than that.

This female thought through situations with a strategic flair that rivaled my own.

“Careful, Calina,” I warned her. Because if she kept this up, I would be tempted to keep her for eternity.

Of course, I already owned her.

So the warning was rather moot.

Because at this point, I definitely intended to keep her.

“He’s going to die,” she stated flatly. “Without proper supplies, I can’t help him. Only you can. You told me to observe your version of leadership. Right now, I’m not impressed.”

I nearly laughed. “That was at the server farm, sweetheart. And we both know you were beyond impressed with my actions there.” She’d proven just how enthusiastic she was about my show ofleadershipon the plane as well.

Her eyes narrowed at the use of my clear double entendre. “You’re engaging in a word game with me when you could be saving him. That’s disappointing.”

“It’s not a game.” Although, I could see why she felt that way. “It’s more of an experiment.”

“And what are you testing?”

“You,” I replied simply. Then I bit my wrist and knelt to press the wound to the human male’s mouth as I tilted his head back to receive the life-reviving fluid.

He might suffocate on it.

He might swallow.

It depended on his own resolve.

“Would you like to know my findings?” I asked her while I waited for the mortal to choose his fate. His body’s natural response should be to accept my essence. But if he was too far gone mentally, he’d opt to drown instead.

Mortal minds were fickle and broke entirely too easily.

But a strong fortitude always persevered in the end.

Calina moved to kneel on the other side of the human. She drew her fingertip along his throat as though to will him to swallow by touch alone.

“Lilith ran experiments on me for nearly forty years. I’m certain there is nothing you’ve learned through your qualitative study that would surprise me.” She uttered the words softly, but with a conviction I felt deep within.

“I’ve been evaluating how well you read me,” I answered honestly. “How well you interpret and understand my actions.” I met her gaze over the human. “You impress me.”

She blinked, glanced down at the now swallowing male, and then looked back up at me. “I stand corrected,” she replied, her voice still soft. “That does surprise me.”

I smiled and removed my wrist from the human, aware that he had more than enough blood to begin the recovery process. “And now I need you to continue to impress me,” I told her, standing and holding out a hand for her to join me. “Damien is sending through the logs he downloaded. I want you to help me review them.”

She shifted her focus to the human again, her brow furrowing. “He needs nurturing.”

“He needs rest,” I corrected her. “Darius will put him somewhere safe. When he wakes up, I’ll ask who put him in this situation, and we’ll go from there.” I met Darius’s gaze. “The boy has a young appeal. Therefore, I suspect it was Gaston.”

Darius’s expression remained stoic. “Yes, I saw his name in the visitor logs.”

“I’m sure you won’t mind letting him know how I feel about the transgression, assuming we determine it was him?” I phrased it as a question, but we both knew the answer. Gaston had requested to become my sovereign several months ago. I’d rejected him in favor of Darius.