Page 1 of Blood On His Lips

ChapterOne

I will comefor you soon.

It was a threat wrapped in a promise. A lingering richness of chocolate on my tongue mingled with the memory of blood. When the Prince said ‘I will come for you soon’, he meant,‘Think of me. Want me. Touch yourself at night imagining what I can do to you.’

‘And when I come for you. . .run, so I may hunt.’

I walked through Prince Renaud’s gardens unescorted, the ghosts of blue and black roses mocking the edges of my vision, an incongruous lavender fragrance invading my nostrils and destroying my attempt to calm my rattled nerves.

This entire evening had been a disaster.

Three weeks ago, the initial domino I’d accidentally knocked over five years prior had finally rippled through and destroyed the set. The Prince of Everenne was awake, and upon waking, he had moved swiftly to crush the centuries-long feud between our Houses, Faronne and Montague.

And as we reeled in shock, he’d done something else.

Staked a claim. On me. The daughter of his House’s enemy.

Tonight, I’d come to him for our first. . .date.

I grimaced.

Date seemed too juvenile, too human a word to describe the invisible web Prince Renaud Gauthier was weaving around me.

I felt like I’d just barely escaped with my life—and my virtue. Such as it was.

Numair and Juliette met me in the white courtyard. They wore their off-duty uniforms, unmarked with any insignia to identify our House, if one ignored the fact the clothing was all in a midnight cobalt. Trousers, molded leather chest plate under loose suit jackets, and practical shoes. Of course, visibly bristling with weapons ruined the half-hearted attempt to look like civilians.

Juliette’s expression hardened as soon as she saw my face—and my neck. “Aerinne.What the fuck?”

My maternal cousin’s blue eyes snapped with fury, her fine boned face paling. Her blonde hair was drawn back in a ruthless braid and concealed at least one extra blade.

No one would think we were related, despite similarities in height and bone structure. My father’s Kikuyu genes had darkened my skin to bronze, my eyes to brown shading into green, my hair to a dark, curled mass down my back. But we were both daughters of Faronne, though she was knight and I was Lady.

I touched my fingertips to the bruise, the tiny punctures where Renaud had taken my blood and left behind a clear brand and met Numair’s gaze, my expression shuttered. His hazel eyes glowed with anger, lips thinning, his brown hair tousled like he’d spent the last several hours tugging at it. His worry was justified.

“What happened?” he asked.

He wasn’t a cousin—one of the few non-related knights who served as my personal protection—but we’d grown up together all the same.

My heart ached for a second, because once, Lavendre would have been on my detail with them. But Juliette’s older sister had been captured by Montague years ago and only recently been released. By the Prince, as a bribe to accept his date.

“We’ll talk on the way home,” I said, stalling for more time to decidewhatto talk about.

For instance, Prince Renaud’s claim, and the danger of an Old One’s fixation. A danger which drew a deep-seated frisson of thrill from my center. I ignored it. I refused to analyze the hidden part of me that had wanted him to take my blood—to take me. The part that craved to savagely conquer his blood and body in return.

Obviously, I was unwell.

“You look like a wild animal tried to tear your throat out,” Juliette snapped.

“That’s an exaggeration,” I said. “Surely.”

“Not by much,” Numair said, shoulders stiff. “What was he trying to do?”

“Make a point. Our conversation became heated.” The bruise was the least of my problems, not with two Vows twining around my neck.

Vow #1: Kill Renaud or die trying.

Our first meeting. . .hadn’t gone as expected. I wastryingto learn to control my well-developed Faronnesse impulse to attack first and wince later.

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