“But aren’t we forging something new together?”
I don’t realize until I say it how much I fucking wish that it was true. This isn’t one of Wraith’s tricks. I have been sleeping in a nest that smells now of both sunshine and incense.
I have sat on Lanlin’s throne, declared as both his Omega and Queen.
He has courted and claimed me. He feels like pack.
I didn’t expect that.
What happens to Aurelius, the other king who is also pack and who I fiercely love, if I don’t go through with the plan on the Blood Moon?
How can I choose which Alpha to sacrifice?
My expression tightens.
I came to this kingdom believing that at least I would notlikeLanlin. But I have glimpsed sweetness beneath his hard façade like the way that he made me honey and date cakes and leaves cheese out each night for his rats.
Lanlin may be monstrous, but I don’t believe that he’s the monster he’s been taught he is.
He didn’t kill my parents; his bitch mother, KalaKant did with Ulf’s blessing.
Should a child be blamed for his parents’ sins?
This was never our war, but we are all paying for it.
Lanlin turns over the parchment to a fresh page. “Shall I show you how to draw something?”
I nod, enthusiastically.
The feel of Lanlin’s glove against my skin is cold but softer than I am expecting, as he is careful to keep his claws curled away from me.
“This is the Ankh, the key of life.” He guides my hand with the pen to the unblemished paper surprisingly gently, drawing with sweeping arcs to create a symbol that combines a circle at the top of a cross like a handle. “It is a powerful part of our magic. It represents our immortality through the drinking of blood.” My skin prickles, when he lightly grazes his fangs along my throat, before drawing back with what feels like an effort and kissing my shivering skin instead. “Also, the eternal love between an Alpha and Omega. It is the bond mark of the House of Sin.”
The first magical symbol that he’s showing me is something as intimate as his bond mark…?
My hand jerks, smearing the symbol.
I pull a face. “Whoops, I ruined it.”
“You did no such thing. Nothing is perfect, no matter how much we wish it may be. This was your first try. I shall treasure it.”
“It would be easier if you took off your gloves,” I suggest. “I would love to feel your touch…”
With Lanlin’s uncanny speed, he lets go of me, slinking around the table, as if he needs to have the distance and barrier between us.
We stand looking at each other.
“You don’t need to do anything that you’re uncomfortable with,” I say, softly. “I just…
Lanlin narrows his eyes. “I am not uncomfortable.”
“Uh-huh, that’s why you jumped the whole way across the room just at the suggestion of holding my hand. The other vampires who we passed in that courtyard were doing a lot more than that, and you had no problem showing off your frankly gorgeous naked body to me after your bath.”
His eyes narrow further. “Am I meant to bathe in clothes?”
“Help me out here, my darkness. We’re kissing one moment and the next…”
Lanlin hisses around his fangs like a bristling cat. “My lips are not poisonous.”
