I kept my mouth firmly shut.
Now was not the time to poke the beast.
And I wasn’t jealous now.
I actually felt sorry for him. He didn’t want to do this at all—to the point that if his claws were out, I was sure he’d be slashing this room apart. He hated it that much.
But he would do his duty.Our people were all.
I rolled my chair up, placed my right hand on his tense back, and started rubbing in soothing circles. While the other lords talked quietly amongst themselves, I leaned in and whispered against his ear, “I’ll come by later tonight when you’re done. Okay?”
“I hate this,” he hissed. His fingers jerked through his long black hair hard. His blue eyes trapped mine, torment running behind them. Talk of war hadn’t even put this look on his face. He damn near bellowed, “And I hate fucking redheads! I lied one day—hundreds of goddamn years ago—to shut someone up, and it fucking stuck. I’ve never heard the end of it since then. It irritates the shit out of me, Gwen.”
Sweet baby Jesus.
The man was definitely out of sorts right now.
A few of the Overlords glanced in our direction. Shock stamped their features at his proclamation—and shouted weakness—but they quickly looked away when Lord Belshazzar cast them a deadly glare.
I continued rubbing his back and gave him an out to get away from everyone—and from saying anything else too personal that they could use against him later. “We’re done here, my lord. Why don’t you go take a walk, get some fresh air, and soothe that soul of yours a little?”
He growled, that beast taking voice again. “You’ll sleep in my room tonight?”
“I will.” I tipped toward him and pressed my lips to his right in clear view of everyone. Our mouths molded together like a dream as our heartbeats linked, perfect and beautiful, like coming home. I ran the pads of my fingers over his bristled cheeks, relaxing him softly, and then I pulled back to whisper against his lips, “I promise.”
ISTOPPED IN FRONTOFLORDBELSHAZZAR’Sbedchamber door and yawned. My pajamas whispered around my body as I stretched, the time well past midnight. I asked, “Is the Overlord back yet?”
Orin nodded while the other bodyguard remained silent, and he motioned toward the door. “He returned a few minutes ago.” The frightening bodyguard lifted a brow. “Your timing is impeccable, your majesty.”
I snorted and shrugged my right shoulder.
I had been watching the cameras of the Royal floor, thanks to a feed Harmony had set up on my phone. I knew Lord Belshazzar had returned.
The very edges of his lips tipped up in what some might call a smile. It was hard to tell really. “You may go in, your majesty. Lord Belshazzar has allowed you entry already.”
“Thank you.”
I stepped inside the lord’s room…and swiftly shut the door behind me in surprise. An unmistakable noise was coming from Lord Belshazzar’s bathroom. I locked the door just as fast as I closed it.
My eyes scanned the empty bedroom, catching on the fireplace where a roaring fire was warming the space. I sputtered a curse then raced to the fireplace and grabbed a poker from the tools beside it. A pair of pants and a thin black sweater and a pair of underwear were half hanging out of the fireplace, all on fire and sizzling close to his fur rug. I shoved at the burning mess, battling it back into the fireplace from where they had apparently toppled.
Huffing in surprise, I placed the poker back onto its hook and stepped over the hastily kicked off shoes and socks that littered the ground. My attention swung back to the bathroom where heaves of vomiting continued to be heard.
What the fuck was going on?
Using my vampire speed, I sped into the open bathroom, wind whipping my hair back, and froze in place inside the spacious restroom. Lord Belshazzar was indeed inside, naked as the day he was born, and kneeling before his toilet. His large hands gripped the edge of the toilet, and his body convulsed with each ejection from his stomach into the porcelain toilet.
I blinked very slowly as his body flicked between looking like the Overlord I knew…and the devil-looking Overlord I knew lurked inside him. His skin would flash red and black deadly horns would emerge, and his fingernails turned black, only to quickly disappear back to normal as he sucked in a large lungful of breath. The process repeated each time he spewed, the devil-lord reappearing every time he puked.
Lord Belshazzar didn’t seem to notice either, too busy in his own misery and pain as his body dispelled everything inside him.
I took a few steps further into the bathroom. “My lord? What’s going on?”
“Leave and close the door,” he barked on a hoarse voice, not turning his head away from the toilet. He lifted a stopping hand in my direction, and then flushed the toilet. Between another battle of puking, he snarled, “Get out, Gwen!”
I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see it. “Did someone poison you? Should I call for a medic?” I didn’t know what the fuck was going on! Vampires didn’t just puke!
“No,” he choked. More puking, more devil-lord showing. Another flush of the toilet. “Just leave. This’ll be done soon.”
