Chapter 18 Sanguis Vita #2
He stalked back to the bed, sitting next to me while staring at my scar.
His fingers reached out to touch it, but he stopped himself and raised his eyes to mine.
“I didn’t mean to imply you were defective, darling.
Perhaps it’s just due to the women that tend to gravitate towards me, but I’m…
how can I put this… accustomed to a certain type of behavior. ”
I snorted, then covered my mouth in horror. He arched a curious eyebrow. “Is that funny?” he asked
“I’m so sorry, si…Victor,” I spat quickly, correcting myself, “It’s not that it’s funny, it’s just that, well… yes, all of Lundaria knows your type. That’s why I helped sneak my friend Nellie into your party; she wanted to be your next girlfriend.”
He grunted softly, a small smile pulling at the corner of his lips. “Yes, I suppose she does fit the bill.”
A strange feeling blossomed inside me at hearing him speak about Nellie like that. Was that… was that jealousy? If he was my mate, that would be normal.
But I hated being jealous. I didn’t have it in me to compete for a man’s attention.
My expression must have appeared pretty crestfallen, because now the Premier was widening his eyes in shock.
“Oh, Sage, I didn’t mean I preferred her to you.
About my so-called type…” He took a deep breath, his gaze and fingers landing on my scar once more as he spoke.
“Four years ago, on Sanguiel’s Night, I was sitting on a parade float when the most wonderful perfume I’d ever scented wafted faintly in the air.
I knew at that instant I was smelling my mate.
I stood up immediately, scanning the crowd to see where it was coming from, and at the time, I thought I saw her.
She was swallowed up quickly by the surging spectators, and even though I jumped off to find her, she’d already disappeared. ”
I closed my eyes, the feel of his touch on my scarred skin leaving me both overheated and shivering at the same time. His voice was hypnotically soothing. Could he sing? I bet he could sing.
“Ever since then, I’ve only dated people who looked like the woman I happened to glimpse, the woman I thought I’d scented.
Blonde with tan skin. As though maybe I could find her that way.
” He chuckled again, shaking his head in disbelief.
“All this time, I was wrong. I should have been searching for a woman with curly brown hair, a dash of freckles, and skin as pale as the moon. I might have met you sooner.”
He leaned forward, inhaling my omega perfume from my throat. “Mmm, yes, that’s it. I can’t believe I’ve been such an idiot.”
I knew alphas tended to prefer Nellie to me when we were standing next to each other, so I shouldn’t have been surprised to hear that was the kind of woman he’d assumed must be his mate after smelling me, even if it did kind of sting to think your mate would overlook you in a crowd…
Wait.
“I didn’t go to the Sanguiel’s Night parade four years ago,” I said.
The Premier froze. “What do you mean? I smelled you.” He sniffed my neck again, as though he needed to make sure.
“I mean, I wasn’t there. I hate parades, and Sanguiel’s Night is right before finals. I was probably in a library, studying.”
His mouth fell open slightly as he thought. “You don’t mistake your mate’s scent.”
I didn’t think that he was lying, but his story didn’t quite make sense. How could he have picked up my scent when I wasn’t even there? “Maybe you did see Nellie,” I said, trying to think of an answer. “We hang out all the time, so it’s possible my scent rubbed off on her.”
He scraped one of his fangs along his bottom lip.
His lips. Why was I staring at his lips? I couldn’t fight my instincts any longer, and I leaned forward to sniff him. I wanted to know his scent better. I wanted to get hit with that mate lightning.
I took a deep breath, and it was…
Fine.
Rosemary, a hint of musk. Nice, but not mind-blowing.
Why wasn’t my mind being blown right now? The Premier got a whiff of me off someone else in a crowd of thousands and became obsessed, and I had him right next to me and felt barely anything. Was everything I’d heard about finding your mate exaggerated?
Or maybe I was defective.
The Premier, at least, was very excited by my action.
He lifted my chin with a finger and smiled. “Committing me to memory, darling? Don’t worry, I’ll never be gone for long.”
“Is this your house, then?” I asked, looking around the place. The whole city was spread below the large windows, meaning we must have been pretty high up. “I thought you lived in the Premier’s Mansion?”
“I do,” he replied. “This is your new apartment.”
“O-oh,” I said, my cheeks blushing. “You mean, I can still live on my own?”
That wasn’t so bad, then.
He tilted his head as he considered his answer.
“Yes and no. Food will be prepared and sent up through the dumb waiter from a kitchen downstairs. Housekeeping will visit once a week for cleaning and laundry, and I’ve assigned you round-the-clock security detail.
And while I officially live at the mansion, I will spend the daylight hours here with you before leaving in the evening to return for work. ”
I took in more details of the space. It was modern, with clean lines and little decor. The walls were white and bare, and all of the furniture and bedding were gray or black. Long, heavy, light-blocking curtains hung open in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, overlooking downtown Noctis.
The only pop of color and piece of interest in the room was a red, ceramic, anatomically-correct heart on top of one of the dressers.
How morbidly “vampire.”
