My eyes were glued to her mouth, which was latched onto Gage’s wrist. I needed to feel her touch me again. I could be patient, though. If what Colt had said about the curse that mage had enacted was true, then we would need to all stay at court for the foreseeable future.
I ran my hand through my hair and turned to look at Colt, forcing my gaze away from that which I craved more than anything else. The one thing I needed to be sure of if I was going to spend any amount of time with the princess was that I had control over myself. I couldn’t just let my needs and wants dictate my behavior. Living at court was a game that had to be strategically played with the end goal in mind.
“Do you think your sister might be up for letting the princess borrow some of her clothes?” Colt asked.
“Don’t see why not,” I replied as I rubbed the stubble that was starting to show on my face. Aubrey might not love the royal family, but she wouldn’t force another woman into a corset, or whatever out-of-date clothing the princess was hiding, just because she didn’t want to share.
A gasp drew my attention back to where Blair sat on the ground. She’d pulled away from Gage’s wrist, momentarily satiated, as his blood dribbled down her chin and coated her lips. Her pink tongue darted out and cleaned off her lips before she licked the wounds to close them.
“You’ve, uh . . .” I started to tell her about the blood on her chin, but thought better of it. Kneeling next to her, I said, “May I?”
She nodded while her eyes locked onto my own. Without breaking eye contact, I swiped my thumb across her chin, rolling it as it went so I could scoop up the excess blood. The edge of her bottom lip grazed the tip of my finger, and I saw the shudder that ran through her. Her reaction went straight to my cock, and all I could think about was her wrapping those luscious lips around my manhood before I fucked us both into oblivion.
Instead of doing any of that, though, I simply held my thumb in front of her mouth. She wrapped her lips around it and sucked the blood off, making me shudder in turn. It felt a little like a game of cat and mouse, but I wasn’t sure if I was the cat or the mouse. Either way, I knew if we kept this up, we’d probably end up in bed together.
“So, about those clothes?” Colt’s voice came from behind my shoulder, interrupting whatever was happening between me and the princess. My thumb popped out of her mouth as she pulled back, her eyes glancing up at Colt and back to me. Blair was still adapting to our time and culture, and I could only imagine what would have happened if she’d been caught in a similar position before she’d gone into the black sleep.
I cleared my throat and stood, not bothering to hide the bulge in my pants. I wanted her to know that she turned me on. “Yeah, we should head down to Aubrey’s room,” I said, my voice coming out as a growl.
When Blair shivered again, I couldn’t stop the approving noise that escaped me. It wasn’t that she needed my approval—she was the future queen. If anything, I needed hers—but I knew somewhere deep inside my mind that she needed encouragement to embrace herself in this new world she’d woken up to. This woman would be the death of me, I just knew it.
I turned away from the princess before I could get distracted again and quickly pulled out my phone, tapping a message out to my sister, warning her that we were coming. I heard a muffled conversation behind me but paid it no mind as I waited for Aubrey’s response. A moment later, we were all heading out the door and winding our way through hallways toward my sister’s room.
When I knocked on her door, she answered within a few seconds, looking slightly frazzled. If my sister was anything, she was messy. A creative mind and all that. What it meant was that as soon as she’d received my text, she’d been cleaning up her room to make it somewhat presentable for the princess. As we walked in, she dropped into a curtsy even though Blair tried to dissuade her from it.
“Do you have any clothes Princess Blair could borrow?” I asked, wanting to get straight to the point.
“Uh, sure,” Aubrey replied, looking from me to the princess and back again before settling on Blair. “Do you know what size you are?”
“Size?”
“Okay . . .” Aubrey breathed as her eyes traveled over the princess.
“I figured you were about the same size, which is why we came here and not to someone else,” I said.
“Yeah, probably,” Aubrey agreed before disappearing into her closet and pulling out some jeans and a T-shirt. “I’m not sure what you’re comfortable with, but why don’t you try these on and see if they fit?” She handed the clothes over to Blair and gestured to the en-suite bathroom.
When the princess disappeared behind the bathroom door, she turned to me and whispered, “Thanks for the heads up.”
I nodded with a smile, knowing that if we had just shown up, she would have been self-conscious because of the state of her room. Her messy side was something only family and close friends got to see.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Long story,” I replied, right as Blair came back out.
The princess gripped the waistband of the jeans and held it to the side. Apparently she was even smaller than I thought. The woman was tiny.
“Okay . . . Smaller. Got it,” my sister muttered, disappearing into her closet once more. When she returned, she was carrying a pair of shorts.
“What in the maker’s name are those?” Blair exclaimed.
“Shorts?” Aubrey said, holding them out to the princess. “They are the smallest thing I have in terms of waistband, so if these don’t fit you, then you’ll need to find someone else.”
“I cannot wear these,” Blair’s voice rang out a moment later from inside the bathroom.
“What? Why not?” Aubrey said, knocking on the door.
When Blair cracked it open, I tried to peek over Aubrey’s shoulder, but couldn’t see what the problem was.
