CHAPTER FOUR
CIPRIAN
NEGRU CASTLE
My pet is here.The thought warms my blood, making me eager to find her, take her, andtasteher.
However, I calm myself by merely enjoying her citrusy scent, the perfume wrapping around me in a welcoming invitation.
She’s wandering through the main corridor with Marius, her brief tour of my estate coming to an end. He showed her the dining area—where I expect her to present herself at seven o’clock sharp—the main living rooms, the library, and the grand staircase, and he’s now leading her through the residential quarters.
I wrap myself in the shadows, lurking at one end of the hall as she approaches the room I’ve designated as hers.
“How long will I be staying?” Viviana asks my best friend, her voice soft.
She’s accepted this fate without a fight, something that intrigues me greatly. It makes me want to see how far I can push her before she breaks.
“Indefinitely, I imagine,” Marius drawls, his answer making my lips twitch—something I’m glad he doesn’t see because he would have about a dozen remarks to make in response to mesmiling.
Not that my mouth fully curled upward or anything.
But that wouldn’t matter to my second-in-command. Marius isconstantlygrinning. A trait I find absolutely ridiculous.
“Indefinitely?” my pet echoes, her cheeks taking on a delectable shade of red as she faces my best friend. “You realize people know where I am, right?”
“Do they?” he asks, his eyebrow inching upward. “Or do they just know you ventured to Romania alone to go hunt down a vampire?”
She narrows her eyes. “There are at least a dozen people who know I’m obsessed with Negru Castle.”
Marius leans against the wall beside her future room, his arms crossing. “Is that meant to concern me? Because it doesn’t.” He reaches out to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear, nearly causing me to materialize out of the shadows. “You really didn’t consider the consequences of this obsession, did you?”
She merely stares up at him. “Considering the consequences and caring about them are two very different concepts, Mr. Scaevola.” With that, she opens the door to her room.
Marius glances toward me—no doubt sensing my presence in the shadows—winks, and then follows her inside before closing the door.
My jaw clenches. He knows better than to touch my toy. But that doesn’t mean I like him being alone in a room with her.
Of course, he just spent hours in the car with her, too. However, that was because I couldn’t exactly drive her here.
I take a step forward, my hands fisting at my sides.
I could introduce her to her room. Show her the dress I left for her on the bed. Explain the clothes in her drawers.
Only, I tasked Marius with those items because I thought they were beneath me.
Now, I’m not so sure.
Now, I want to… remove him.
And take over.
It’s her scent,I decide.It’s fucking drugging my senses.
Before I can do something asinine, like storm into her room and throw Marius out the balcony window, I teleport to my office and pour myself a blood martini.
When I feel Marius join me several minutes later, I decide to make him one as well. Mostly to curb his appetite.Viviana is my pet, and I willnotbe sharing her.
“Your little researcher is strange for a human,” he comments as I hand him the glass. “I expected more fear.”
