He called me sexy. That was a win in my book, and Cassara had seen my direct refusal to wear her potato sack, so I was happy.
‘Fine,’I growled.‘Next time I’ll dress like a potato.’I pouted, sticking out my bottom lip.
Even from here, I could see his gaze dropped to my lip and his eyes flared like burning embers in a dying fire.
Realizing what I’d done, I sucked my lip back into my mouth and swallowed hard.
‘Why don’t you sit with the others and I’ll come get you for a feeding before my fight?’
I nodded sheepishly, already hating being relegated to the feeder corner.
After finding my place among the living, I picked at my purple nail polish as a handful of men set up an elevated stage with a wrestling mat in the center of the room. They brought out stands with various weapons hanging from them. I spotted an axe, sword, stake, and even a barbed chain.
My stomach turned to dread. Was Luka going to have to kill his family? That was messed up.
There was a red velvet rope partitioning off the rest of the giant space. I wondered why until the double doors opened and hundreds of vampires started to trickle in.
This was going to be a spectacle, a public fight to the death.
How barbaric.
A beautiful female with strawberry blond hair started to set up a mic and PA system and I wished Liv was here for comfort.
What if Luka died? What if I had to sit here and watch him be killed? The thought was sickening, but it was not lost on me that just over a week ago I was trying to kill him myself. It was crazy how much a person could change in a week.
“Feeders, please report to the feeding room. Feeders to the feeding room,” the female announcer said over the microphone.
Everyone around me stood and I fumbled, standing as well.
I had no idea where the feeding room was here. I followed the handful of feeders as a security guard led us out of the giant ballroom, down a hallway, and then inside of a large room. At the left and right wall were several doors, like phonebooths all with a name above them.
I scanned the sign that readLuka Drakeand stepped toward it.One by one, all of the feeders disappeared into their respective booths, so I did the same. I stepped inside of the dark, barely-lit coffin. It was akin to a small utility closet with a single blacklight hanging overhead. I barely had time to register Luka’s form before me when he zoomed forward, taking my face into his hands and pulling my lips to his mouth.
A gasp ripped from my lungs as he pushed his tongue inside my mouth in a surprisingly passionate kiss. I moaned, opening my mouth wider and wrapping my arms around his lower back, pressing him closer to me.
‘Georgio said he wanted to switch feeders with me because you looked so delicious and I nearly lost my mind,’he huffed inside my head, his hands trailing down my spine.‘I don’t ever want to share you with another man. Ever.’
Need surged inside of me as I clung to him, stroking his tongue with mine. My skin felt like it was on fire, leaving a trail of burning goosebumps wherever he touched me.‘Then don’t. Ditch Cassara and I’m yours,’I promised. It was a crazy thing to say, a promise that held weight, but I wanted to keep it. I wanted him. I knew this now. There was no more denying it.
He pulled back from me, eyes wild in the blacklight. His entire skin glowed, teeth included. “Aspen… I can’t do th—”
“Royals to the fighting mat,” the announcer said over the speaker.
I swallowed hard, unsure where I stood with Luka now, but I was pretty sure he was about to say he couldn’t do that. Pain sliced into my heart, fileting it right in half.
Kill me now.
I raised my wrist to his mouth, my heart aching at the thought of him marrying her. I’d all but just proposed that he be with me instead and he’d rejected me.
I’m an idiot.
With a frown, he unceremoniously took my wrist into his mouth and drank. Pleasure and pain rushed through me in equal measure. I’d just asked him to leave Cassara and be with me and he did nothing.
The silence ebbed between us, and with each second I stacked a wall around my heart. It was like Sterling all over again. When I cared, I cared too deeply, and I got burned. I was always the one throwing my feelings out there, abandoning caution and in the end getting hurt. I needed to put my focus on other things, I couldn’t just be Luka’s little beck-and-call girl. So while I was in Magic City I just going to use my time here to help free my mom. I needed him to become king and keep his word on that.
When Luka pulled away from my wrist, he bent down and licked the last drop of blood off, continuing to stare at me. I felt guilt and anguish ebbing from him through our bond, but I ignored it.
“Aspen … if you want to be with me, I could arrange a house to be built for you here. I could see you a few times a week, and after Cassara gave me two heirs I could leave her—”
