Chapter 49 Roman #2
A low growl rumbled in my chest. “I am not weak, I am—”
“You are afraid of losing her and the dragon. That makes you weak. And vulnerable. And scared,” she snapped.
“I am none of those things.”
“You are all of those things!” In a blink, she was standing on the bench in front of me, squeezing my chin. Her long fingernails dug in until it hurt. “And you came here, offering me a pure-blooded fae in the hopes that I would clean up your mess once again.”
“I am not asking you to clean up anything,” I pushed out. Grabbing her hand, I yanked it away.
She clucked her tongue at me as a feral grin crossed her face. “The Ancients have grown tired of you, Roman. They don’t think you have the power to hold this city anymore, and they are willing to let the dice fall where they may.”
Not good. So not good. “But are you?” I asked lightly, a silent plea in my words.
“Are you willing to sit by and watch them destroy all that I have built here? The shipping ports I’ve secured.
The legislative seats I’ve funded. Everything I’ve done to ensure that our kind can move about freely in a city that once wanted to burn us all at the stake.
Are you really willing to give that all up?
” My palms started to sweat as I waited for her response, and I hated that.
“Cities rise and fall all the time, Roman.” She stepped backward onto the bed and gently lowered herself to the mattress again. “You’ll run another city somewhere someday.”
“I will not give up so easily,” I growled.
“No?” she cooed, taunting me.
“No, I will not. You did not turn me only to have me fail. I am ruthless and smart, and all I need from you is your word that you will not interfere.”
Her head snapped up as those words left my mouth. “You don’t want my help?” I swear I sensed a tiny bit of disappointment edging her words.
“I don’t want you to intervene. Not until it’s over.”
She threw back her head and laughed. “So, you do want me to clean up your mess.”
“The Ancients decided to involve the humans. You brought those humans into my home and let the coven demand legal action.”
“We don’t control the coven, Roman. You know that.”
“But you didn’t stop them. You all sat back and waited for them to make a move on me.
On my city. Without doing a goddamned thing!
” I was furious, especially as everything seemed to snap into place.
That’s what Aiden and I were doing all evening—trying to figure out how and why the coven had gotten so far ahead without us knowing about it.
We had a few scenarios, but Sorinah just confirmed the one we hoped wasn’t true.
“Don’t you dare raise your voice to me,” Sorinah growled. “You forget who you are speaking to.”
I took a deep breath. “I didn’t forget, Sorinah. And I am hopeful you won’t forget all that we’ve shared either.”
She leaned to the side to gaze at Aiden and then sighed. “Fine. You make some good points.”
“Stay out of this fight and let my house handle this,” I stated. “Tell the Ancients that you are monitoring the situation and that you will only intervene if absolutely necessary.”
“As in when you’re dead?” she asked wickedly.
“As in running damaging control. The witches got the humans intertwined in all of this, and there will be backlash for it.” The vampires running cities across the world often used each other to wipe memories or reshape the narrative.
That was all I wanted Sorinah to agree to should those services be needed.
“And in exchange?” she asked after several moments passed.
“You can have some of my blood,” Aiden said, stepping forward and smiling down at her. “I hear you like to collect the unusual.”
She scoffed but I could smell her desire growing. Sorinah loved having things no one else did. And fae blood? Well, that would give her a lot of leverage amongst the most powerful of our kind. “I have a bottle of fae blood in my cellar.”
“But I bet you don’t have royal blood, do you?” Aiden continued to suck her into his web. He was too damn good at this.
“Royal blood?” she asked, pushing up to her knees and sucking on her bottom lip.
“Sorinah,” I said dramatically. “Let me introduce you to the Prince of the Forest Court.”
“A prince,” she whispered, her body nearly vibrating with excitement. “I don’t believe anyone else has that. Let me taste.” Wiggling her fingers, she beckoned Aiden to her side.
I sensed his hesitation and gave him a slight nod. We knew she would want a sample first, we just hoped she’d be able to stop herself. Fae blood was so… pure and delightful, my kind sometimes couldn’t resist taking too much.
Aiden crawled onto the bed and pulled up his sleeve, only to have Sorinah push his wrist away. “Not the arm.”
Knowing what she meant, Aiden removed his tie, unbuttoned his shirt, and pulled his jacket off his left shoulder.
Before he could brush his hair out of the way, Sorinah attacked.
She jumped into his lap and sank her fangs into his neck.
Aiden moaned with pleasure as she pulled his life force out of him.
Her hips rocked against his, in time with each long sucking sound she made.
The noises were unnecessary, and she knew that.
She only did it to get a rise out of me.
I watched carefully with clenched fists, being sure she wasn’t getting frenzied. But no sooner had I had that thought than she pulled away from Aiden’s neck and bent backward to smile at me. “He really is royalty,” she purred, her eyes completely black with pleasure.
“Do we have a deal?” I grumbled, doing my best not to show her how much the smell of Aiden’s blood called to my darkest desires. I’d been fighting that craving for a very long time, but it was still hard to resist.
She licked her lips and then lapped up the wound in Aiden’s neck. He leaned back onto the pillows, a smile on his face as the vampire pheromones from her bite raced through him. I could see his erection poking against the zipper and I immediately pulled my eyes away to focus on Sorinah again.
“Two bottles,” she countered.
“He doesn’t have enough blood for that.”
“One today and one tomorrow.”
“No, tonight is it. One bottle of the finest royal fae blood in exchange for your silent support.”
Sorinah sighed and crawled off the bed. Moving to stand before me, she popped out her fangs and ran one of them across her palm. I did the same and we shook. A blood promise.
"Deal," she finally said once she grabbed my hand and I loosed a breath.
One part of my plan was complete.
Now I hoped Dorian, Katarina, and Blaise could convince the wicked Voodoo Pack to support my claim to the city. Because if they didn’t, I feared not all of us would make it out of this challenge alive.