The bed is made of carved cedarwood, inlaid with gold. The legs are shaped like powerful lion paws; each claw is polished. The curved headboard is decorated with bat wings. The reed mattress is covered with cool, pale ivory linens.
Lanlin is lighter than I’m expecting. Don’t the Bloods feed their King?
Or doesn’t Lanlin have a Blood Lover?
Daire and I manhandle Lanlin onto the bed. Daire leans down to lift Lanlin’s legs onto it as well. Then Daire fumbles tograb a black blanket, which is embroidered with stars. He tucks the blanket over Lanlin.
I wipe a fleck of dried blood off Lanlin’s lip. Then I grimace, when I realize that it’s not his.
Together, Daire and I stand looking down at the unconscious Shadow Vampire King.
Daire’s lips quirk.
“Well, I don’t know about you, but this isn’t how I imagined our first night would go.” Daire winks. “I’m disappointed that we’re not ravishing you.”
I nudge Daire with my elbow. “How do you know thatIwouldn’t have been ravishingyou?”
“Don’t make me even more disappointed.”
Behind me, Devil slinks to join her sister in bed, curling around her.
I rest my head on Daire’s shoulder, nuzzling against him.
“Are you okay, love?” Daire asks, softly. “That was a lot. You did so well. It was your first battle, aye?”
“That wasn’t a battle. It was…”
A bloodbath. An extermination. A crime against the Shadow Gods.
Daire sends a wave of pheromones washing over me, and it settles my jangled nerves. “War isn’t like they tell it in the tales and the songs like it’s somehow glorious, honorable,beautiful. There is no bloody beauty in war. Only screaming, blood, terror, and pain. Only the living turned to ash. I fought because I had no choice. But I’ve come to see that Aurelius thinks he has no choice as well. Is Sin the same? But the problem is thatpeacedoesn’t mean the same to any of us. To the dragons, it means order. They control an empire, where they evangelize peace through control. To me, peace isfreedom. I would have my kingdom back to rule as I please. To Sin…that’s what we must find out, aye?”
I stare down at the beautiful vampire in the bed.
Lanlin’s long black hair trails around him like shadowed tendrils. His careful makeup is smudged. Like this, I can see that he really is only the same age as me.
Plus, as much as he looks like a Shadow Devil, he isn’t.
This Alpha can take on an army single-handedly…but he can also faint.
The unexpected vulnerability draws a protectiveness from my Omega side that takes me by surprise.
Daire leans to whisper into my ear, “If that bastard Maximinus had trusted me to take off my mask, then this would be the best opportunity to capture Lanlin.”
I don’t know that I’ve growled, until I’ve jumped onto the bed and I’m sprawled almost on top of Lanlin, shielding him.
Daire quirks his brow in surprise. “That’s one vote for nay then?”
I nod, hurriedly.
I blush.
Daire looks delighted. “Brilliant. Because how could I do that to such a brutal killer? Did you see how Sin fought? He was amazing. I want him to teach me.”
I gape at Daire’s excited expression.
Well, that wasn’t my reason for wanting Lanlin to become pack, but I’ll take it.
Suddenly, this close to Lanlin’s head, I realize that he’s radiating heat.
