11
We made it clear that some changes were going to come about with the vampires, and if they wanted to keep the lives they had, they needed to be willing to pay the price for that. And they should maybe pray on if this was the coven for them.
Also, to spread the word.
When we dismissed them, I turned back to the human and gave her a smile. “I’m so truly and very sorry you suffered this after I promised to protect you. What can I do?”
She blinked at me. “You more than did it, Princess.”
“No, I mean—yes, I punished him, but… How can I help you now?” I glanced at the woman who had been helping her. “How about you get some of your friends and take a break at the castle? Nick—our chef—can fuss over you and—”
“I’m not sure she will want to stay at a castle full of vampires after one hurt her, my love,” Kristof said under his breath.
The woman flinched and glanced around before meeting my eyes. “Yes, that would be great. Thank you, Princess.” She moved closer and nodded. “This wasn’t about him being a vampire. It was a deranged man who wanted to take too much from a woman. The fact he had fangs just gave him another way to do it. I would appreciate the security of the castle to heal.”
Perfect. Seriously, she was giving me an easy path to make this work and smooth things over.
I glanced at Trisha who nodded.
“We’ll get the group together and transported—make sure their roles are covered,” she promised.
“With your permission, my sister and I would appreciate being allowed that task,” the vampire who reported her brother offered. “A few of our cousins as well. It’s the least we should do when our brother is the one who brought shame to your coven.”
I nodded but then went over and patted her shoulder. “But you did the right thing and reported him.” I stared out at the humans. “And that is to be commended. She’s not her brother, and we don’t carry the sins of others. Not in the world we’re building after losing so much. We need to be better than that.”
I was glad when people seemed to agree. A woman who seemed to be in charge came over and offered to show them what the job was and get them settled. I thanked her and felt relieved that we had the crisis mostly averted.
“Throw the body of this piece of trash in one of the craters we’ll bomb next,” I grumbled as I kicked the dead vampire. “Fucker.”
“You did well, Princess,” the older human who had been a president’s right hand praised. “You handled the situation better than many seasoned officials or statesmen.”
“Thank you, but I just did what was right,” I said with a chuckle. “That makes things easy. I’m not going to play politics in the apocalypse. I’m going to be true to myself.”
“Which is clearly why so many are as loyal to you as they are,” he said firmly. “I’ve heard several who protect you are the oldest living beings on the planet.”
I went to just nod but then realized him thinking that or maybe bragging it could be dangerous. “Maybe the oldest that weren’t sworn to a princess or free. We don’t know. I don’t make assumptions, and the enemy can also find allies that old and powerful as well. Certainly princesses that powerful and evil.”
“I understand, and none of us should ever lower our guard.”
“No, we shouldn’t. Not ever,” I said firmly, glad he was smart enough to understand that.
We headed back to the castle, and my next surprise of the day was actually a better one.
Namely, two princesses were waiting for me.
“Your speech was inspiring, Princess Inez,” the first said as she bowed to me. “I am Josephine.” She frowned when I winced. She quickly shot a glance to the other one. “It reached our ears that you weren’t upset with us.”
“Your name is sensitive to my wife,” Kristof explained quickly as he moved his arm around me. “These are the princesses that Kaitlin had adopted, my love.”
“Oh— oh! ” I turned to the other one. “And you are?”
“Noel.”
“Okay, well, glad word reached you. Come in and let’s talk.” I waved them to follow me and headed inside. I froze when Kristof burst out laughing and glanced over my shoulder to see the princesses looking at me as if I’d grown another head.
“That never gets old, my love.”
I sighed and scrubbed my hand over my face. “It’s already been a long fucking day and we’ve not had breakfast yet and I’m getting hangry.” I went back by the princesses. “Look, I get what you’re used to and—actually, I don’t. I’ve never been through all the real court bullshit and what I hear it was. We don’t do that here, especially not when it’s just us. It’s nice.”
“We will try your way, of course, Princess Inez,” Noel said as she bowed to me.
“Inez is fine. It’s just us and we’re all princesses, you’re older than me—let’s just eat.” I thanked Nick when he checked on me and brought food out personally, barely dipping his head to the princesses but did ask if they had any nutritional issues he needed to know about.
They shared a look and Josephine nodded for Noel to go ahead.
“Our stomachs hurt. All of the time now instead of now and again when we lived with Kaitlin,” she confessed. “We haven’t had anyone to really get much blood from.” She glanced at me. “Kaitlin didn’t allow us nobles and supervised our blood intake. She intentionally stunted us after we were adopted young.”
“I’m sorry.” I looked at Kristof.
He frowned. “I don’t know the answer here either, my love. I avoided courts like the plague. I would think younger, trusted blood like Eddie to start and grow their strength? Assuming you’re allowing them to stay.” He snorted at whatever was on my face. He leaned in and kissed my hair. “And this is why so many of us love you.”
