21. Gentleman’s Pleasure
R ose was afraid of that very thing. That was why she ran instead of giving in to more time together. The more she spent with Prince Adrian, the more she wanted. She was falling for him, more with every second, and it was terrifying.
She couldn’t become blinded to what was important. She couldn’t let herself become what he wanted instead of discovering who she was . Part of her longed to let him take care of her—both her safety and the needs of her body, but she needed to retain her independence.
So, instead of falling back into his arms, she went to the library. She pored over geography books and memorized maps. Neigera was a huge kingdom, and she’d traveled much farther than she’d realized during her time as a slave.
Crimson City was in the northeast, near the Frostpeak Mountains, and the farthest she’d been from her beginnings—and supposed origins—in the south. The southwest held the Red Desert, where she’d never been. She’d lived in a town near there once, long ago. And if memory served correctly, she’d slowly made her way north with every new master. She couldn’t remember how many times she’d changed hands, many, for sure, until she eventually ended up with the vampire merchant Prince Adrian had taken her from in Black Down.
In looking through the books and reading tidbits about the towns and what they were known for, she started making a mental list. Her main goal was to revisit all the towns where she’d lived and search for records of herself, but she also wanted to see more of the kingdom through the eyes of freedom.
Ensuring she had enough coin was also paramount. But if she went broke, she would find work on the way.
Taking the book she’d been studying, she decided to grab another adventure story to read for fun before going to the common room and gathering a napkin full of food to eat while she read in bed. Cordelia gossiped with Marisol—a maid from nightshift whom she’d said just last week that she loathed—in the lounge area.
It made Rose wonder how her roommate truly felt about her.
Still, Cordelia’s distraction meant Rose could enjoy the quiet in their room. Her dresses had been cleared from her wardrobe, a tiny rosebud left tucked neatly into one of her shoes, accompanied by a note.
Replacements can be found in my quarters. I await your presence with bated breath. Don’t turn my longing to torture, temptress. Ease us both.
Heart fluttering, she read it for a third time, memorizing it. Having nowhere to stow it and certain nothing in the room was private, she burned the note over her candle as she had the others.
As the ashes fell, she wondered how long she’d make them both wait.
Not long, as it turned out. Prince Adrian was not a patient male and late the next morning, after her very first shift on nights, the shadow vampire stepped from concealment to take her to her Prince’s rooms.
The talk of the night had revolved around the late Council meeting and how the Prince had spent time afterward with his good friends—the newly titled Marquis Andrew Holt—successor of his uncle Virgil Holt, who owned several jewelry and clothing establishments, and Silas Whitstead—heir to the Duke Bernard Whitstead, who was a widower and owned many of the medical clinics in the city and surrounding area.
The three had supposedly spent several hours in the Ruby Lounge—which was noted as her Prince’s favorite—where they indulged in cards and several bottles of cognac. No less than three female staff members had been fetched to wait on them. Word was all three females had left the lounge disheveled and happily mussed with bites on their necks.
It was none of her business, Rose told herself as she fingered the barely-there bruise and two tiny pinpricks on her neck. It was good her bite wasn’t very visible because there was no gossip about her circulating.
There had been talk about a mystery female showing up to the stables in the mist the other morning, but no one knew who she was. Speculation was Prince Adrian had had a private date with Lady Julianna, but that was quieted as news of his evening antics spread.
No way would he cheat on the lady, the maids said. Julianna’s father, the good Duke Clearwater would never stand for it .
Rose almost wanted to laugh at that. With the number of maids that had been fired the other day, her Prince wasn’t loyal in the least. And after his words on keeping her as mistress after he wed, she didn’t think that would change.
Part of her had stupidly thought she meant more.
But the only difference between her and the other maids was that she didn’t fall at his feet to obey his every whim. She challenged him, and even he had admitted that it invigorated him.
She would not hold his attention long-term, however.
Obviously.
What she didn’t understand was why he’d called her tonight. If he was happily sated, why in the world did he want her ?
It was with no small amount of jealousy and a bit of anger, as well as some nervousness as to what kind of mood he’d be in, that she let herself be led to her Prince’s bedroom.
“Have fun,” the shadow vampire whispered before shutting the door with a click that seemed terribly loud in the darkness.
Wiping her sweaty hands on her blue uniform (a blue not nearly as striking or deep as the peacock shade of her riding habit or the indigo shade of some of her Prince’s suits, it signified her servant status), Rose took in the room.
There wasn’t much to see. Even with the sun having risen, it was dark as night, the heavy curtains blocking most of the morning light. Part of her was excited to be in her Prince’s most private of places. Not many saw these walls, the color of which she couldn’t make out.
When a flame flared to life on the other side of the room, her Prince lighting a small candle on a table beside an imposing canopied bed, she saw it was on a raised platform. Her Prince was half-naked, wearing only a pair of trousers, his hair tousled in a way that made her belly clench .
As he took his lit candle across the room and onto another shadowy platform, Rose stared, entranced, at his musculature. The dancing light flickered across his body from darkness to radiance, highlighting the contours. His facial structure seemed more defined, his cheekbones like cliff ledges, his longish nose more severe.
Touching his flame to another candle, the light glinted off dark water in his tub. Rose stared there for a moment before her gaze was inevitably drawn back to the Prince crossing to the other side of his bed, where he set the candle in the silver stand down on his other side table.
