CHAPTER 8
DANI AWOKE TO FIND the first pale hints of dawn streaming softly through her curtains. Yawning, she stretched beneath the covers. She felt tired, and deliciously sore, the memory of Alexander’s need as he’d taken from her the previous night stirring something warm and hungry in her belly.
But when she turned over, the other half of the bed was cold.
Sitting up entirely too quickly, she was forced to grip the edge of the mattress for support when stars sparkled before her eyes.
The covers lay rumpled where Alex had slept beside her throughout the night… or at least, she thought he had.
Had she just imagined the prince getting into her bed after feeding from her throat for the last time? It had all been so hazy.
She was nearly to the door when she saw the note that had been left folded neatly atop her dresser.
Heart pounding, she snatched it up.
Daniela,
I rather loved watching the sun come up outside your window while you slept on my chest, surrounded by all of the things you hold dearest in the world. (You snore, by the way, but very softly, much like your cat. I confess, it was rather adorable, and I couldn’t think of waking you.)
I’m afraid the gilded cage I grew up in has always been one where it was safest to conceal the things that were precious to me, lest they be destroyed out of spite, and so my room at the castle looks very different from yours.
But I loved imagining you here as a girl while you and your father talked about books, or trying on a sweater knitted for you by your mother from yarn she chose at the market.
My mother and I were very close before she passed. She was once a sanguine, like you.
I fear I was far too greedy in taking from your vein last night. It seems I can’t control myself when it comes to you. Deepest apologies for sneaking out, but I thought one of us should put that saucepan to good use for something besides braining wayward princes, so breakfast it is.
Yours, Alexander
Going over to the mirror, she touched the bite marks he’d left at her throat. She knew the tiny twin punctures would fade, and yet part of her didn’t want them to. Even if she was nothing more than his sanguine, a blood thrall, she wanted this small, lingering measure that marked her as his.
Pressing the note to her chest, she tucked it into her writing notebook and went to collect her things for the shower.
When she padded out into the kitchen a short while later, she found Alexander at the stove flipping pancakes. Henri leaned against the counter, feeding Cinder scraps of bacon while Ava held her like a baby.
“There will be no living with her after this.” Evan went to the kettle to pour a fresh mug of peppermint tea. “I’m sure she’ll turn her nose up the next time we toss her out the window and expect her to hunt for rats for her breakfast.”
Dani twisted her wet hair into a knot on top of her head, bending to kiss Cinder’s forehead, then Ava’s. “Don’t ever lose your taste for rats.”
“Please tell me that was directed at Our Supreme Overlord,” Ava deadpanned, setting Cinder down as Alex brought the pancakes to the table. “And must we talk of something vile at every breakfast, like Evan’s ten different ways to stab an attacker?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Evan mused, reaching for the sugar-free syrup. “That’s rather useful information, I should think.”
“At least the power’s back on.” Dani juggled the bowl of scrambled eggs and the plate of sausage. “Last time, it was two days.”
“Allow me.” Alex reached to take the heavy dishes from her. “How are you feeling?” he added softly, where only she could hear. “You were out cold for most of the night.”
“And snoring, apparently. At least, according to a certain note I received.”
“I said cute kitten snores.”
“Are princes no longer taught to be charming?” She narrowed her eyes.
“I believe the current syllabus puts more of a focus on glowering rakishly.” He set the food on the table.
“A pity.” But she bit back a smile as he pulled out her chair, bending to press a kiss to the spot on her throat where he’d bitten her the night before.
She caught Evan frowning from across the table. When their eyes met, her sister looked away. Dani shook out her napkin with a bit more force than necessary, then stabbed a pancake.
“So, you accompany Prince Alexander everywhere?” Ava asked Henri over a plate of pancakes and eggs.
“Except when I’m getting clocked with a saucepan,” Alex pointed a piece of bacon at her.
Ava giggled.
“You seemed to have survived your two highly trained assassins, Your Highness,” Henri said dryly. “And for the record, I believed the greater threat would come from outside which was why I remained posted in the hall.”
“There’s a citywide lockdown in effect until noon except for essential workers,” Evan said, reading on her phone. “They’re still rounding people up.”