“They look great, and they fit you, which is more than I can say for myself,” Aubrey said.
“I’ve never worn so little. I had shifts bigger than this!” Blair hissed.
Gage chuckled behind me, earning himself a smack on the shoulder from Colt. The princess had a lot to get used to in a very short time.
“Show the boys and see what they think,” Aubrey said.
After a second of hesitation, Blair opened the door wide and showed us the shorts. They were cut-offs with frayed edges and the pockets showing at the end of each leg, with a couple of patches where the material had worn through on the sides, showing the pocket underneath. The best part was they made Blair’s legs look like they went on for days.
From the blush rising on her cheeks, I’d guess all three of us were giving her appreciative looks. “You don’t think it’s too revealing?” Blair asked, looking at each of us in turn.
I shook my head. Aubrey moved to the side. “Let’s just tuck this here, and I’ve got the perfect necklace to put with it. Just wait there one moment,” she said, disappearing into the closet and returning not only with a necklace but with a light jacket as well. Aubrey put the necklace on and helped Blair into the jacket. When she finally moved out of the way for good, I knew that Blair would blend in with any other woman on the streets of London in summer.
“I look so contemporary,” Blair said as she stood next to Aubrey, looking at herself in the bathroom mirror.
“That’s kind of the point, babe,” Aubrey said, smiling as she gently bumped into Blair with her shoulder. Her eyes went wide. “Sorry, Your Highness.”
Blair just watched her, looking a little confused, but not offended, for which I was grateful.
“Let’s go kick that mage’s ass,” Gage said from behind me.
I turned to look at him and realized that we all needed a top off before we could do anything. He looked pale, as did Colt. I was sure if I saw myself in the mirror, I would look the same way. If we attacked the mage in our current state, we’d basically be giving ourselves up to the slaughter.
Chapter Eleven
Blair
The sensation had been all I could think about until we’d stepped out into the evening air. London was overwhelming and nothing like I remembered. It was hard to take in all the changes in the landscape, let alone the people. Colors, sounds, and scents were overwhelming, but as we made our way to the area where Khidell lived, it became quiet and the crowds thinned out to almost nothing. It was just the odd cluster of people here and there as they made their way down the side of the road while traffic flew by. The people we did see were dressed up for All Hallows Eve. Their costumes, meant to ward off spirits, were much more festive and brighter than I’d ever seen before.
When we passed by a building covered in white stucco with clearly defined brick corners and black wrought iron railings around the windows, I paused. It was the only one we’d seen that didn’t have some kind of decoration on the front. Spiders, skeletons, bats, black cats, all the superstitious and spooky creatures had come out to play their part for Samhain. Part of me wanted to keep going, to ignore the buzzing sensation of magic that slithered up my spine, but if I did, that would be giving in to fear, which was something I couldn’t do.
“Here,” I said, pointing to the red door that had two dark windows, a brass-colored knocker, and a post box.
Gage walked forward through the front gate and up the few steps. “Definitely here,” he said as he visibly shuddered.
“How do we get in?” I asked, looking over my shoulder as the other guys followed Gage and me to the door.
Drake reached between us and tried the door handle. The red paneling gave way in front of us to reveal a bright white interior. The paintings that covered the walls introduced splashes of color. The art didn’t make any sense to me, looking more like the artist had spilled the paint, but I could tell from the way it was hung on the wall that it was important.
Khidell appeared in front of us a second later. His robes were no longer black but a pewter color. They still had the purple and green accents, though, and I guessed that it had something to do with whichever clan he originated from. The only other change to the outfit was that instead of an animal pelt under the sash at his waist, there appeared to be long black feathers like they came from a crow or a raven. The green cast to his skin still made him look ill, but it was his eyes that caught me off guard. The light-green color seemed to glow.
Before I could react, the guys pulled me down just as what looked like sunflower seeds sprayed from his hand. As soon as they landed on the ground, they sprang up, and a forest of thorny vines filled the room, blocking our entrance and forcing us to watch as the mage backed away.
“This way, Princess,” Gage said as he tugged on my hand, and we backed out through the front door.
When we were on the street I looked at the building, unsure what the next steps would be in this new world. “We could jump it?” I suggested.
The three of them looked at each other and nodded. When I was sure the street was relatively empty, I rushed the front door and launched myself at the last minute, using all the extra speed, strength, and agility that my vampirism gave me. I scrabbled to reach the top and was only just able to make it. If I had been at full strength, it wouldn’t have been a problem, but I had only just come out of the black sleep, so it was a bit of a stretch.
The guys made it onto the rooftop without much trouble and gave me a quick jerk up so no one called the police because of a woman hanging off the roof. Once we were up there, the entrance to get down into the house proper was obvious.
Most of the other terraced houses were at least decorated. Some even had furniture on the roof. Not Khidell’s. All that occupied the space was the trap door to the upper floor of the building. With a few good kicks from Colt, the thing gave way, and we all dropped down into the room.