I glanced at Petre who was my guard now. “Talk to whomever and get them each two guards. Ancient vamps are fine, but hopefully we can get them roles here at the castle where they’ll heal and be protected. That will be a good deterrent for Keres as well.”
“I apologize for interrupting, especially when your offer is so generous, but—” Josephine started to say, but I cut her off.
“I’m not adopting you, and I’m not inviting you to join my coven,” I told her firmly, nodding when they both seemed relieved. “I’m offering you… Sanctuary. Let’s call it that for now. Help the coven, and we can say six months. I’ll let you stay as an acting knight level of authority if you take on tasks for me to help because I really fucking need help.”
“That is—you truly are worthy of being Aether’s champion with such kindness,” Noel whispered. “Thank you, Pri—Inez.”
“What role do you wish us to take on?” Josephine asked quietly after we were served food and they had had a few bites.
I didn’t answer right away, studying them and seeing how frail and beaten down they were. They were abused and scared of their shadows. I wasn’t saying that to be mean and certainly wasn’t judging them.
No, I was simply being honest and accepting that was part of them.
Currently.
“You tell me what you bring to the table,” I said after another couple of minutes. I gave them each a look that I was serious before continuing. “Short of taking over my coven and being the princess, the sky is the limit.”
They shared a look and Noel cleared her throat. “We don’t want to rule. Ever. We’ve seen how horrible it can—it breaks princess. Forgive me, but it’s all we’ve seen.”
Josephine wiped under her eye and cleared her throat. “Unfortunately, in our fear, we chose the option that broke us as well. Everything is rigged against us. I used to think Aether hated us and how things were and it was all set up by Erebus. It was the only thing that made sense to me that—it fit with how we’re treated and blamed and never supported.”
Everyone else went tense, but I completely understood where she was coming from. I thought only other princesses could probably.
“Well, I could use support and help. If I’m to truly change that and the way the world lives after the apocalypse—at least in my coven—I need vast support. So if you want my protection as your sister under Aether, then I need your support as one. Not as my adopted daughter bullshit.”
“I will take them around and introduce them to the right people to get them caught up as they heal,” Kristof told me.
I frowned. “You’re going too hard. You need rest too and—”
He leaned in and gave me a soft kiss, his way of apologizing for interrupting me in front of people he shouldn’t. “I have all I need when my wife worries for me, my love. I promise. I will rest well with you tonight. I think Aether is giving me help now, and they can share the burden we’re both struggling with. Especially now after what happened.”
Josephine cleared her throat again. “On that note, I have a suggestion if you’re open to hearing it.”
I met her worried gaze. “Always.” I nodded. “I’m always open to suggestions as long as you’re not beating me with them or repeated or calling me names with them—you know the difference.”
“I do.” She let out a slow breath and seemed to pull up her courage. “Kaitlin had a coven oath for people who joined. It wasn’t for members who were born into the coven.”
“It was like a citizenship oath countries had,” Noel added. “Yes, Kaitlin used it more like a threat and weapon because those who weren’t born of the coven were normally of a lower caste status. She would ask people if they’d taken the oath, meaning were they born of the coven like that mattered more. To most wishing to be a part of the coven instead of—”
“Yes, many countries struggled with the same,” Kristof muttered. “Immigrants versus born and…” He cleared his throat.
I didn’t understand why he’d trailed off at first, but then I sighed. “I know it’s upsetting or you take it as a slight, but it’s not. It’s just—this is how people talk. We’re really busy and—Kristof ran from the coven structure and courts. Please be understanding when we will be with you.”
Noel let out a slow breath. “We will do our best. It was done to us intentionally over and over again for more than a hundred years to remind us of our places.”
“If someone does it intentionally for that kind of petty bullshit then tell me and I will handle it. We’re not pulling that crap in the apocalypse.” I gestured around the room with just me, Kristof, and them… And Jaxon and Cerdic who had snuck in when food was served. “We’re all just people in a setting like this. It’s nice to relax.”
“It is a good suggestion,” Cerdic commented, always the mediator and getting us back on track. “Even for the humans and shifters. Nothing too long, but basics that they pledge to respect people’s beliefs, treat everyone as equals, and accept the leadership of the coven. We can make it that it’s for now while they stay with us—”
“But once there aren’t any more corrupted, they can leave and do whatever they want and it’s fine,” I muttered, bobbing my head when the others did. “Good. That might help with the situation of the Fort Knox leaders still thinking they’re the leaders. That they understand that this coven is rooted in the belief in Aether and our ways, but we accept all religions.
“No matter what name they call Her or who they pray to as long as they follow the basics and never denounce Her. I don’t care if they pray to their god or believe in them, but they can’t stay here under Her protection with me as Her champion and denounce Her as a false god or the Antichrist or whatever. Accept that or go get eaten.”
