Chapter Eight
You haven’t changed a bit.Cassius murmured low, and the weight of him settled around her—over her.Gods, the sounds you used to make for me.
Thalia felt it then, barely the brush of his lips against the sensitive underside of her jaw. She arched into him, biting back the moan that gathered in the back of her throat. She felt his heat, his strength.
Cassius’s nose nudged near her ear, and she let out a breathless gasp when his teeth nipped at her skin. “I’ve missed you. Missed hearing those little noises,” Cassius chuckled softly, his bare chest vibrating against hers.
Thalia knew she should pull away. Should take the dagger hidden under her pillow and plunge it straight into his neck, then grab the stake she’d placed under the mattress and finish him. But she did nothing as his lips trailed over her shoulder, his body familiar to her—comforting.
“Aren’t you at all curious what it would be like again?” His words were rough, near guttural.
Thalia swallowed her tongue as Cassius’s callused hands were suddenly on the hem of her dress, his fingertips touching her skin. They trailed upward, slowly, torturously. Thalia’s breath stuttered as his fingers paused near the inner part of her thighs.
“Aren’t you at all curious if it would feel as good as it did then?” Cassius pressed his lips right into her neck, and Thalia’s pulse fluttered.She gasped when his other hand grasped her breast, his fingers playing over her hardened nipple.
“Tell me that you want this,” he whispered, his breath hot against her ear. Thalia shifted, aching for his fingers to keep going up. To finally sink inside her—
“Look at me, Thalia. Tell me that you want me. Tell me that you want amonster.”
Thalia forced her heavy lids open.
Red, glowing eyes stared back from sunken flesh.
Thalia tried to scream, but nothing came out as Cassius sank his teeth right into her throat and ripped—
Thalia jerked awake, snagging the dagger tucked under her pillow, and lunged at the person looming above her.
The person yelped as Thalia grabbed them, twisting to pin them to the bed beneath her.
“Fuck’s sake!” the person barked. Golden eyes widened with fear at the blade pressed against her lifeblood.
Thalia blinked down at the woman under her. She couldn’t be much older than she was, with ebony skin and curly black hair. “Who the fuck are you?” Thalia practically panted out. Her heart was a riotous beat in her chest, her skin covered in cold, clammy sweat.
The woman swallowed, the knife wavering with the movement. “Camilla. I’m to oversee you while you’re here.”
“Says who?”
Camilla’s golden eyes narrowed, and she brazenly placed her hand over Thalia’s, pulling the dagger away with more strength than Thalia expected. “Says His Highness.”
At the mention of the prince, everything came flooding back, including the night before and finally arriving in Irenbis. Thalia’s eyes flew to the sitting area, but Cassius was nowhere to be found. In fact, he wasn’t even in the room.
Thalia’s heart rate still hadn’t returned to normal, but she eased off the woman. “And what exactly do you do for the prince?”
Camilla got up, casting her a glare as she rubbed her neck. “I’m one of his advisers. I’m on his council.”
Thalia raised a brow at that. “Oh? And what do you advise him on?”
“Well, I would have advised him not to take a human wife if he was here,” Camilla snapped.
Thalia’s brow only quirked further, but something caught her attention. Or the lack thereof. She gasped. “You’re not—you’re not a Vampyr.” Indeed, no sharp canines peeked from behind the woman’s full lips.
Camilla placed her hands on her hips. The ruby gown she wore was corseted and cinched, highlighting her lithe figure. “I’m not.”
Thalia sat up, her hands trembling. “How is it—I mean, how are you—are you human?” For some reason, the thought of another human in this world of monsters gave her a sick sort of comfort.
Camilla barked out a laugh, the sound high and brassy. “Gods, no.”
Not human? Then what the hell was she?
