“Thank you, my friend. I will not forget this.”
The scribe bows his head, contemplative. “I never thought I’d see the day when I’d actively work against the wishes of the queen, but what she’s done to you is wrong. The old laws are very clear that mating bonds are to be respected. Few in this coven are old enough to remember the old laws, but they still stand, enforced by our forebears. What Valeska is doing goes against everything our kind was founded on.”
“I doubt Valeska understands the old laws or the consequences of breaking them. And I doubt even less that she cares. No one here has seen the forebears in decades. And I wager if they did come to enforce their laws, Valeska’s power would render them impotent.”
With a shake of his head, Lazarus disagrees. “The old law isn’t words on paper, Damien. It’s binding magic woven from the same stuff that animates us as vampires. She can never overrule it. That magic is why she can’t take you as her mate while your true mate lives! She’s a fool to ignore the law as she has.”
I glance down at the empty tray. “You should go before she returns. I don’t want you to garner her attention.”
Lazarus gives a shallow bow and then grabs the handle of the cart. “I will seek out Cassius. Good luck, my friend. Remember what I said. The bond you share with your mate is blessed. Valeska has no idea the forces she is tampering with. The gods will not be pleased with her behavior.”
I don’t know what to say to that. Vampire gods are not shade gods, and I’ve never been an overly religious sort. As the scribe maneuvers the cart out the door, his age shows in his struggle. He’s sacrificed too much to help me. “Feed, Lazarus. Before you go to Cassius. You look pale.”
He gives me a nod of agreement, and then he’s gone.
It isn’t long before Valeska returns, followed into the room by a troop of servants and blood donors. The sun is rising. I can feel the fatigue in my bones.
“You look well, Damien. Stronger. That’s good.” She eyes me like one might a prized steer.
I say nothing. She begins to undress, her lady’s maids removing her corset and the silver gown underneath. I avert my eyes.
“Damien, look at me,” she says through her teeth.
I keep my eyes focused on the wall until my head starts to throb, tremors shake my limbs, and my blood burns in my veins. Slowly I turn my head and the pain abates. She’s naked, making no moves to cover herself. I stare at her, completely uninterested.
Her gaze travels the length of my body, searching for some evidence of a physical response, but there is none. There will never be one. All I feel for Valeska is loathing.
When she realizes the truth, she snaps her fingers and one of her attendants brings her a red silk nightgown. The two humans help her into it. With a bend of her fingers, she summons one, tips the woman’s head to the side, and sinks her fangs into her. Valeska never takes her eyes off mine as she drinks and drinks and drinks. I’m relieved when her command wears off and I’m able to look away.
“Soon your blood will be strong enough for me to feed from you,” she says. “Once we’ve regularly taken each other’s blood, our bond will be unparalleled.”
I say nothing.
“You will be mine, Damien. You’re only prolonging the inevitable by fighting it.”
I don’t hear her move, but suddenly her hand is on my chest and her lips are dangerously close to mine. I cringe away from her touch, breaking into shadow and moving to the other side of the bed. It’s the wrong thing to do.
Her lips draw back from her teeth. “You dare reject my touch?”
“My biology precludes me from mating another,” I say for the umpteenth time. “Enough of this. Release me, Valeska. Every day you spend with me is a day you could spend finding a true mate. Perhaps one of the coven masters or a captain of one of the guards. I am useless to you.”
She growls, the feral growl of an enraged vampire. The two human servants take a step toward the door. She can no longer hurt me as she once could when I was mortal in the silo, but I can’t hurt her either. She’s commanded me not to.
“Enough games,” she says through her teeth. She’s around the bed and in front of me in the blink of an eye. “Don’t. Move.”
My stomach fills with dread as her hand shoots out and grips me by the jaw, her claws digging into my cheeks. My growl matches her own.
“Tell me her name.”
“Angelica.” It’s the name of her lady’s maid. She didn’t specify which her.
“Tell me the name of your mate.”
“Little Dragon.”
She squeezes harder, and I see drops of my blood fall to the floor from the place her nails dig in.
“Fucking bastard.” Her eyes lift to the ceiling. “Tell me the legal human name of the woman you are mated to.”