Jaxon cleared his throat. “Let’s start with the pledge for vampires and shifters, and we can work on the one for humans.”
Yeah, that was probably best. I gave him an amused look but sort of shrugged, asking what he really expected when I was so stressed and so much was going on. Like… Seriously?
What did he expect?
“Okay, let’s get a real idea floating around of what to call our coven and country that they can pledge to,” I told them as we finished up breakfast.
“Forgive me, but that was the acronym you were writing out a few weeks ago, yes?” Petre asked from the door.
I nodded. “We can’t keep calling ourselves Team Inez or Princess Ninja Warrior or… I forgot the last one we landed on.”
“United Under Inez,” Kristof said, shrugging when I sighed. “UUI sounded cute. Plus, I love being under you, my wife.”
“Dirty! Dirty, dirty, old fart,” I chastised, failing at not laughing when he did.
“What were you leaning towards?” Cerdic asked which was funny since he was once King of England hundreds of years ago.
“United Coven of American Countries and Species, but it’s kind of bulky,” I grumbled. “I mean if we’re doing both Americas really since…” I glanced at Kristof and he nodded.
“The one coven in Canada did implode. It was overrun and—there’s nothing left and any who survived whatever happened there fled.”
“Right, and Keres now controls the one in Florida. Nothing was really left in South America.” Again, I shrugged. “Just remind the assholes that a female will be in charge and it’s fitting.” I smiled when Josephine snorted. “She gets it.”
She dipped her head to me before focusing on the men who were confused. “America is the feminine form of the Latinized version of the name of Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci. A German man named these continents a feminine name as is tradition for naming continents, so they should remember that in their sexism.”
I did a mic drop—something the twins had taught me—and left the dining room to get back to my day and schedule… As best as possible.
We put together a last-minute meeting after dinner to talk ideas and how to make sure what happened earlier never did again. It included too many people, so it was a packed room at one of the hotels in Salt Lake. I wasn’t sure why there, but I wanted to genuinely hear the ideas. Vitor and Tian had switched out as my guards now.
Kristof had decided it was the right time to introduce Josephine and Noel as helping and temporarily having knight status. We had enough people gathered at once, and it was best to hear it directly from us. I moved to let him get towards the front and handle all of this. The room really was packed, and I ended up bumping into Tian.
Nothing big and something that happened all of the time.
Except it was a weird angle, and while we were the same height normally, I was in heels, so… I’m not sure how it happened. I just know what happened.
The side of my ass bumped his groin. Barely.
But I felt he was hard.
From standing near me. I was the only woman there.
Tian was behind me and Vitor on my other side. Cerdic was on my left. Kristof had been on my right with Sebastian next to him—all of the people around us we trusted. It was just our group.
Some insane part of me needed to check. Some section of my brain that must have actually snapped with all of my issues thought it smart to figure out right then if Tian actually liked me.
Or at least wanted to fuck me so much that he got hard for me in serious meetings?
Yes, apparently, I had really snapped.
All I knew was the next time I brushed up against him, it was intentional.
And he was hard. He sucked in a quick breath and I moved closer against him, feeling his erection against the left cheek of my ass.
I really had cracked because it excited me. My husband was standing right next to me—the one I was trying to fix my marriage to—and I was pressing my ass against my guard’s erection. The one I didn’t even like .
So of course reality hit me and I stopped, stepped away and focused on what my love was saying at the center of it all. Of course I did, right?
No, I pushed my ass against him more and moved a little bit here and there. I teased his dick with my ass fully knowing what I was doing.
I swallowed a gasp when his hand moved to my hip and he pressed his erection against me more, moving as well. He smelled my hair and I felt his heart beating against my back.
I knew part of the answer a moment later. Aether seemed to realize how crazy people really would be with me and my blood because of Erebus but also just how powerful I would be. Plus, how uncomfortable I always got with how far the sharks went. So now my period didn’t start like normal and nostrils flared which freaked me out.
No, I got… It wasn’t a warning bell. It was—I couldn’t really put it into words. My body didn’t ring. It wasn’t a bell.
I didn’t vibrate.
I just knew. Trust me. I knew.
“I have to use the washroom,” I told Cerdic quietly.
“I’ll come—” he offered.
“Tian is enough,” I promised. “Help me here.”
“Of course, love.” He leaned in but not too much, always leaving the decision to me which I appreciated.
I gave him a quick kiss and let Tian lead me out of there and to one of the bathrooms near the entrance. It wasn’t the closest one by the ballroom and that was absolutely intentional.
And so was him coming inside with me, not just waiting in the hallway.
I was just as bad since I led him into the stall with me and locked it behind us.
“What are you doing, Inez?” he asked, his breath hot on my ear since I was facing away from him.
I have no fucking idea. That was the truth, but… I’d lost my mind. Fine, I was crazy, but I wanted what I wanted. At least in this moment, and future Inez could deal with the rest. “You want my blood, don’t you?”