The white theme with splashes of color continued even up here in what looked to be an alchemy lab or maybe even an apothecary. When Khidell appeared in front of us again, he glanced up at the newly opened hole in the ceiling and a sound of frustration escaped him. Nothing good could come from putting him in a rage, not that we had sought him out with good intentions, but all I had wanted was for the curse to be lifted. The guys were just my guards, or backup as they said in current culture.
The mage swept his arms out in a circle as though he were forming an orb around himself. When he threw it against the wall, the sound that came from it was worse than anything I’d heard, including my mother’s dying scream.
Flames spread out, coating the wall in a circle of purple anger. It started small but grew rapidly until it was covering the whole wall and began climbing up the ceiling and over the floor. A body twisting through a forced shift came flying through the portal that had opened on the wall, a scream tore from the person’s mouth as they transformed into a huge dragon. Bright-orange scales burst through their skin while horns sprouted from their head.
The purple flames had consumed the room, and the whole thing seemed to have turned into a portal of sorts. Panic set in as they approached us, but with nowhere to run, we were bound to go wherever the portal took us. The only good thing about the situation was that it was bringing Khidell along for the ride.
The world that appeared around us wasn’t even so much a world as a large arena, or at least, that was what it initially looked like. It was only as I continued to look around that I saw the bars. It wasn’t an arena; it was a cage.
“You distract him. I’ll get Khidell,” I yelled, right as the dragon let out an almighty roar. The ground shook with the force of it, and it felt like the temperature in the area jumped by fifteen degrees. Suddenly, I was very happy to be wearing shorts.
The guys nodded at me and set off at a jog toward the dragon. I sent a silent prayer to the maker that I hadn’t just ordered them to their deaths, but I knew there was no way to prevent that if they couldn’t keep themselves clear of the dragon’s snapping jaws.
My eyes tracked Khidell’s movements even though I tried not to move a muscle. It was only as he came in for an attack that I launched myself at him. My hands tensed into claws and my fangs distended, ready to defend itself.
Flames engulfed me before I could react to him, burning the skin on my arms and legs and the edges of the clothes Aubrey had loaned me. I dropped and rolled to the ground before the fire could spread any further, rushing the mage again as soon as I was able. Again, flames came at me, but I was expecting them now and dodge out of the way before they consumed any more of my skin or the remains of my clothing.
Khidell hadn’t expected me to be fast enough to escape, which showed how little he knew about the royal family. The closer to the throne, the more powerful we were, and I was as close as it got.
The mage turned to run, but he was much too slow, moving at an almost human speed, while I was as fast as shadow. As soon as I reached him, I went for his wrists and forced him to the ground. A yell of frustration and pain escaped him as I shoved my knee into his back and ground his face into the concrete rooftop, or was it the arena? I didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t in our current location.
He struggled against me, but his strength was no match for a royal vampire. I glanced over at the guys to find them all attached to the dragon somehow, either holding its legs or on its back. Its long neck snaked around, and it tried to bite at Colt, who was the only one within easy reach. Before I could scream a warning, Gage jumped up from where he’d been standing holding on to the beast’s front leg and punched it in the snout, drawing its attention away from Colt.
Drake moved around to one of the rear legs and out of my line of sight just as the thing flapped its great big wings and gusted wind across the barren ground toward us. Khidell an
d I went tumbling one over the other until we landed with him straddling me, trying to hold my wrists to the ground.
I lifted my knees and hit him in the shoulder, skewing his body and leaving him off balance, which helped me roll us both so I was on top once more. “Why did you curse me?” The question practically leapt from my mouth as my own frustration and stress boiled over.
“You are just like your father,” Khidell spat.
I had no idea what my father had to do with this, but I’d always been told I was like him, so it wasn’t a surprise. “Just answer the question,” I yelled at him.
“Because vampires and mages should stay separate, and your disgusting union will destroy both our races. Mage work and blood shouldn’t go together! Why do you think the blood mages are shunned? Why would we dismiss our own kind, like the Bloodmoon clan, if not because of the corruption within their mage work? They are outcasts who corrupt their own powers,” he hissed as he struggled against my hold.
“I’m not trying to put mage work and blood work together! Just take the curse off so I can feed, and once I’m crowned queen, I can show you,” I pleaded.
“No. Once you’re queen, it will be too late.” He pushed against me with all his strength, but I held fast.
“Why do you mistrust me so much? We’ve never even met before!”
A strange language began to flow from his mouth as he began to work a new curse. I couldn’t let him complete it. I freed one of his wrists and slapped a hand over his mouth. When he tried to draw on his power with his newly freed hand, I knelt on his arm.
“Stop! Why won’t you just stop?” I cried.
Khidell lunged up at me, or at least tried to, pushing his face out of my hand, which slipped down to his chin as I pushed him back down to the ground. When he lunged again, I pushed back even harder. Something gave way, and the mage’s eyes widened for a millisecond before the life drained out of them.
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