The raw adoration in his eyes set me on fire.
The fact that Lanlin wears all his clothes in bed, never removes his gloves, and flinches from touch, makes me think that I may be all his firsts.
Especially with what Aurelius and Wraith told me about the Bat King. He has been obsessed with finding me for three years.
Has he truly survived without rutting another Omega?
What has he done for blood?
He must have drunk from Blood Lovers, right?
My guts twist.
Wicked as he is, can I use Lanlin’s innocence — at least, in being a virgin — against him like the dragons want?
It’s not a trick or tactic.
I can’t play these games like Daire does. These firsts are special, and if I spend them with Lanlin, then he will be my mate.
And Iwillfight for him.
My hand falls to the iron dagger at my side, which has a curved hilt like a crescent moon. It is strapped at my waist to the linen dress, which is decorated with a carnelian sun.
When I first woke up this evening, Lanlin was kneeling next to the bed.
He was holding up the dagger with an expectant look. “Somethingstabby.”
I laughed, sleepily. “You shouldn’t have.”
“I shouldn’t?” He started to pull the dagger away, but I sat up hurriedly and snatched it away from him.
“You really should. Thanks, it’s perfect.”
“It belonged to my mother, Queen KalaKant. She had two of them, but the High Priestess stole one to use in her ceremonies. They are famous weapons within the Blood Court. Legend says that they were crafted from iron that fell from the sky, which is why they are named the Night Sky Blades. They have slaughtered many fae. A queen’s dagger for the new Queen.”
I grimaced in disgust only just stopping myself from dropping the weapon.
It was the thought that counted.
“It can kill Bloods too, right?” I weighted the dagger in my hands.
Lanlin arched his brow. “It depends where you’re intending to stick it. Why? Do you have any in mind?”
“Whoever put that bruise on your cheek.”
Lanlin raised his hand to touch the deep bruise underneath his purpling eye. I have seen him tear apart entire armies, snarling in primal delight at their death cries. I have watched his bodyguard demonic lions savaging his own half-brother.
He sparred with Daire, but his face wasn’t bruised last night.
Who would Lanlin have allowed to hit him like that? Because having seen him fight, I now know that he would have had toletthem.
“Isis claimed all of my mother’s possessions as hers, taking them into Crocodile House after the Queen’s death.” He stoodwith a swish of his robe. “Isis was displeased that I claimed back, as is my birthright, that dagger.”
“But you’re theKing.KalaKant’s son. The last vampire of the House of Sin.”
Lanlin leaned down to cage me. “My dear, you say that, as if they are protections, rather than the reasons that the consort and her sons would have to hate me. They are the most loved and powerful Fang Born nobles at court. I am the bestial freak whose own parents disowned and sent to be raised in White Lotus, until I was old enough to be taken into the Scarlet Temple and turned into a killer.” His fangs gleamed in the light, and I tightened my hand around the dagger. “I didn’t even see my mother, whose dagger you’re clutching, before her death. I hear that she was a fearsome warrior.”
“You admire her.”
