Page 16 of The Reluctant Heir

Kaine stops in the middle of the corridor and turns to face me. His jaw is tight and his eyes are hooded as he looks at me. “I know that you were the one to make Lucien disappear.”

“Wh-wh-what?” I manage to choke out.

He growls in my face like an angry wolf shifter. “And when my king finds evidence of your wrongdoings, I will deal with you.”

I stand there in complete shock. “I didn’t even know I had a brother before my father came to get me a couple of days ago. You’ve read me wrong. I didn’t have anything to do with Lucien disappearing.”

Kaine takes a menacing step forward. “I don’t believe you.”

I stand there and stare into Kaine’s glacier blue eyes, not knowing what to say or do. He looks at me for a moment longerbefore he faces forward again. He puts his hand on the small of my back to urge me forward and I allow him to lead me. No matter how we feel about one another, my dad gave him a command. He has to show me the ropes and teach me about vampire politics.

This is going to be a miserable few days, I can already tell.

“Are you sure somebody else can’t help me?” I ask tentatively, carefully keeping my eyes on the hallway ahead of us so I can’t see his glower. “My dad would understand if you’re too upset over Lucien’s disappearance.”

He snorts. “As if you haven’t already killed him.”

I stop abruptly and turn to him. “Whywould I want to kill my brother?”

He lifts one eyebrow as he boldly stares back. “You wanted to be heir. The quickest way to achieve that was to get rid of the competition.”

“I don’t want to be heir,” I protest. “I was content to work for my grandfather and live in my small apartment. I didn’t even know I had any brothers until my dad showed up the night before last and asked me to come with him. I even turned him down at first because I don’t want to be heir.”

“Your grandfather…” his voice trails off. “King Bennett?”

I nod, confirming.

He crosses his arms over his chest. “What did you do for him?”

My cheeks turn bright red. “Just whatever he needed.”

Which was most of the time just fetching food, and coffee, and taking notes. But Kaine doesn’t need to know that.

“You had a lot of cousins between you and your grandfather’s throne,” Kaine says, still eying me suspiciously.

“Every time my aunt and uncle had another baby, I celebrated the fact that there was one more person between me and the throne.” I don’t break eye contact as I tell him the truth.“I hate politics. And I might not know much about vampires, but I do know you have excellent hearing. You can tell if I’m lying by listening to my heartbeat.”

He shakes his head. “Anybody can learn how to mask it. For all I know, you’ve been training for this your whole life. Maybe you’re a pathological liar as well as a murderer.”

I roll my eyes, walking forward again. “Let’s get this training session over with. Teach me about vampires or whatever.”

Kaine paces beside me. “I thought succubi were supposed to be charming.”

“They are. I’m a hybrid, remember? That particular trait skipped me.” I cross my arms over my chest, hoping he’ll drop the subject. “I am well aware of the fact that I’m not charming or attractive. So can we skip the lectures about my lack of typical succubi beauty and focus on vampires?”

“I didn’t say you were unattractive. Whoever told you that lied.”

I turn my head to him and raise an eyebrow. “Careful, Kaine. That sounded an awful lot like a compliment. You wouldn’t want to compliment a serial killer, would you?”

He huffs. “You’re annoying.”

I put a hand to my chest and bat my eyelashes at him. “Now you’re flirting. How sweet. I’m flattered.”

He ignores me as he opens the door to a room and motions for me to walk inside first.

The room is large with two wooden desks sitting side by side with just enough space to walk between them. The back wall is lined with bookshelves that are full of thick, leather bound books. Something tells me those books aren’t the entertaining kind.

“Let’s start with the basics. What do you know about vampire politics?” Kaine slides into a chair across from me.

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