Those tables were black with silver swirls painted on the front panel. They flanked the massive, canopied bed made from black wood. The tied-back gray curtains matched those on the windows. Being on a raised platform made it seem even grander. More imposing.
As if the wide expanse of mattress with decadent black satin sheets, gray duvet, and an obscene number of pillows in shades of gray and black, wasn’t intimidating enough.
The size of the room itself was cavernous, and technically a suite of three rooms. There was a sitting area just inside the door where Rose stood. The dark furniture was hard to make out with all the shadows, but the cushions were a pretty gray with silver trim.
There was black statuary that Rose was sure would be striking when she could see it properly. Overhead, a large crystal chandelier hung, throwing sparkles in the dancing light of the flames. A fireplace took up a large portion of the right wall. There was more black there, with silver scrollwork along the edges and mantle. Before it was a large section of marbled floor, but the rest of the space—aside from the raised platforms—was carpeted. That carpet was soft and plush under her feet, a darker gray than the walls she could now see hints of in the candlelight .
Along the left wall in the sleeping area stood several wardrobes in black with silver trim. She wondered which held her dresses but would not ask nor dare to look. Between two of the huge pieces of furniture hung a scene of a black forest in blue night. A black and silver cushioned bench sat underneath. A full-standing silver mirror stood between two more, and beside the last hung another painting of a full and fat glowing moon in inky darkness.
On the bathing platform was a table upon which sat a porcelain washbasin. Next to it was an open cabinet holding fluffy towels. A step away was the deep black tub, the light still shimmering on the water.
And in a little alcove by itself, which Rose thought was nice, was the commode.
“Does it pass inspection?”
Rose started at the husky whisper, the timbre making her insides flutter. She hadn’t noticed Prince Adrian making his way across the space to her. The way he silently moved seemed predatory, and his expression mirrored it. His red eyes glinted with hunger.
But she didn’t want to be anyone’s dessert, an afterthought once the full meal was over.
“I missed you this night.” That sexiness of his tone, combined with a cool finger running down her cheek, down her neck, down her chest to her nipple, made gooseflesh rise on her skin.
“Oh, I heard.” Rose took a step back.
“Did you?” Prince Adrian cocked an eyebrow, taking that step back to her and then some, so they were toe-to-toe.
The proximity of his bare chest was unnerving, all that pale skin and the lean muscle she did not want to trace with her fingers. She did not want to lick him. She definitely did not want to lick one particular area while he watched with those hot eyes and talked in that gravelly sex-drenched voice .
He’d used that voice on someone else not too long ago. It was probably so scratchy and deep because he’d been moaning so loudly. Probably with someone who better knew what they were doing.
That thought shouldn’t hurt so much. This male couldn’t matter , damn it.
Why had she let herself come here?
When she tried taking another purposeful step back, his arm wrapped around her waist, and she quickly found herself pressed against the muscle she’d just been trying not to admire. He ran a finger down the side of her face again, tilting his head as he studied her.
“Why, Rose, are you”—he dipped his head—“ jealous ?” Inhaling deeply, he ran his nose beside her ear. His hand on her back slid down to cup her rear and he ground against her, letting her feel his erection. “I like it,” he growled, grabbing a fistful of her hair and roughly tilting her head so he could smell her neck.
It should not have been arousing, proving his dominance over her while also riling her to fight back.
“But you should know,” he continued, licking where he’d just smelled her, “I did not partake in my friend’s carnal pleasures.”
“I find that doubtful,” Rose retorted, her voice not nearly as strong as she’d like. Her resolve was crumbling more with every blatantly sexual thing he did. Her neck was tender, but the pressure he applied was the sweetest pain.
“What did I tell you before, pet?”
“Um . . .” She couldn’t focus as he started teasing her neck with his fangs, prepping her for a bite if yesterday had taught her anything. It hurt, the pressure on the still-slightly bruised bite shooting shocks down her nerves.
Somehow, all those little shocks went straight between her legs.
“I told you, you’re all I want right now. Did I not? ”
“Uh . . .” She sounded like an idiot, her breath hitching, catching in her throat as his cock rubbed her just the right way. Already throbbing down there, her eyes fluttered closed, hands gripping his biceps as he did it again, pulling a moan from her.
He chuckled darkly. “I also told you that I don’t drink from females. Unless it’s you.”
Too lost in the feeling of relief at his words, she did not notice his fingers working her bodice. It wasn’t smart to believe him, but she did. He wouldn’t desire her like this if he’d been satisfied elsewhere.
“I fully expected you to make me wait for you but found, especially with the goings-on with my friends, that I have no patience.”
“It also couldn’t be that you’re half-drunk,” she teased, smelling the liquor on his breath.
“I am only slightly inebriated. My friends, on the other hand, I had to help to guest rooms for the day.” He tipped her chin up so he could meet her eyes. “But they were well-satisfied. Not partaking in the more salacious events of the morning made me crave you.”
Her bodice fell, and the Prince’s eyes dipped to her chest before another tug caused her dress to puddle on the floor. Only a moment later, her underwear was there as well.
“You don’t need those anymore,” he said, all decadent promise. “It’s about to get very hot in here.”