“I heard the wall was breached at one of the military checkpoints,” Henri said. “People were saying wolf shifters were able to get into the city shortly before the riots started. They may have been the ones to detonate the first explosions.”
“On my way home yesterday, I was almost sure I saw a group of shifters,” Dani said quietly. “It was at a distance, but they seemed to be—”
Evan dropped her knife with a clatter, causing everyone to jump. Cinder streaked into the other room in a blur of gray fur.
“Sorry. How clumsy of me.”
She glared across the table at Dani in silent warning.
Alex cleared his throat. “We should get back before we’re missed.”
He and Henri stood, starting to help clear their plates, but Evan waved them off. “That’s probably for the best.”
Dani glared. Clearly, Evan didn’t like Alexander. Message received. But did she have to make this situation harder on her than it had to be? Henri materialized away in a swirl of smoke, giving them a moment to say goodbye alone.
Her heart began to pound, a dull, shaky ache. She’d known this was coming, had known from the first flare of attraction between them, when he’d been Zander, then the prince who’d purchased her, and finally simply Alex, that in no world, would he ever be hers to keep.
And still, every time she watched him walk away from her, knowing this time might very well be the last, it was like a fresh blade stabbing through her heart.
Grabbing Alex’s hand, she dragged him back to her bedroom, closing the door behind them before Evan could see her cry.
“I didn’t mean to cause trouble with your sisters.”
“You didn’t.” She swiped at her eyes, ashamed when hot tears began to fall.
“Evan is just being Evan. She’s trying to protect me from getting hurt.
” She wrapped her arms around herself. “I hate feeling this way. I don’t want to care about what happens next.
We were always supposed to go back to our normal lives.
Problem solved. So why does this hurt so much? ”
He traced her face. “It is taking everything within me to return to the palace, not because it is the life I want, or would choose, but because I know that if I don’t, the consequences for you, and for all the people I care about, will be devastating.”
“I’m afraid you’re going to walk out that door, and I’m never going to see you again.” She blinked back tears. “Or worse, that I’ll scroll through the media feeds later today only to see a royal engagement announcement.”
“I’m so sorry to have inadvertently hurt you.” He pulled her into his arms, softly tracing the back of her neck. “All I ever intended that night at the auction house was to keep you safe.”
“I know that. And I know what I’m saying is unfair. We agreed anything between us could only ever be temporary. I know we can’t be together. I’m not trying to make this harder on you.”
“You aren’t.” He kissed her very softly, cupping the back of her neck.
“Or rather, you are, but I would rather know that I’m not the only one who feels absolutely wretched inside right now.
I can’t tell you what happens next. Only that last night, what we shared, was very special to me.
” He caressed the mark left by his fangs with the edge of one thumb, and she felt a shiver skate up her spine.
“I’m so sorry for a thousand things, but most of all, for hurting you. ”
Her heart pounded at the fierce possessiveness and want in his eyes. The invisible link tethering them pulled tighter with every pass of his thumb over the vein at her throat.
So why did it also feel like goodbye?
She had to stop doing this, had to stop waiting for him to text, for him to decide what happened to them. He had never set out to hurt her. She’d simply fallen in love with a fairy tale that could never be hers. This was her fault for daring to hope.
Alexander Visconti was going back to his real life, back to Lara.
They would announce their engagement. She’d always known she could only have him for a single night.
No strings. No regrets. She hadn’t sought out to ensnare a prince, only to find a way to pay for her sister’s costly medical treatment.
So why was this breaking her heart?
“I’ll be fine,” she said firmly, stepping away. She needed to put physical space between them, had to find a way to wall off her heart. “I’m just tired. You should probably go now.”
“Of course.” He hesitated, and when she looked away, tears stinging her eyes, shook his head. “Daniela—”
“Please just go.”
“As you wish.” And then, with a swirl of smoke, he was gone.
She sagged against the door, wiping her eyes on her sleeve.
That was when she noticed the bruise on her wrist. The smudgy mark that had been there the day before, appearing at the spot Alex had first fed from her, looked far worse in the bright early-morning light, the edges of the bruise somehow sharper.
She touched her neck, and hurried over to the mirror, but could only find two faint fang marks at her throat. No bruising.
Was it possible her wrist looked so bad because the veins were smaller?