Page 36 of Until the Heart Stops (The Oylen City #1)
Gerald beamed—or, beamed as much as a like him vampire could.
He brushed one of the tendrils of hair from my face, dragging a finger down my jaw.
My skin itched and I pushed the feeling deep inside my mind.
Yet Lord Azad watched me so intently, I wondered if he did not know the way I wished to pull away from the touch, even as I tilted the corner of my mouth up and leaned into it.
“You are generous with your flattery, Lord Azad,” I breathed, ignoring the vampire at my side who was all but pissing on my leg.
“Mademoiselle Valois deserves more than just flattery,” Gerald chimed in while the hand traveling down my face gripped the nape of my neck.
A muscle ticked in Lord Azad’s jaw and he tilted his head to the side in the way I’d seen wolves size up their prey, but it was Jules who answered, taking a small step forward.
“Mademoiselle Valois is also a skilled dancer and singer, with a penchant for the piano forte and languages.”
I suddenly felt as though I were cattle up for auction, but I dipped my chin demurely.
“One of the finest ladies bred from the upper class of Oylen,” Gerald added.
Madame Searah smiled blandly at the immortal.
Never once had he been told such a thing, but, like so many within this city, he assumed that with my beauty and education I came from human nobles.
If he knew where I’d come from, who my family had been, I was sure Gerald would have instead given me the same treatment as a gutter rat.
Lord Azad gave a noncommittal sort of hum, but his attention roved across my face as one might study a map.
My breathing hitched and the heat in my cheeks snaked down my throat, across my chest. Beautiful men had given me attention before but never like this, never with that worshipful sort of gaze and an openness I did not often see in males.
And then all at once he took a step back, giving Gerald another bland smile and nod.
“It is an honor having you and your companion this evening, Lord Montag. If you have need of anything, please do not hesitate to ask.”
A lump formed in my throat and I struggled to swallow it down. What was it about this immortal that ripped through the defenses I’d so carefully built? Why was it that I wanted to reach for him as he clasped his hands behind his back and resolutely looked away from me?
“If it is not too much trouble,” Gerald started carefully, lowering his voice. “I would appreciate very much a private place for Mademoiselle Valois to… attend to my needs.”
Lord Azad’s nostrils flared, the citrine in his eyes flashing.
But Gerald did not seem to notice or perhaps he misinterpreted it, for he only winked conspiratorially with Jules.
Lilith, however, leaned back, trying to subtly catch my eye.
I fixed my gaze resolutely on the floor, the warmth from only moments ago winking out and leaving ice in its wake.
“There are plenty of rooms available for your needs,” Lord Azad answered, his voice as cold as I felt. “Madame Searah or my man Bernard will be happy to escort you.”
I looked up in time to see him gesturing to Lilith with an open palm and slipping past us onto the dance floor.
My friend hastened to follow, slipping her hand over my elbow with a soft squeeze before she fell into step with the ancient immortal.
Before I could so much as watch Lord Azad dance—and something told me he would be a beautiful dancer—Gerald was tugging me along in Jules’ wake and towards a set of double doors on the opposite end of the ballroom.
As we settled into the opulent parlor outfitted in a plush velvet couch and roaring hearth, my mind wandered. I barely heard Gerald’s excited chatter as he guided me to sit, brushing back the hair from my throat.
“Perhaps now I can call on him now,” he mused, settling beside me. “Do you think Lord Azad would be interested in joining a hunt?”
But for all he cared for my answer he could have been asking the chalice of wine on the low table beside us. I did not answer, but I struggled to imagine Lord Azad mounting a horse and galloping through the wood before I remembered that vampires hunted in a very different way to humans.
Gerald’s hands wrapped around my waist and he all but tugged me onto his lap, pressing his lips to the artery that beat anew.
And I could not find it in me to give him the quiet smile, to wrap my arms around his shoulders and guide him toward my throat.
Instead, I could only think of what Lord Azad would look like prowling through the forest.
How it would feel to know he was coming, that I was his prey.
Teeth pierced my throat and a low moan slipped through my lips.
In my mind it was not Gerald, but the lord of the house.
Citrine eyes flashing in the dark. Black hair flying behind him as he ran.
A thrill fluttered through my belly and heat pulsed through my core.
His body pinning mine to the forest floor, a snarl in my ears so low only I could hear.
“You’re mine,” he would say before he bit, before he fucked, before he claimed .
Before he ruined me for anyone else.
My hands clenched into his hair, but the texture was wrong. When I opened my eyes, it was to realize that it was Gerald that held me, his hips grinding up into the silks of my skirts.
I had always thought it would be a danger to be indebted, as my parents had been.
But now I knew that was nothing in comparison to the danger Lord Azad held.
It was one thing to be indebted to another and a wholly other to be possessed by them, to be owned.
To willingly give up your freedom, your mind, your life.
I knew that, in that moment, if Lord Azad had asked for my life I would have given it to him without question.
I would have allowed my wings to be clipped, for my song to be quieted.
That could not happen. It was a relief to know I would more than likely never see the immortal again, except for perhaps in passing. Gerald had staked his claim on me, however feeble it might have been, and that was for the best.
The last thing I wanted was to be a bird in a cage.