Kyros didn’t push the issue as he dished the food onto plates and poured the wine.
My hands were shaking when I took the glass from him.
His green eyes settled on me.
I turned my face away, sipping on the white wine. Crisp fruitiness exploded on my tongue. I hummed in approval. “Yum.”
That satisfied him enough to sit on the seat beside me. I eyed the seat springs, wondering if this thing could hold him.
“What do you want?” he asked, picking up a plate.
Peeking at him, I set my glass down on the small table and reached for the plate. “I’ll get it.”
He grabbed my hand.
Blinking, I glanced across at him. “What?”
We locked gazes.
Sighing, he let me go and passed over the plate.
Frowning, I loaded it with papaya salad and grabbed a fork.
He poured Tom Kha Gai into one of the two small bowls and I breathed in the rich coconut scent of the soup.
I was ruining the dinner he’d organised because I couldn’t get a handle on my guilt. Swallowing my bite of the spicy and sweet salad, I asked, “How was your day?”
“Hectic,” he answered.
Every Sundulus roll was hectic these days. Their clan was working overtime, all of them believing the deaths of their royal family was a near certainty. “Is everything going downhill then?”
He knew I was speaking about the bluff.
“If you don’t mind, Basilia, I’d like to leave work for later.”
My brows shot up. Kyros didn’t want to talk about Ingenium? I didn’t know the concept existed. Not that he couldn’t talk about other things, but he enjoyed the game—even if he hated the potential outcome. He loved the challenge of conquering and understanding the complexities of economy.
I took another bite.
We ate in silence, and I set my plate down after, staring at the dancing flames.
This area was beautiful, and imagining endless nights like this, just me and Kyros, was a hell all of its own.
“So young and so serious,” he murmured, stroking the top of my cheekbone.
He’d set down his bowl.
I frowned at the boxes of food. “You haven’t eaten enough.”
“Neither have you, my beauty. You never eat enough.”
“I’m not an oversized vampire. I’ve seen what you can put away.”
Kyros smiled. “How about a deal then?”
“I’m listening.” I folded my arms, shivering slightly.
Grabbing a deep-fried money bag, he held it against my lips. “I’ll eat if you do.”
I inhaled, eyes wide on his. Opening my lips, I took a bite of the minced pork parcel. He ate the rest, grabbing another.
“Stop trying to hand feed me,” I complained.
Kyros held another to my lips.
When I sighed and opened my mouth, he snatched it away, shoving the whole thing in his mouth.
“Very funny.” I whacked him, leaning forward for some of the coconut soup. I shivered again as the hot sweetness trickled down my throat.
He draped an arm across my shoulders. “You’re still cold.”
“Hmm? Yeah. The blood loss, I think. I get it for a bit after each exchange too.”
His brows furrowed at that.
“I didn’t say that to make you feel bad. It’s just fact.”
Kyros tightened his hold, his warmth seeping into my body. I shuffled closer, trying not to spill my soup.
“Why is it that the more time we spend together, the more uncomfortable you feel?” Kyros asked, staring at the fire.
I tensed, swallowing hard. Fear surged within me. He couldn’t discover the truth yet. I hadn’t figured everything out.
“Fear,” he stated. “Guilt.”
Closing my eyes, I rested the bowl on my lap.
“Longing,” he whispered. “I can’t understand it. You fear the bond between us. You feel guilty about it. Yet you want me. Sometimes, your behaviour and actions suggest you feel as strongly as I do. Other times, you’re impossible to reach as though you’re locking yourself away.”
He drew my face toward his. “Why do you deny yourself? Why do you deny me? I’m trying to understand. To be patient. But the distance between us in those times, like now, drives me mad.”
Opening my eyes, I met his intent green gaze.
“I—”
“No lies,” he said harshly.
I pressed my lips together and tried to break free of his grip. He let me go, watching as I established fresh distance between us.
“Answer me one thing then,” Kyros said.
“Depends what it is.”
Anger flashed in his eyes. Or hurt. Both?
He tucked the anger away before asking. “Why do you want the fifth exchange if you don’t always want me? Or if something about me, my situation, or my family makes you doubt the future we could have?”
I set the bowl on the table, appetite gone. “You’ve heard what I think about Ingenium.”
“I can’t promise there won’t be games if Fyrlia wins.”
My breath hitched. “It’s happening then?”
Jaw clenching, Kyros glanced away. “Yes. We believe our human liaison at the council, Julia Dinh, is not as fully in our control as we previously thought.”
They thought Fyrlia was evading their efforts to tear down Mr Ringly because of Julia Dinh?
I took his hand in mine. “Kyros, is there anything I can do to help?”
He regarded me for a long time. “I won’t drag you into this further. To see how knowing me has changed you. You were always this young, but you weren’t always this serious. Not before me. Thinner. Scarred. Wary. Hurt. Too aware of danger.”
I struggled to understand what he was saying. “You find those things unattractive?”
“No, my beauty. They’re nothing more than regrets spoken in a regretful moment.”
