Page 68 of Their Blood Queen

Elite families think I haven’t noticed that they’ve kept the best for themselves. That seems to be a new trend the members of my city are doing, and they think they’re getting away with it.

They’re not. I’m just waiting to see if this works to my benefit. All I care about is that my city is successful. Leaving the humans to find new and creative ways to accomplish the ultimate goal has often surprised us.

Even if I hadn’t been watching the Rinholds too heavily, I do know a thing or two about Duke Nightingale, Scarlett’s father. His escalation across sectors is due to keeping additional selections for himself for bribes.

But that’s what brought Scarlett to me in the first place. Without her desperate prayer, I wouldn’t have had the pleasure of finding her.

I watch her as she goes through the motions, but I recognize trained reactions when I see them.

Her mind is elsewhere.

When she looks directly at me, I go still.

I’m not sure if she can see me. She shouldn’t be able to, but she presses her hand to her stomach and looks away a moment later.

The Earl leans in and whispers something in her ear. I should be able to hear him, but Scarlett seems to have cut me off somehow. I can only guess what he might have said as he leaves her in the custody of Elite females of similar station. One of them must be a younger sister because she’s a more petite version of her mother. Beautiful, but there’s an innocence to her that Duchess Rinhold lost a long time ago.

Scarlett outshines them all and looks pleasant enough, but I suspect she wishes to be anywhere else.

My gaze tracks the Earl, though, as he continues his rounds without Scarlett. He smiles when eligible Ladies flirt with him, no doubt trying to win his affection. A courtship might be binding, but it isn’t permanent. Not until it has reached a conclusion.

When a female whispers something in his ear, then slinks out of the room, I raise a brow. Earl Rinhold pretends not to have heard her, but he’s gone completely stiff.

I know he’s going to follow her.

This might be my chance.

“Would you like me to track him?” Bernard asks. He’s watching the Earl just as intently as I am.

“No,” I immediately decide aloud. The growl still rips through my voice as I utter the word, but I allow my beast that much. I share his anger. “Stay with Scarlett.”

I cloak myself in nightmares as I follow the Earl, who predictably retreats from the ballroom and into a dark hallway.

Darkness is where I live.

And darkness is where you will die, Earl Rinhold, should you cross a line.

CHAPTER 17

CAGE

“There has to be something in here,” I grumble as I swat away centuries’ worth of cobwebs. Navigating the underground archives of the Sanguinis Palace is grueling work.

Dangerous, too, given the fact that I’m a sworn enemy of the royal family.

My family is no less royal, if I’m being fair. Royalty is determined by the blessings from our God. Whoever is the strongest takes the throne. When it comes to the Van Drakken and Sanguinis bloodlines, we both have different strengths that make us comparable.

I was always taught that Strigoi like Sabre are pompous weaklings not suited to the throne. But after trying to kill him and losing, only to be on the blade-end of his mercy, I have learned that strength is not always about physical prowess.

Sabre is smart. Incredibly smart. And passionate. That’s why I fell for him and why I can’t allow him to go through with the asinine plan our families have for each other.

He’s stronger than my entire family put together. He’s a Prince, yet he’s been the one giving enough power to the throne to keep the blood fields functioning.

Fuck them all, I growl inside my head.

No, my father is wrong about Sabre. He’s wrong about everything. The Sanguinis family is no less powerful than we are.

But he doesn’t see it that way. It’s not black and white enough; therefore, he refuses to acknowledge it.

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