Page 27 of The Ballad of the Vampire Prince

The scent of her arousal suddenly surrounds me.

Fucking hell, Rhianelle.I almost groan. My head is smack in the middle of her thighs.

It’s the wrong fucking position but that can be amended in one quick move. I’m bastard enough to feast on her in the middle of the woods.

“I should get down,” she stammers.

The queen seems to realize the err in her decision to climb on top of me. I can practically hear her pulse racing. She clenches her thighs together and every sane thought leaves me.

Something rustles behind us and my eyes snap to the sound.

“What’s wrong?” she murmurs quietly.

Something is up.

Desire refuses to deflate from my chest despite the threat. I inhale deeply and squeeze her leg in a silent warning. “Don’t come down. Not yet.”

There’s no safer place for her to be than sitting there right over my shoulders. I think she might argue with me, but the girl nods.

I begin moving towards the sounds when a gray-haired male elf dressed in black hunting leathers halts our path.

By human years, he does not look a day past thirty. A long sword hangs on his belt, along with a parrying knife.

“Hey,” he says blandly, by way of greeting.

Not much can be gathered from this male. Half of his face is covered with a mask but those dull, lifeless eyes… It’s the eyes of someone who has seen too much—killed too many.

Rhianelle reaches a hand to him from above me. He takes it, signing himself a death warrant.

“Svenn, this is my friend Shade,” she introduces. The name is simple and pretty enough on a tombstone. But I don’t say this to Rhianelle. I’m trying to earn her trust.

Mercifully, he doesn’t comment on Rhianelle’s odd position over my shoulders.

“How is my uncle?” she asks him with a small voice.

“Resting. But he’s not taking visitor,” Shade answers in an absent-minded tone.

Rhianelle’s grip on my hair tightens. Whatever news this guy is delivering seems to be making her sad.

“He did ask about you earlier,” he offers.

“Really?” She perks up again.

“He wants you to reconsider your plan staying in the same tower as the vampire.”

A smarter man—elf would have waited to deliver this news without me there.

“I concur with the Silverra’s opinion. Nightwalkers are dangerous.” Shade keeps spewing his shit as if he has nine lives to spare. I respect the male’s candor, but I wish he would just drop dead.

He drops his gaze from her to finally look at me. “While we’re at it, the Silverra asked me to check on you.”

His vacant eyes, the tattooed arms, remind me of my brother. Bitter memories of Ruth flash through my mind like a lightning strike. “Rainer Wiolant wants to know if his niece is sharing her bed with the killer that’s been terrorizing Windhaven. He said to do it discreetly but it’s too much hassle.”

The guy actually has nerve to hand me an apple. “Bite on this so I can get your teeth marks.”

Fuck, no.

What the hell is wrong with this kid?