“Those things are nothing more than a moment in time,” I told him. “And not all of those things you listed are bad. I had lessons to learn. Would you rather lock me in your tower?”
“Yes.”
Fell into that one. “You’ve changed, too, since we first met.”
“But I don’t run from you because of them.”
“Kyros, you’ve run from me twice. Once after your siblings found out our bond was far stronger than you’d let on. And again after the third thrall. Not only that, you still keep me at arm’s length whenever you fear I can’t handle something. Like the other day when you tried to brush aside what happens beyond the fifth exchange.”
“What else should I do when you feel panic and fear at every turn? What lies between us overwhelms you with its intensity, but our bond will only grow stronger. That’s why you run.”
I rubbed my temples. “That’s… No. I’m not running.”
“Move into the tower then, or this house. With me. Permanently.”
“Kyros, that doesn’t prove anything. That’s asking me to leave my home. Why don’t you leave your home?”
His eyes gleamed. “Why don’t you ask and find out?” My chest rose and fell, and his expression smoothed. “I didn’t think so.”
“I’ve only known you for three months,” I choked. “What’s the hurry?”
“When two people are true mates, time is meaningless.”
The urge to get up and leave was nearly unbearable. Not for any of the reasons he thought he’d correctly deduced. My reasons had everything to do with everything else. Grandmother. Tommy. The triplets. King Mikael. Grandmother’s friends. Sandra. Rhys. The game.
For the first time, I truly wished everything else would disappear. If it were just me and him, things could be so different.
Kyros closed his eyes. “If you want to leave, then leave, Basilia.”
“If I have a tendency to run,” I withered, “then you have a tendency to push me away.”
He growled, facing me. “Pushing you away? Everything I do is to keep you
by my side, including the lies. Without that, you’d be long gone.”
“Maybe in the beginning,” I acknowledged. “I’m here now when I don’t have to be.”
“And if I told you all, vixen, would you stay?”
I shifted, hugging myself. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Kyros gripped my hips and slid me toward him until we were nose to nose. “How long will it be before telling you that I’ve never cherished another as I cherish you doesn’t fill you with dread?” He searched my gaze.
My heart leapt at the words. Then twisted, plummeting to splatter on the ground.
“You know, my beauty. Don’t you?”
I held a finger over his lips. “Don’t.”
Please don’t tell me you love me.
His gaze darkened.
“Please don’t,” I whispered against the pain filling me, not all of it mine. “You’re older than me. And I—” Taking a steadying breath, I tried again. “I’m not ready for that.”
“Why did you drive off the cliff?”
“Because I trust you to always keep me safe.”
He opened his mouth, and I covered it. “I don’t want this to happen now.”
A lump rose up my throat. God, I felt so fucking trapped. Like my feelings for Kyros were one wall, and my grandmother was another, and they were slowly pressing in. There was no way out.
His beautiful green eyes fixed on me. Right now, all I wanted was him. I wanted to run with him.
“My beauty,” Kyros said softly. “I didn’t intend to upset you. I won’t say more on the subject tonight. Come here.”
I resisted his attempt to tuck me against his body. Before he could voice his frustration, I climbed onto his lap and kissed the base of his neck before craning to kiss the corner of his mouth.
“What were those gifts for?” he said, a shadow crossing his face.
My vampire was never darker than in my presence. Dark for me. Light for me.
“Thank you… mate,” I replied, meeting his gaze for as long as I could.
Working myself as close to his warmth as possible, I rested my head against his chest.
His shock battered at me for a long time before his arms came around me.
A perfect fit.
I stared at the fire, doing my best to pretend the world away.
Doing my best to pretend that only this dark creature and I existed in the here and now.
11
When Laurel first handed me the Ingenium rule book, I’d celebrated the Jane Austen thickness of it. Until learning the font size was suitable for a flea.
I had vampire eyesight and still had to hold the book in front of my face.
Beside me was a notebook filled with what sense I could make of the three chapters in the rule book dedicated to Vissimo-Human Relations. The edition I held was from last year, so everything from media to technology was covered. These weren’t Monopoly instructions. Like Laurel said, this was a contract—filled with all the lawyer jargon that came with it.
I re-read the section on coercion of signatories.
From what I could tell, I was right. Humans surrounding the signatory could be coerced and compelled, but the actual signatory had to sign of their own free will without influence.
Sandra had detailed what the Tonyi triplets did to her. That was coercion and extortion by human standards.
That’s what worried me.
There was the section under Clause 14.3. Whereby the signatory is believed by either party to be victim to the transgressions listed in Clause 10 to Clause 12.8, proof must be obtained and presented to an impartial clan.
The impartial clan would make the judgment and, if deemed guilty of a transgression, the offending party’s deal would be nullified.
But what constituted as proof?
I didn’t want Sandra dragged before an impartial party. She’d be compelled for sure.
I jotted the word proof down and circled it.
Rubbing my temples, I closed the rule book. I’d read it from cover to cover as many times as it took to know everything about the game. Sliding it aside, I picked up the much thinner volume beneath.
