He nodded as he sipped from his chalice.
“And eventually make me your future queen?”
“It sounds so simple when you say it in quick succession like that.” He tipped his head side to side.
A future queen—no, not just a queen—a vampire queen. I gulped the remaining wine in my goblet. A servant, who I’d forgotten was standing in the corner, surged forward with the decanter.
“But…” My features twisted. “Why? We’ve just met and you could have anyone in Atoris.”
Rhazien cleared his throat and glanced at my untouched plate of food. “I wish you’d eat.”
“I don’t think I can.” My belly warmed by the moment from the wine and weight of my situation.
“Come.” Rhazien floated to my side and extended his hand.
He guided me to the two emerald green chairs opposite the loveseat, near the hearth. A log shifted in the fireplace as we sat, as if to settle into the conversation as well.
The servant retrieved our wine, which I graciously accepted. Maybe I’d regret indulging, but abnormal circumstances called for copious amounts of alcohol, and this scenario qualified as abnormal.
I stared into the flames for five long, quiet minutes as I mulled over his intentions. The wine floated through my veins, weighing my limbs but lifting my thoughts.
Rhazien didn’t rush through the elongated silence; he patiently waited for me to be ready to talk. The quiet between us felt comfortable, familiar even. There was no sense I needed to hurry and process the onslaught of information and engage with him. No inkling he was bored and frustrated. He was strong…steady. Beyond the flames holding my focus, his hand tipped back and forth, sending the liquid in his goblet side to side like rolling waves in a red sea.
I finally tore my attention from the fireplace and found him looking at me with something dangerously close to reverence in his eyes. His smolder carved a path from my face to the dramatic slit in my dress, now exposed without the table. Heat crawled up my neck as his tongue flicked over his lower lip.
“You’re not being very subtle.” I drummed my fingers on the chalice. His eyes traveled my frame.
“I would apologize," he said, smirking beneath his gray speckled stubble, “but it would be a lie. I’m not entirely sorry.”
Rhazien’s broad chest rose and fell as his admission rode a heavy breath. In truth, I wasn’t sorry either. The regent looked like a man lost at sea and I was his long awaited gift of drinkable rain. Sustenance. To be looked at like that usually meant one of two things. I was either about to get my way, or I was in danger.
Rhazienwasdangerous. He hadn’t shown his unnatural strength or speed as Dommik had, but it was there, just beneath the surface of his strong build and manicured beard. Just as his fangs were concealed but could be drawn into service at a moment’s notice.
He was dangerous.
But sitting across from him, I didn’t feel fear. I felt powerful.
Holding the attention of an immortal ruler who—from the way he gripped the arm of his chair—seemed to be fighting a battle between restraining himself and Dawn knew what else, was more intoxicating than the wine. I leaned to place my goblet on a nearby table and my gown climbed higher from the movement.
I bit my lip and cooed, “Tell me about the traces.”
He paused, clearly weighing the pros and cons of giving me details of the experience of vampire life. The regent let out a short exhale, folded his hands and said, “It’s hard to explain.”
“Try,” I pushed.
His eyes narrowed. “You look like an oil painting.”
I tilted my head, curious for more details.
“I instructed those sent to see you safely delivered that you weren’t to be touched and especially not fed on, but I can see a lingering presence from the four of us now, which is three too many.”
Rolf, Vaspar, Rhazien, and…Dommik.
“Yes, well…” The urge to thoroughly scrub my skin raw once I had the chance to bathe again overwhelmed me.
“There will be swift justice for their actions, Reyva.”
Technically, Dommik had already sentenced one of the offenders to death. Rolf’s unseeing eyes flashed through my mind. I wondered if the Commander was in the hallway, standing guard, listening to us.
