Odd, but I could work with it. How hard could a quill be?
Very hard, as it turned out. The first three attempts resulted in ink blots and smeared words. But eventually I got the hang of it, and then...
Then the words flowed.
I lost myself in the scene. A woman in a strange castle, surrounded by wolves, falling for a prince who looked at her the way Caelan looked at me. The way that made my heart stutter and my brain short-circuit and my entire body want to climb him and never let go.
God, I had it bad.
I didn’t hear the footsteps at first. I was too deep in the writing, too focused on getting the words down before they slipped away. It wasn’t until the chair beside me scraped against the floor that I looked up.
Vix was sitting beside me. The woman from the council room, the one who sneered at me, the one Thessa called a bitch. She was smiling now, but there was nothing warm about it. It was the smile of a cat that had cornered a mouse and was deciding exactly how to play with it before the kill.
“Writing?” Vix asked, glancing at my pages. “How quaint.”
I set down the quill, keeping my expression neutral.
“Can I help you?”
“I just wanted to welcome you properly.” Vix settled into the chair beside me, crossing her legs with fluid elegance. “We didn’t get a chance to talk at the council meeting.”
“I remember.”
“I’m sure you do.” Her smile turned predatory. “You must have so many questions. About Duskmere. About the court. About Caelan.”
There it was.
My spine stiffened. “I think I’m managing fine.”
“Are you? It must be overwhelming. Coming from the human world, not knowing our customs, our history, our...” She paused, tilted her head. “Our relationships.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Only that you’re very new here. And Caelan has a long history. One you might not fully understand.”
My fingers curled around the edge of the desk. “If you have a point, make it.”
Vix’s eyes glittered with satisfaction. She was enjoying this.
“Caelan is mine,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper but dripping with venom. “He’s always been mine. We were destined to be together. Everyone knows it. The court knows it. His family knows it, even if they won’t admit it.”
“That’s interesting, considering he claimed me as his mate.”
“A lie.” Vix waved a dismissive hand. “He wanted to play with you first. A temporary fascination with the new and exotic. A shiny toy from the human realm. But he’ll tire of you soonenough. He always does. He’s a prince, after all. He never lacked feminine attention, if you know what I mean.”
My heart was pounding, but I kept my voice steady. “You seem very confident about that.”
“I am. Because I know Caelan. I’ve known him my entire life.” Vix leaned closer, her voice dropping to a whisper. “When he’s done with you, when he finally admits you’re not up to his standards, I’ll be right here. Ready to claim my spot. A spot you will never, ever have.”
“That sounds pathetic, actually.”
The words were out before I could stop them. Apparently my self-preservation instincts had taken the day off.
Vix’s expression shifted. Surprise, then rage, quickly suppressed.
“He was mine first,” she hissed. “Who do you think he lost his virginity with? I was his first, and I will be his last. You could never match that connection.”
His first.
