“What? B–but I thought your father was just a leader to a small village of people or something.”
“The dark fae are a nearly extinct race. There aren’t many of us left, which is one reason we value continuing our bloodlines above all else. He was the king of those of us that remain. Now he is dead, and I am his heir. My mother has watched over my throne, holding out on the hope that one day I might return.”
“A fae prince and a vampire prince…?” I mumbled.
His chest rumbled against mine as he purred a gravel filled, “Mmm.”
“So what are you asking me, exactly?”
The question hung in the air, the last barrier between us. He arched down, licking up the beads of his blood that dripped from the wound I’d cut into the sides of his face. They turned into wet, slow, reverent kisses. He covered me in them, catching me completely off guard. Whatever was coming, he was trying to soften my defenses, and damn him, it was working.
I braced myself, half expecting Vin to force himself onto me any second. Instead, he caught me off guard again by bringing his mouth to my ear, and in a silk-soft voice I didn’t trust, he said, “I’m asking you to marry me, Ruby. Become my fae bride. Prove you can win over my people. Wear the crown for a few days. Then, and only then, will I take you home.”
For a few seconds—or maybe minutes, time was confusing here—the world around me ceased to exist. All that existed were the black depths of Feral’s eyes, boring into my soul as his words echoed through my skull, along with the off-putting echo of the jungle ambiance.
He was fucking crazy. And I was straight up even considering it. I was still in my monster form, but I drew on my mortal senses. This was something both sides of me needed to weigh in on.
“Answer me,” Vincent said after a nameless stretch of time, pulling me back to the moment.
I glared up at him, annoyed and enamored by his commanding presence. “I read a section in my mother’s Helsing guide, something about never making a deal with a fae.”
Vincent rose onto his hands, the shadow of an arrogant smirk playing at the corners of his mouth. “I’m sure there’s something in there about not fucking one either. Or, as a Helsing, do you just pick and choose which rules to follow?”
“Pretty much, yeah. I kind of have to, seeing as there’s no vampire princess, Helsing hybrid handbook lying around anywhere. In fact, I’m brewing up a new rule right now. One where I decide to rip your balls off for kidnapping me. I think I like that one better than marrying you.”
He laughed at that, took my hand and guided it between the cradle of our bodies until my fingers cupped his bulge through his pants. “Let’s see if you have the balls to do it.”
The tension grew hotter than all the jungle humidity and Vincent’s radiant heat combined. “That’s right,” he said after a beat. “You can’t do it. You want my seed too badly.” His hand left mine to slip beneath my dress, cupping the juncture of my legs. “I can feel your ache, Little Monster. Soon, I will sate it.”
“Not as soon as you’d like,” I snapped.
“Marry me,” he pressed, stooping to plant another kiss on my brow.
His voice was spiked with something soft and sensual, making my hackles rise. I pushed him off me and scrambled backward on the branch, heart racing as he tucked his wings into the valley of his shoulder blades and prowled after me.
When my back hit the tree trunk, he was on top of me again, pressing my back into the tree until the bark bit into my flesh. “Marry me, and I will take you home.”
“I’ll marry you,” I said, every syllable having the entire weight of the fucking world tied to it. “But our wedding night won’t go the way you want.”
A vein ticked in his jaw. “Why not?”
My blood went cold. This was it. I had to tell him about my decision. “I’ve already decided that the priest will sire the heir to the vampire throne. Not you.”
I tensed, waiting for Vincent to explode. He didn’t. Instead, he laughed. “What do you think fae weddings are? Vows and wedding rings? Everyone will watch as I mate their new queen while they pray to our fertility goddess for me to put an heir in your belly. That is a fae wedding. If you don’t end up pregnant, then we didn’t do it right.”
I squeezed my legs together, trying to squash the thrill racing through my core as I imagined what our wedding might look like. “Then we won’t do it ‘right.’ Fake it if you have to. Whatever happens, you won’t be spilling yourself inside me. Not unless you want everyone to watch me rip your balls off. And I’ll do it if you piss me off. I swear to your gods that I’ll fucking do it.”
“Fine. But one day, you will carry my child. And that child will be the heir to the fae throne if they so choose to accept the honor.”
“Really?” I gaped at him, not believing my ears.
“The priest deserves to father a child. His son or daughter will make a fine heir to the vampire throne.”
“Just like that, you give in?”
Vincent lifted my chin, baring his razor-sharp teeth. My heart slammed against my ribs. “I’m not giving in. It was never my goal to rob Sterling of fatherhood. All I seek is to honor my father. So become my queen. Promise that one day, our child will lead the fae people. Do that, and I swear on his grave that I’ll take you home.”
“You will?”
