Chapter 5
TYREL
I had three more interviews that day after Adrian, but I couldn't quite get the strange little guy out of my head.
I used to think all humans were the same—easily crushed by our magic and ready to bend to our will.
When I'd tried to get him to tell me about his past lover, I hadn't even really thought about forcing him.
The pure act of it had become second nature to me in dealing with weaker minded species.
But then he'd surprised me by not answering.
I hadn't known that was an option for him. It shouldn't have been.
That was when I'd started truly paying attention. I'd had to try again, and he'd resisted me again.
Fascinating.
He hadn't been completely impervious. Oh no. I'd had him. But he'd been aware of it. I'd scared him, I could tell.
Normally, mere humans didn't notice when I was using magic on them.
Adrian had known—he'd tried to shake me off.
I could have overpowered him. Not easily, but with a little more effort, yes, I could have done it.
I could have made him kiss me, and a number of other things as well. Things I'd very much wanted right then.
But where was the fun in that?
Humans bored me, exactly because they were so easy. Mindless critters, all of them.
My mother told me I needed an attitude adjustment. I told her where she could stick that opinion.
I suspected that was part of the reason she wanted me to take a human mate so much.
Breed with a human mate, darling. Or you won't get your inheritance.
I kept her words in mind even as I went on to the rest of my scheduled interviews. I hadn't even looked at the applications myself. Mother had picked who I was going to see. Then she'd given me the pictures so I would recognize them, and I went off to go through the motions.
After Adrian, the next three interviews reconfirmed my suspicions about humans.
I asked the second guy to run around the table three times while barking like a dog and he never thought twice about it.
There were a lot of things people were willing to do for my family's money, but this idiot wasn't doing it for the money.
He did it because I asked him to. That was fun, but only up to a point.
I thought about asking him to suck me off in a bathroom stall for some more fun before I left, but sadly, that was one of the things that would get me in trouble with the elders if they found out.
Humans were mindless dolls, but apparently, we couldn't pull their strings too much.
The rules were clear about enforcing sexual contact.
It wasn't done. Even what I'd tried on Adrian earlier, telling him to kiss me, had been pushing that line.
But he hadn't followed through anyway, so no harm done.
When I got back to the vacation home where I was staying with my mother and some of our staff, I was immediately met with questions.
"Did anyone catch your eye, darling?" my mother asked as soon as I entered the room.
"They're humans, mother," I said, reaching for the mini bar. "They're basically toys."
She shot me a disapproving look from where she was sitting on the couch, a thick book in her hands. "Your father wasn't a toy."
I pretended like I didn't hear her. This was not a conversation I wanted to engage in.
"So," my mother said. "Tell me about these men you met today." She reached for a list that had been lying on the desk. Then she started reading from it. "Jason Matthews?"
"Cute, but a complete fool." He'd come late, then he'd stumbled on his way over to my table, and then he'd talked like a waterfall. If I cared about having a kid, I wouldn't trust him with it in a million years.
"Allen Smith?"
The guy who'd run around the table. "That's a no."
I took a bottle of beer and sat on the couch.
"You're picky," my mother said.
I shrugged. "Did you pick the first fool who approached you?"
"Certainly not. What about Michael Waters?"
I shrugged again. "He was pleasant enough. Nice butt."
My mother made a note. I pretended not to care what she wrote down. "Adrian Lark?"
I opened the bottle and took a sip, thinking about how to respond.
Did I want my mother to know just how interesting Adrian was?
"We had a good talk," I said, eventually.
She raised an eyebrow at me, but I didn't comment further.
Inviting anyone she didn't agree with would only make that person's life hell, and I had no idea how my mother felt about humans who could possibly resist us.
Up until a few hours ago, I hadn't known humans like that existed, after all.
I wanted to keep the knowledge to myself for a little bit.
I also wanted to meet Adrian again. If only to see if he could truly resist me.