Page 134 of Collared by the Vampire Prince

His gaze cuts to mine.

“Don’t look at her!” Victoria snaps. “Look at me.”

Nathaniel’s eyes linger before returning to her. “Who told you?”

“She did!” Victoria jabs a finger at me, injecting venom into every syllable. “She told me how you kissed her. Like—” Her throat works. “Like you care for her. Like a lover.”

Her accusation rings through the room, followed by a deathly hush.

Nathaniel sets his glass down hard enough to click against the table. Then he cants his head eerily.

“That is a rather grave accusation,” he murmurs. “One might almost think you were eager to see me executed. Surely you can wait until after the wedding?”

Victoria blanches. “She claims you kissed her. She…”

I’m shaking my head innocently, frowning for good measure.

Victoria’s grip loosens on the swan, and it drifts to the ground as she gives Nathaniel a helpless look. “You kissed her. Didn’t you?”

I brace myself, waiting for him to deny it. Wondering how far I would get if I tried to slip out the door. I begin inching towards the exit.

“I did,” he states.

I halt in my tracks.

Wait. What?

He’s letting her believe he kissed me?

Victoria gives an awful sniff that almost sounds like a sob. “Why?” she whispers.

“Why do you think, Victoria?” Quiet anger runs beneath every word.

She falters. “I…have no idea.”

He simply looks at her, letting the silence drag, and I remain rooted to the spot, too engrossed to leave now.

She finally asks, “Is this about Felix?”

Still, he says nothing, but there is something wounded in his tense expression. Whether it is genuine or merely brilliant acting, I cannot tell. But as the seconds pass, Victoria’s posture softens.

“You were jealous,” she says.

Still, he does not answer. He does not need to. She is creating the most plausible explanation she can think of.

“So you used her to make me jealous.” Victoria turns the idea over aloud, as though testing whether she can bear it.

Nathaniel glances at me as though I am an irritating object someone has abandoned in his room. “A wolf wearing my coat appears to have achieved the desired result.”

Heat climbs my throat.

“You are supposed to be helping me,” Victoria says, the softness vanishing as quickly as it came. “Helping me gain support. Not humiliating me in front of the Academy!”

“Yes,” Nathaniel says. “But only within reason. Did you truly expect me not to respond to your theatrics? Even for a vampiress, Victoria, you have taken liberties in this courtship.”

She winces. She knows it is true. It is almost impressive, really—the way he has absorbed her daily humiliations without ever appearing diminished by them. Then I remember who he is, and the thought dies. He has deserved each and every single one.

“You do not get to turn this back on me,” she snaps at him. “You dressed a wolf in your coat and let her parade through the Academy wearing it.”