Chapter 13
Sometimes I hated leading an entire realm, the pressure that the people put on you, and the expectations that came with it.
However, my main ambition had changed. I was not only protecting the people who lived here, but also the woman of my desires, the goddess that bewitched my soul.
And if it took more effort to ensure her safety and more time to let her recognize our bond, I did not care.
I had her… that was all that mattered. And now that I had tasted her sweet lips, there was no going back.
After the consultation with one of my advisers regarding the safety of the Veil of my kingdom, I could finally pick her up. But the room was empty, she wasn’t there. The jesters at the ballroom door informed me that although they forbade her entry without me, somehow, she got her way in.
This wasn’t a typical fest. It was the Midsummer Masquerade Ball, celebrated every year and the only time when the Veil of my land opened to let people from other kingdoms in.
The main reason for this fest was to initiate a place where everyone could come together, so I could find out about all the current political affairs that were going on behind closed doors.
No one spilled more secrets than drunk goblins and vampires.
As soon as I entered the room, dozens of women were begging for my attention, my eyes however only searching for one.
“You are the prince of King Vad, aren’t you?” A woman with long red hair and blue eyes was gazing at me like she had decided I was going to be her dinner tonight. But there was no other woman who was allowed to taste me tonight, only the one I was so desperate to find.
“Lirella, leave him alone. I saw him first, you already slept with his father,” another woman with purple hair stated bluntly, gripping my arm like she was entitled to breathe the same air as me.
Succubus women.
They were really gorgeous and also very deadly.
Everyone who came from the kingdom of my father was only interested in one thing—wealth.
If I told them that I have been mated to someone else, they wouldn’t even care, as it was part of their existence to lure men and women into bed.
Little did they know that the only woman I craved to have in my bed was not here.
I also wasn’t very keen on drawing too much attention to her tonight. She was mine, and as long as the other kingdoms were still preparing for a possible war, I needed to make sure to cause no extra trouble.
“Ladies, excuse me. I need to declare some things first before I come back,” I told them. The biggest lie ever, but who cared. Soon they will find someone else to screw with.
My gaze wandered around, seeing my brother’s long purple hair as he made out with some man in the corner of the room.
I couldn’t recognize the face behind his purple mask, but his hair was a golden blonde.
He resembled Nathaniel, but I wasn’t sure if he’d ever risk bringing him here, knowing what Dandelion would think of it.
And then my eyes were glued to her.
Only some meters away was she standing, wearing a silver gown with puffy sleeves and an embroidered corset with more glitter than a herd of unicorns together.
I did not have enough time to let her choose a dress, so it became my friend’s task, and it shouldn’t surprise me that he picked out his favorite colors.
My love was an absolute feast for the eyes, the most breathtaking person in this room—and she belonged to me.
“You look like a lost puppy,” I remarked.
She turned around to face me, and I smelled the alcohol on her lips. Only an hour later than I promised to pick her up, and she was already drunk. I was so angry. I had warned her about all the goblin men being here tonight and the vampires that could not wait to get between her legs.
“I’m not lost, I’m having fun,” she responded, and my gaze dropped to her luscious hips, which began to sway with some man I didn’t know. He twirled her around and touched her ass.
“Hey,” I protested. In a second, I gripped this man’s head and forced him to meet my eyes. “If you ever touch a woman that does not belong to you, I will kill you slowly and painfully. Do you understand?” The man nodded and vanished in seconds.
“Oh, how do I look in this dress?” Her question took me by surprise. Didn’t she register that this man just grabbed her ass, and I threatened him with death?
“It’s better not to express out loud what I’m thinking by looking at you.”
“Why?” Gods, this woman was too pure and innocent.
She had no idea why all the men were lusting after her.
Gwendolyn reminded me of the ancient goddess Iele…
untamed, the epitome of grace and wildfire, a creature born to make me beg for more.
She didn’t know how utterly breathtaking she looked in that dress, like a moonlit faerie stepping from heaven just to bring me to my knees.
