“My relationship with Prince Cedrych will not be the topic of our conversation, and any conclusions you draw are merely your own speculations,” I said, my temper rising.
“So right you are, dear cousin, and yet the speculating is half the fun. Well then, I do appreciate the refreshments you’ve laid out for me, if not the discourse itself.” He took a long pull from his wine glass, already sampled by his own royal taster, a vampyre who could determine impurities in the blood. We all had to be wary of poisonings. “Tell me, is this exquisite sample from your fae prince?”
I bristled at the mere insinuation. The impropriety of him! The blood was from a willing donor who was handsomely compensated, a fact he knew well already.
“Now, now, don’t get angry,” he continued, “I only ask because of the garish bite mark you left on him. Surely, you’d meant for it to be seen? The betrothal bite. It is good you are keeping up with our customs. Fae blood is such a rare delicacy, so light and sweet. As refreshing as a crisp white wine. I seldom indulge in it, as I am partial to human blood myself. It’s the meat and potatoes of vampyre cuisine, wouldn’t you say?”
“I do not require blood for sustenance, Sinclair,” I reminded him, something he also knew.
“Ah, yes, that’s right, which means you drank from the fae prince purely for pleasure. Color me jealous, dear cousin, to have such a delicacy at your disposal.”
I rose from the table and stalked to the window, needing to redirect this conversation, and fast, for my blood pressure was steadily rising. My cousin was simply baiting me to reveal myself, a game of his that I knew all too well. And I was losing.
Out the window, I spied Cedrych in the courtyard sparring with Erlander. The prince’s form and discipline had developed greatly in his time here. More grounded and patient, willingto wait out his opponent and wear them down until the right moment to strike.
The prince made me stronger and more vulnerable at the same time. Fear was at the heart of this. Fear that I couldn’t protect him. Fear that I might lose him. I must put aside my fear and confront Sinclair with courage and honesty instead.
“Dear cousin,” I began, turning to address him with open arms. “You know how deeply my parents’ death affected me, as well as the death of my beloved mentor, and you’ve taunted me with evidence you may or may not have related to their murders while continuing to withhold this information, which to me, feels cruel. You do not wish to be cruel to me, do you, Sinclair?”
The corner of Sinclair’s mouth turned upward, just a bit, for this is what he wanted all along, for me to spar with him, to match his wit. “I do not wish to be cruel,” he conceded at last.
I returned to my seat and laid my hands on the table. “Then let us discuss the matter candidly.”
“Sir Grantham,” Sinclair said and the man turned on his heel and exited the room only to return a few moments later carrying a rather large trunk, ornately decorated with vampyric motifs. “This chest belongs to my mother,” Sinclair said, “and I can assure you, it wasn’t easy to get her to part with it.”
I nodded. “I appreciate the effort.”
“Inside that trunk is evidence as to who killed your parents. But I cannot hand it over for nothing, as I’ve had to go to great lengths to procure it. Surely a man of your prowess understands that, Lord Vasil.”
When my cousin used my formal title, it was always with an edge of derision. I’d become accustomed to it, though on this occasion, I found it particularly grating.
“Then what do you want?” I said, wishing to be as direct as possible with my obfuscating relative.
“Sir Grantham, could you give us a few moments of privacy?” Sinclair said.
“Aye m’lord. I’ll be just outside.”
“Don’t stray too far,” Sinclair warned.
“Never, m’lord,” Grantham assured him.
Sinclair turned his satisfied smirk back to me. “Such loyalty is hard to come by, isn’t it, cousin?”
“Surely,” I said. Sir Grantham had kept my cousin alive for the past decade, despite his troublesome mouth and his dangerous scheming, not an easy feat.
“Well then, my proposition is this. How about you marry me and we unite our lands? All of elvish and vampyre territories under one command,” Sinclair said.
The shock on my face was surely hard to mask–for all of his and his mother’s clandestine plotting, this avenue had never been on the table.
“Come now, Mercier, put your face in order. We’re both adults here. I’m not inviting you to fuck me, though I daresay it sounds like a scandal worth making. Merely a political match to extend our reach and be a more formidable force against the other realms who may wish to conquer us, namely the fae.”
I took a deep breath and exhaled, devising up my counterpoint because one had to handle Sinclair’s ego with sensitivity.
“I think we would not be a suitable match, cousin, even on paper,” I said at last.
“You like them big and beefy, I get it. Bet he cries beautifully too,” Sinclair said with a despondent sigh, which made me wonder at my cousin’s own proclivities. “Do you believe this will secure you a closer alliance with the fae queen?”
“That was not my intention,” I told him, perhaps revealing more than I should.