Bit if this was going to be my place, I wanted it to reflect more of my aesthetic. I had some cool prints I’d collected over the years, my plants—for decor and as ingredients for spells—not to mention my clothes, my books, and of course my cauldron…
“Can I go back to my place to get more of my things? And what about my classes? Oh, shoot!” I hit my forehead and groaned. “How long have I been out? I have a quiz in Inorganic Thaumaturgy this week, and my professor is such a hard-ass about missing those!”
His lips flattened, and that already too familiar look of displeasure fell across his face.
I was probably going to be seeing that one a lot with the way things were going between us.
“I’m sorry for not making myself clearer, Sage, but you’re no longer enrolled at Umbris University. I withdrew you.”
My whole world felt like it had stopped, and I could hardly breathe. “How… why…”
“I told you,” he said, his voice taking on that slow, clipped, patronizing tone again. “Your previous life is over. I’m afraid you’re never leaving this apartment again.”
Never…
My gut churned, but it wasn’t from heat. I covered my mouth with my hand, leaning over to the wastebasket someone had smartly put next to my bed and began to throw up.
I didn’t know when I’d last eaten, so there was nothing but bile that came up, but I couldn’t stop.
After the fourth time I heaved, the Premier sighed. “A little dramatic, don’t you think?”
I shot him a look of pure spite, surprising both of us with my boldness. “Dramatic? You’ve just handed me a life sentence of house arrest for the crime of being your ‘mate!’”
The alpha in him did not like being challenged.
He got up, his hands balling into fists at his sides.
“You’ll watch your tone with me, Sage. And I don’t understand this, this reluctance, this refusal for what I’m offering.
You’ll stay in a luxurious penthouse apartment where your every whim and desire—”
“My desire is to finish college! My desire is to start my business!” I cried, beginning to detach myself from the equipment.
I winced in pain as I slid the needle out and ripped the tape off my skin, which left the itchy, red patch I knew it would.
His eyes dilated at the smell of blood and I bent my arm, cradling it to my chest as I continued.
“Do you have any idea how hard I’ve worked to get to where I am today?
Before my surgery, I didn’t have the energy to take more than one or two courses at a time, and then I had to take off a whole semester to recover!
I’m three years behind my peers, but I’m damn proud of where I am because I got here despite my defect.
I’m on the dean’s list, for Hecara’s sake! ”
The Premier took a step towards me as I scrambled out of the bed. My knees felt like they might fail at any second, but I didn’t want to show any weakness.
“I don’t care if you’re my mate or the Premier. Neither title gives you the right to lock me up in a tower and throw away the key!”
“Both titles give me the right to do whatever I want!” he bellowed, shaking the walls. I finally crumbled, my legs buckling as I landed on the floor. “You’re the omega, I’m the alpha. What I say goes—end of discussion!”
Blood ran through the crease of my elbow and my lips trembled.
No, I couldn’t cry now. I’d just be proving his point at how pathetically omega I was.
He stepped closer and I turned my head, refusing to look at him. He crouched down, fisted my hair and forced me to do so anyway. “Say it, Sage. Tell me you understand.”
Mate bonds were rare, and I never thought I’d ever have one. At least not with an alpha. But they couldn’t be absolute. I still had some choice. I had options.
“I… I reject you. I reject this bond.”
And then I closed my eyes, waiting for him to strike.
But instead, he let out a mirthless, bone-chilling laugh.
“Oh, Sage. It’s too late for that. I’ve already claimed you.” His fingers grazed the wound he’d left on my neck. “Only powerful magic could undo our bond, and you’re never touching a cauldron again.”
My body shook with rage, with fear, with frustration. A witch’s cauldron was an extension of her soul. Like all witches, I’d received mine on my thirteenth birthday. I’d seasoned it with my own blood, sweat, and tears.
Literally.
“You can’t do that, it’s against Lundarian law to deny a witch…”
“What are you going to do, Sage?” His voice was cold. “No one knows you’re here, and you cannot escape. The whole floor is warded against witch spells, and the only law that matters is my word, and my word says you’re my mate, and you’re staying here. For good.”
I wanted to scream, to go down swinging. To fight him and this mate bond with everything I had.
But he was cutting me off from everything, including my own magic… There was literally nothing I could do.
He was probably just still too hyped up from his rut and all the adrenaline from finding me and almost killing me to think straight, and if I went along with all this, maybe in a few days he’d loosen up, realize he’d overreacted, and let me re-enroll in my classes and get my cauldron.
“I understand,” I whispered.
He then pulled open my arm, running his tongue along the little rivulets of blood before spitting in disgust on the floor. “You taste too much like your donor.”
Like that was my fault?
“I’ll require you a pint of your blood every morning when I return here. And we’ll start you on a daily regimen of Sanguis Vita to ensure you maintain good health.”
I suppressed the urge to gag again. I’d taken Sanguis Vita before, after my surgery. It was a thick, viscous drink that tasted like liver. Even just one week of that crap had been terrible. Now I was supposed to drink it every day?
“Is that all?” I asked, the bitterness in my voice barely masked.
A dark, sinister look took hold of his lips. “Oh no, darling. I’m just getting started.”