“Every man is undressing you with his eyes… and I’m one second away from ripping their eyes out for gazing at what is mine. So, unless you want me to fuck you right here on the floor in front of everyone else, you should come with me.”
“If you want me to come with you, you must catch me first.” She grinned and took off running through the crowd.
I was surprised by her playful behavior, as she acted quite guarded and hesitant most of the time.
I wondered how much of the faerie wine she had consumed.
It was better to find her before the side effects would get to her head.
The vampire side of me loved to chase anyway—it was part of our natural instinct to catch and feed.
With her, I never wanted to try it out. As a human she was too vulnerable and fragile… I was afraid that I would crush her.
Although I couldn’t feed from anyone else but her, she carried the only blood I craved.
She ran outside of the ballroom without any sense of direction, fled into the garden and then across the stone pathway right into the Hall of Illusions, a room built like a labyrinth of glass panes and mirrors, creating different reflections to mess with your brain.
Not that we wanted to get mad here, but if any place in Carnivalland was chosen for it, it was probably this house.
Too bad that my little demon had run directly into it without realizing what it entailed.
This place might have been a fun attraction for my people as they enjoyed it for entertainment and laughter. I would only use it for the thrill—to chase her, to catch her and to taste her until she screamed my name.
“Where do you think you are going, sweetheart?” I asked her, a low, playful rumble escaping me.
I could already feel my vampire side enjoying the thrill of this situation.
Due to my heightened hearing abilities, I was able to listen to her heartbeat and her fast breaths that told me exactly where she was.
“Baby, I’ll find you and when I do, you’ll be trapped,” I warned her, hoping she would come to her senses and that there was no chance of running away from me.
It was very quiet. The only sound were my footsteps echoing through the hall as I stepped deeper into the labyrinth to see where this haunting beauty had hidden herself.
“You can’t hide from me forever,” I called out.
I continued following the twisting and turning corridors of the maze, her breaths growing louder and closer with each of my steps.
“You can run, but you can’t hide, love. You’re mine.”
I caught a glimpse of movement in one of the mirrors—she was running straight toward me without realizing.
“Got you,” I said and gripped her waist to spin her around.
“Xavier, stop,” she yelled, and yet laughed. The faerie wine had really gotten to her head.
“I caught you, didn’t I? I’m your pawn, you can’t escape me, my little precious pet.”
“But I was dancing, I was okay...” she explained to me.
“You were dancing like a madman trying to get laid, and then you just ran away like a misbehaving imp.” I tangled my hand in her hair, forcing her gaze to meet mine. I could devour her whole, and it still wouldn’t be enough for me.
I couldn’t control my anger, and I sensed that my eyes were beginning to turn red, so I lifted her up and threw her over my shoulder.
“Let me go, you bastard.” The scream that tore from her sinful lips nearly made me come undone.
I closed my eyes for a second, trying to keep my vampire side in check.
But then she hit me, her small hands striking my back in protest. I gripped her tightly against me, grinning, amused, before I gave her sweet ass a smack.
Because if she was ready to be crying out against me, she’d need to face the consequences of her disobedience.
“You didn’t just do that,” she said, surprised. “Put me down and let me go,” she cried and tried using her arms to escape me.
“When will you ever realize that you can’t leave me… that you are mine?”
I cornered her in a small alcove, her beautiful reflection reflecting off all the mirrors surrounding her. I could barely tear my gaze away—too much beauty. Intense beauty like a blazing sunset with all the different colors in the evening sky.
Her body pressed against mine, and those open, pouty lips made me want to do all sorts of things—all of them sinful. I caressed her face in my hands, her beautiful brown doll eyes roaming over my face. She reduced me to a beast crawling at her feet.
“That was a nice little game, but now I’ve lost my patience, baby. I told you when we met, I will spank that attitude out of you if you do not behave.”
“You… you said it was a fest and that people have fun here. That’s what I was doing, having fun. Should I make myself small and sit sad at the table waiting for you? You did not even pick me up,” she argued, pouting.