She turns to face me.
Mistake. For both of us.
We’re inches apart. I can see the flush spreading across her cheeks. The way her lips part on a sharp inhale. The pulse hammering wildly in her throat, calling to me like a siren song.
My fangs extend fully. I cannot stop them. Cannot control anything anymore.
“Your Majesty?—”
“Why do you argue with everything I say?” My voice is a growl now, barely recognizable.
“Why do you criticize everything I do?”
“Because—” I stop. Swallow hard. My eyes drop to her throat, to that delicate pulse point, and every instinct I possess screams at me to BITE. CLAIM. MARK. Make her mine so completely that no one will ever question who she belongs to.
“Because what?” she whispers.
I shouldn’t say it. I should step back, dismiss her, pretend none of this is happening. I should remember my duty, my kingdom, the cautionary tale of King Aldric.
But I am tired of pretending. Tired of fighting. Tired of this constant, aching want that never eases no matter how cruel I am.
“Because you make it impossible to think,” I say roughly. “When you’re near me.”
Her eyes go wide.
I watch her process my words. The confusion. The disbelief. The spark of something that looks terrifyingly like hope.
I step back abruptly, putting distance between us before I do something neither of us can take back.
“I shouldn’t have said that.” My voice is clipped. Furious. But not at her — never really at her. At myself. At my weakness. At the Blood Calling that is systematically destroying my carefully controlled life. “You need to leave, right now.”
“But you just said?—”
“Leave,” I snarl, exposing my fangs.
Claire sucks in a breath and races out of the room. My office door clicks shut behind her.
I rub my palm against the back of my neck. What have I done? Would I give up my throne for her? I still don’t know. But for the first time in my life, I’m asking the question and that terrifies me most of all. Every logical, rational, responsible part of me knows that Claire is a disaster waiting to happen.
I should banish her from my chambers and my kingdom.
I should.
But the only thing I can think about is how long until she returns.
I glance toward the window. Heavy clouds roll in over the mountains. A winter storm is brewing. The staff will need to prepare, and travel will become treacherous by nightfall.
My brothers will arrive soon for our meeting. Viktor, Sebastian, and our cousin Maxim. I will have to face them and tell them the truth.
That I don’t know if I want to fight this anymore.
Chapter Five
Claire
You make it impossible to think when you’re near me.
I’ve been wandering the castle corridors for the last twenty minutes, unable to make myself return to my tiny room in the servants’ wing. I’m worried I’ll run into another staff member who will want to chat and that’s the last thing I’m capable of at the moment.
