KALDUR
The relief that spiraled through me was dizzying. I’d never felt anything quite like it. Because, truthfully, I didn’t know what I would’ve done if Erina had rejected my offer.
That’s not true,I thought.I would have pursued her until she changed her mind.
But she’d made this easy, and I was grateful for that. Tension unknotted in my shoulders. I felt like I could breathe freely again.
“When would you like to begin?” came her quiet, shy question.
My fangs elongated in a rush, and I grabbed for my tea to wash down the sweet venom that flowed from them and to hide the physical response from her. I hadn’t had this loss of control over them since I’d been young.
Raazos’s blood, what would it be like to feed from a blood mate? I was both wary and impatient to find out.
But reason won, in the end.
“Once a contract has been signed,” I answered, replacing the tea on the saucer, retracting my fangs slightly so they wouldn’t bite into my lip during the meal.
“A contract?” she repeated, seeming surprised.
“Will that be a problem?” I asked.
“No,” Erina said. “I just…I don’t know how these things are done.”
She acted as if this was normal to me. As if I struck contracts with blood mates every day.
She doesn’t know,I reminded myself.She doesn’t realize how abnormal this situation truly is.
Which was why I needed to navigate it with the utmost care. My reputation and family name were on the line. I didn’t need the tittering speculation, not when House Kaalium needed to remain an unstoppable and powerful force. We were on the cusp of change, of an impending war, and the last thing I needed was to be gossiped about among the nobles who would help fund Kaalium’s victory if that war came or if the Kaazor to the north went back on their word.
To distract myself from the dark thoughts, I motioned toward Leeta, who I spied hovering discreetly along the edge of the terrace. Trays of food were perched on her arms, and she came forward quickly, depositing them before each of us and taking away the covers with a small, practiced flourish.
I noticed that Erina flashed Leeta a small smile, though it struck me as embarrassed. “Thank you, Lee,” she said to her.
Leeta only nodded, her expression carefully blank as she left.
Perhaps I wasn’t the only one who feared being gossiped about, I remembered, eyeing Erina. The mere thought made amusement slide into my chest, thatshewould be embarrassed to dine with me publicly.
“I have a contract already,” I informed her, wanting to see how she would respond.
Erina’s gaze flashed up to mine. “You do?”
“You’ll just need to review and sign it.”
“In my blood?” she asked.
“Naturally,” I replied. All contracts of importance were signed in blood. That was how they were binding.
“After breakfast?” she asked.
I needed to speak to Maudoric first, one last pressing detail I needed to make certain of, before I signed.
“Tonight,” I replied, though I knew the wait would be strenuous for me. Now that I’d found my relief in this human female, it would be difficult to wait mere hours for my next fix of her. I was using her like I would a medicine, a drug. But the thought of feeling that familiar aching restlessness build inside me once more felt unbearable, though it’d been my constant state for nearly two years. “I’ll give you the contract to read over today. I’ll send for you this evening.”
“All right,” she said, before her eyes dropped down to the breakfast before her. Marinatedlaakeggs over seasonedruskgrains. A variety of fresh slices of ripened fruits, from all over the Kaalium and my own orchards, and freshsyaan-berry bread with a little jar of red sweet jam. I watched, a little fascinated, as her gaze went to the slice of bread she’d brought, two bites taken from it—one hers and one mine—and she sighed a little, placing it down on the table next to her plate.
“Eat,” I ordered her, wondering for the hundredth time if I was making a grave mistake. A familiar mistake. She was keeper, for Alaire’s sake. And young, at that. She was twenty-four or twenty-five, I guessed. Around seven years my junior. She had no place in my bed. Young females tended to have foolish ideas about love, when all I wanted was a transaction. She would get something and I would get something.
It was unfortunate she was my blood mate. The one female in this universe whose blood would call to me above all others.
