Her eyes narrowed, everything about her turning hard. “I don’t take orders…”
“From your husband?” I lifted my eyebrow, swung my legs off the bed, and pushed to my feet. I put all my damage on display, from the ancient burns peppering my chest and left arm to the old knife scars crisscrossing my stomach. Her widening gaze snagged on them for a long moment before she turned that salted glare back to my face.
“An act, Emberline,” I reminded her, moving a step closer. Her eyes were so big, I saw myself inside them. “That is what comes next. And since neither of us is going to sleep anyway, this is what will happen the moment I drop those wards. The Don of this entire Dynasty will demand retribution; his soldiers will be given orders to seize both of us. We’ll have about twenty seconds to convince everyone out there we’ve consummated this marriage. What comes after will be easier the better we sell the lie.”
Color rose in her cheeks. Whether she was embarrassed, furious, or both, I didn’t know, but her emotions heated the air.
“You are going to feed from me,” I added, a little quieter,tapping the artery on the side of my throat. “From right here. You are going to be rough and leave a mark, so there will be no question you drank from your husband. And I enjoyed it.”
She wrapped her arms around herself, all the prickliness disappearing beneath a wash of shame. “I… there’s a slight problem with your plan.” One reluctant huff burst between her lips, full of wry embarrassment. “I’ve never… I only drink out of uhm… bags. Never directly from a… from someone else,” she admitted, not making eye contact.
I went very still.
That wasn’t possible. There was no way this fierce, regal creature, possessing a virtual armory of weapons, had never partaken in the most basic act that made her vampire.
“Never? Not even once?” She shook her head while I tried to understand the reasoning behind such an improbable decision. “Your family kept you on bagged blood,” I echoed, trying to estimate how old she was.Thirty?“All this time?”
My cock was already hard, just thinking about her teeth in my neck, and now, knowing this would be her first time, arousal turned into something more primitive. Something primal.
She shrugged one shoulder, the motion brittle. “My uncle advised my father that feeding was… dangerous. A way for our enemies to insinuate themselves inside the family. To get too close. Feeding off bagged blood was… safer. Less political risk.”
“Less political risk,” I repeated flatly. “Or perhaps your uncle didn’t want you to know what real power feels like.”
Her jaw tightened, arms wrapping around herself as I shoved down the guilt that threatened to make me walk away. Right now, before I did something regrettable.
I was a bad male. Down to my core, I was ruined, and I’d done violent, terrible things. She was a virginal-looking princess who’d never drunk straight from the vein, and it was obscene how thrilled I was about that fact.
There were about a hundred questions I wanted to ask right now, but carnal excitement wrapped around my ribs and squeezed. The firstborn daughter of one of the five great Houses, and they’d never let Emberline taste blood straight from the source. They’d never let her explore the most basic part of what shewas.
What the fuck was Giovanni’s game?
His game didn’t matter. Turning my full attention to my wife, I felt like I was about to open up a treasure chest, because if this really was her first time…
I blew out a long, unsteady breath, every inch of me on fire, cock hard as a rock because I hadn’t had a female in years. Hadn’t trusted myself with anyone, not with how depraved, how fucking feral I’d been after escaping the pits.
And here she was, close enough to touch… I shut my eyes, took a breath, and told my cock to stand the fuck down. I shouldn’t even be considering this, but…
If I was her first, then I would make sure this was fucking good for her.
“Okay,” I choked out. “New plan.”
She eyed me warily. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“We’re not waiting until morning. You’re going to feed from me right now.” My voice was ragged, my self-control shredding. “Same rules apply. From the throat, deep and bloody, and you’re going to leave a mark. I don’t want one of those fuckers to so much as question the fact I fed my own wife.”
My own wife…
Could I even fucking hear myself right now?
“When we walk out and face these vultures, you are going to feel so fucking good, you won’t give two godsdamns about the sheets or any of this other bullshit. That, I promise you.”
Shock flared across her features, followed by raw interest. She covered her reaction quickly, but she couldn’t hide her blush or the way those heavy-lidded eyes kept drifting down my body, filled with everything she was trying not to feel right now—lust, fear, curiosity, hunger.
“From you?” she echoed. “That’s…” She shook her head, curls catching in the light. “That’s… I can’t feed from your throat. What about your wrist?”
“Too clinical,” I explained. “We have one chance to convince them we truly consummated this union, or the blood on the sheets won’t be enough. My father will be looking for any reason—every reason—to annul this marriage, and if he does, I go to the dungeons, and you… you’ll lose your chance to infiltrate my family and have your revenge.”
“I’m not sure I can do this.” For the first time since I first laid eyes on her, Emberline faltered.