Mating Rituals & Blood Bonds
A Complete Collection
Ugh, I called Kyros mate last night. He’d been so lost and completely off base about why I felt so much guilt and fear.
The word slipped out. Far too easily.
During my pretending act around the fire, it even felt right to say aloud.
I woke alone in the house, in his bed, at 10:00 a.m. I couldn’t remember falling asleep but thank fuck he wasn’t there this morning. It gave me time for an appropriate freak-out session.
Kyros pretty much told me he loved me. I called him mate.
Cringe.
I mean, that’s technically what we were to each other, but I’d crossed a massive line in our relationship. One I shouldn’t have crossed while betraying him and his entire family.
Messed up didn’t touch what I’d done.
With the walls crashing down around me, I felt like Kyros needed to hear the truth from my lips and soon. If this lead with Sandra didn’t eventuate to anything, I had to come clean. At the very least so Sundulus could redirect their offensive strategy.
Kyros spent every Friday night with King Mikael, and after my latest stunt texting during the roll, it was a very real possibility the Fyrlia royals would tell Kyros what I’d done to drive a wedge between us.
A wedge should be what I wanted.
I shouldn’t care what Kyros thought.
I should be as ruthless in achieving my game as Agatha Le Spyre.
There were so many things I should be.
Opening the cover of the thin book, I flicked to the first chapter, which detailed the difference between mates and true mates. After that, it summarised the history of mating rituals through the ages, and the current fashion of forming harems over the mating ritual.
Harem trend. How did that even become a thing? Imagine if humans did that?
Snorting, I skimmed over the next chapters, which detailed the first four exchanges. I stopped at the chapter titled, The Fifth Exchange.
In following with the pattern thus far, the fifth exchange between true mates heightens the libido of both participants while furthering the exchange of power. The strength, speed, and healing capabilities of each party will improve, and the ability to be apart will decrease.
The paragraph went on to detail how the exchange usually affected normal mates.
I blew out a breath. One week left as I was. With the setbacks to my ears, I’d only started feeling comfortable with my new senses. The dizziness when I suddenly turned was gone. With each passing day, the overwhelming feeling from clashing stimuli decreased.
Yet Kyros was right. The clock was ticking.
If Fyrlia won, Mikael wouldn’t allow Kyros to continue the exchanges with me. In fact, I was certain that if I stayed in a Bluff City ruled by their clan, my life would effectively be over until I died.
I had to leave before that happened, and make sure everyone I cared about left too.
Kyros wouldn’t lead Fyrlia to my hiding spot, but I’d live separate from those I loved just in case. I didn’t spend much time amongst the working class, but I was confident that with better preparation, I could cover my real identity and live as economically as needed to stay off the radar.
When it came to the exchanges and my game strategy, I was determined to uphold my deal with the Indebted. Even with the very real possibility of Fyrlia triggering the end cascade, I had to push on with the mating ritual. I had to continue on as though winning was an option.
Because in no way, shape, or form did I intend to lose.
There was an answer to all this. I’d already found a potential solution with Sandra, really. Now, I had to make sure that it was bulletproof for her sake. And for Kyros.
I read the chapter on the fifth exchange and squinted at the sixth before deciding to quit while I w
as ahead.
Picking up the third book, The Law & Etiquette of Vissimo, I scanned the index, finding the section titled Human-Vissimo Mating Bonds. The subject was covered by two sections, one for expected etiquette and the other for all legalities.
“Any mated human must walk in front of his or her mate at all times, head bowed, and hands clasped at the waist,” I read aloud, my jaw dropping. Laughter burst from my lips. “They can go fuck themselves.”
Kyros preferred me to walk in front, but the head bowed part could climb a tree and sing a beanstalk into existence for all I cared.
Shaking my head, I read through the rest of the section—which was as ridiculous as the first sentence.
I flicked to the legal half of the book. “When was this shit even published?”
I checked the date. 1907.
That explained a few things. Was this the most recent edition Laurel could find? The other two books were at least revised during this century. The law section was much larger, and my heart sank at the third clause.
Unless the transition ritual is invoked at the seventh exchange, the human or elevated-human mate will not speak in formal gatherings unless permitted by their Vissimo counterpart.
I’d broken that about a million times.
Trailing my finger through the legal clauses, I flicked through the pages until finding the topic I was specifically interested in.
After the sixth exchange, a human mate is considered an elevated human.
“Elevated human, my butthole,” I muttered. But Laurel was right. Clause 7.6 stated—in much clearer terms than the Ingenium rule book stated anything—that I could own and direct Indebted, who were considered lesser than an elevated human.
Asswipes, ranking people like that. Not that humans didn’t do that to themselves and everything around them. But still. Immortality clearly didn’t correlate with increased wisdom.
My phone buzzed on the office desk.
Safina.
“Go away,” I grumbled, clicking on the green button despite myself. “What?”
“Basilia. We have something to discuss.”
We did?
Death Game: Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers Book 3) Page 11