“I’ve had my staff prepare the royal chambers for us.” Kieran gestured toward the massive doors where several servants waited.
“I’m not sleeping with you.”
“You are my wife,” he growled.
“In name only. Never in any other way.”
His growl deepened, and his gaze sharpened on my face before he gave me a stiff nod. “Very well. Wewillshare the suite, however. You have no choice in that,wife.”
“Very well,” I huffed in a tight voice.
“Your things were sent ahead and should be unpacked by now.”
“Thank you.”
We walked across the courtyard and up the broad stone steps. When the vampire staff swept open the enormous double doors with surfaces carved to look like serpents, we entered a foyer larger than my bedroom back home at the manor.
Two vampires, the woman dressed in a floor-length black gown and the man in an equally dark suit, entered the vaulted foyer from a parlor on the right.
They looked me up and down with raised eyebrows, exchanged a glance, then huffed and swept into another parlor on my left in a rustle of expensive clothing.
“Who are they?” I asked.
“Lady Francine Aragorn and Lord Lars Rathley,” Kieran said. “Distant relatives of mine and also two of my advisors.”
Stilted advisor in-laws. Excellent. What could possibly go wrong with that?
“I probably won’t see them much, then.”
Kieran’s mouth quirked up with the ghost of a smile. “They live here at the castle.”
“How many people live here with you?”
“Seventy-three, including staff. The castle has housed the extended family and retainers for centuries. It’s a bit of a tradition.”
Seventy-three. I’d gone from Grandmother’s cozy manor with a household of three to this sprawling fortress filled with strangers.
A tall, painfully thin vampire in a black suit and a starched white shirt entered the foyer, stopping and bowing deeply. “Your Majesty. Everything has been prepared as requested.”
“Thank you, Vassen.” Kieran’s pale blue gaze slid my way. “This is my wife Queen Cyrene. She’s to be given every courtesy.”
The butler bowed again, my way this time, and if I wasn’t mistaken, I found warmth in his dark eyes. “Of course. Welcome to Shadowborne Castle, my queen. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
Kieran gestured to a sweeping staircase that spiraled upward. “I’ll show you to our suite. You must be tired.”
I nodded.
The castle was a maze of corridors and staircases, each looking the same as the last. Black marble floors, dark wood paneling, tapestries showing historic vampire battles or stiff vampire faces, all lit by flickering sconces that cast more shadows than light. We passed dozens of doors, and I wondered how I’d ever find my way around this maze.
“The royal wing is private,” Kieran said as we climbed yet another staircase, this leading to the fifthfloor. “Only Vassen and a few trusted staff have access. You’ll have complete privacy there.”
Privacy with him. Great. Exactly what I didn’t order off the marriage menu.
Finally, we reached ornate double doors carved with what might be a family crest, a bat with its wings outstretched around a goblet. How very vampiric of them.
Kieran pushed the doors open to reveal a sitting room larger than Grandmother’s entire workshop. A fire crackled in a massive hearth, and several doors led off to what I assumed were more rooms. The dark wood furniture had an elegant but severe feel, and the rest of the room showed black wooden wainscotting and gloomy-colored wall hangings, with only a few silver flourishes breaking up the darkness.
“Our chambers,” Kieran said. “The bedroom is on your left. Your workroom has been set up in the tower adjacent to these rooms through the furthermost door on the right. I thought you might like the natural light there.”