“Always.”
I took his hand and moved it under my skirt, pushing my panties aside, and letting two of his fingers inside of me.
He hissed, immediately understanding what I was doing. He pressed his body against me. “I will—”
I reached back and covered his mouth with my hand. “Be grateful for whatever I allow. This is what I’m allowing. Only this.” I shivered as I felt the anger pouring off of him.
Yeah, I really was fucked in the head that it turned me on. Why did his anger turn me on? That I could get that reaction from him? That I was in control when so much of my life was out of control?
I wasn’t sure, but I really hoped that Vanessa agreed to be my therapist because obviously I needed one.
I let my guard who I didn’t even really like finger me right there so he got the blood he wanted and I orgasmed. And then I left him standing there desperate and wanting while I washed my hands and left the bathroom as if I’d only gone to pee.
Seriously, what was going on with me? Had I really snapped?
Probably.
Vitor and Darius were waiting outside of the ballroom, probably realizing the date. Petre stepped out a second later and I realized that he had probably warned them.
He nodded when he met my gaze. “I interrupted Kristof to tell him and that we were getting you back to the castle before the ‘sharks were alerted and chaos ensues’ as you always say.”
Yeah, that did sound like something I would say.
I went right to him and kissed him. “I promised to let you have me. Take me home and have me now. Have me first.” I held on tightly when he picked me up… And smirked at Tian.
Yes, Petre was fucking me first, but Tian had touched me first and we both knew it.
But only we did. Maybe that was the fun?
Either way, I stared at Tian most of the time while Petre fucked me. My lover was behind me absolutely plowing me and I was eye fucking my guard and thrilled the whole time.
“I’m really thirsty,” I whispered when we took a break, licking my fangs and still staring at Tian. I smirked when he shivered. Good.
“Who should we bring to your bed, My Princess?” Petre asked. He cleared his throat. “I have an unorthodox suggestion but one that might be good.”
“Tell me.”
“Lara.” He nodded when I couldn’t hide my shock.
“I agree,” Vitor said from the door. “She enjoys—she’s a voyeur. You’re not her type, but the bite feels good to her. She orgasms.”
“It also reminds her that even if the one she loves is dead, she is not,” Petre said gently.
“But you’re not expecting me to…” I checked, glad when he promised he wasn’t.
“It would be sexy if you kissed her like you did at your wedding,” Vitor muttered.
I was fine with that. I even enjoyed biting from her huge boobs. She’d really liked it and it had been fun. Wild.
I just wasn’t into women or wanted more. Yes, fine, I was weird.
I knew that.
It worked out because she had someone she’d hooked up with a few times and wanted to explore with a bit. I was fine with that but wasn’t sure I wanted to do that in the bed I slept in or shared with my husband.
Petre practically begged to have me in his bed.
Even better.
Lara and I checked with each other first on the rules. She was fine if I drank from her lover’s wrist, not neck. That was probably best with James. We could all kiss, but he didn’t seem to want to with me because it got complicated fast since I was in charge of the coven.
Again, more than fair, and I was glad we were having these conversations first before problems.
And I was fine with what Petre wanted to do to Lara as long as he didn’t eat her out or feed from her. His mouth only belonged on me in those ways.
It was great. Beyond great, and I saw Lara was super into it as well. We kissed a few times while both getting fucked and it was obvious we did it for the men we were with and it drove them wild. I realized I might be part voyeur as well though because I really enjoyed watching the wolf bang her.
“Am I fucked in the head that I really want to see one of the oldest vampires alive screw you?” the wolf whispered when we took a break. He flinched and glanced at Lara. “Sorry. I just—this is new to me.” He dipped his head to Petre. “I just…”
“You saw the difference of what I could give Inez and wanted your woman to experience that.”
His eyes flashed shock. “Yes.”
“But you won’t want him to repeat it,” Vitor said from the other room, everyone thinking that was enough for my guards.
The wolf frowned. “No, yeah, I wouldn’t want this a regular thing, and my wolf is a bit excited to have a reason to be jealous? I’m fucked in the head, right?”
I think I shocked them all when I snorted. I shrugged. “You’re not. I know more than a few vampires that have that kink. One of my husbands especially. He loves watching me enjoy a lot, but then proving he’s the best and gives me what I need. I love it too. I rub it in his face—I’ll tell him all about this and then blow him, give him a fantasy and—” I shivered.
Yeah, Kristof and I were going to have fun from this.
“You’re really fine with it?” Lara checked as she glanced between Petre and me.
“Yes, because you would never hurt me and poach. It’s just tonight and this fun.”
They were game and yeah, I might be a voyeur. It was hot watching the man all about me screw my friend’s brains out and then immediately dote on me. Maybe we were all fucked.
So what else was new?