Page 81 of The Vampire's Mercy

Incredible.

Paris sat up, cheeks flushed with anger. “I?—”

I commanded him to lay down, be still, and be quiet. His head hit the mattress, his glossy lips closing, body like stone.

“Good, pet.” I walked around the bed, leaning on the mattress to loom over him.

He looks so beautiful…

His eyes darted around the room, fear etching across his face.

Excellent. I wanted him afraid.

“I think some quiet time will clear away some of your filth,” I said. “Self-reflection down in the darkness will be good for you.”

Snapping a finger, the bed mechanism attuned to my will, the ground beneath it opened before it descended into the pit, the darkness swallowing the shining elf.

As the grassy floor drew back over the pit like a veil, a twinge of guilt attacked me. Small, but there like an irritating itch, along with the last of him.

I need more of you, Paris Raine…

I had nothing to be guilty over. He did. He was the murderer, a deadly relic of the past.

“I’m not your enemy,” I tried, hoping he heard me.

To him, I always would be an object of hate. He was a man tangled in his religion, scarred by the war. As was I, my own trauma a constant shadow.

What weight did he carry? Who had he lost?

Why do you care?

I growled, striding into the bathroom.

Precisely. Why did I care? Paris was a tool, nothing more. The sooner I got what I wanted from him, I’d be free.

Will you kill him?

“Elio?”I reached out to the elf thrall.

“Yes, my king?”he answered in my head.

“Come to me. I need comfort.”

Within ten minutes, we were naked in the bath, him bent over the side, me thrusting my frustrations into him.

Wishing it was Paris on the end of my cock.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

PARIS

What a prick.

Me. I was the prick for losing my cool. Running my mouth didn’t make for a good plan, only got me trapped down here in the dark, chewing on regret.

I had to be better than this. Not let him get to me, immerse myself into palace life while biding my time and figuring out the weirdness.

But he’d pissed me off. Everything about him woke the beast inside me, my duty to kill hungry for him.