Unfortunately, there was nothing within reach I could use to try and break free of my restraint. The closest table was across the room. I groaned in frustration. If I was going to get out of the cuffs, someone was going to have to set me free.
A switch flipped in my brain, suddenly struck with an idea.
“Edith!”
It was a long shot. The beautiful piano melody wasn’t echoing through the manor like before, and there was no telling if she was even here. Maybe she’d gone out to patrol the woods? Maybe she came and went as she pleased? Corvin hadn’t said much about her, but something told me the vampire Lord wasn’t awake yet. She was possibly my only hope.
“Edith!” This time I called louder, my voice reverberating off every surface in the room.
I sighed. If she wasn’t here, I’d have to wait. How long? I had no idea, but I wasn’t looking forward to it. If it was early morning, I’d have to wait until Corvin woke up after sunset.
I was liable to gnaw my own arm off before that, though.
Just as I was about to give up hope, a shadow shifted in the doorway, gently nudging the door open wider. Edith stood therein a floor-length maroon gown, her vibrant hair braided over one shoulder.
“You’re alive,” she said, sounding surprised. “You’re obviously tougher than you look; I thought for sure the Lord had killed you.”
I opened my mouth to argue at the insult, but decided against it. Her opinion of me was irrelevant, as much as mine was of her.
“Where is Corvin?” I blurted, fighting against my aching muscles to sit up and swing my legs off the side of the mattress.
“Sleeping.”
Fair, I’d figured as much.
“What time is it? When will he wake up?” I asked, trying to stay calm even though panic was bubbling beneath my skin.
“The Lord rises at night,” she said, not bothering to move deeper into the room. She lingered next to the doorway, watching me with curious eyes. “We still have a few hours yet.”
“Can you at least take the cuffs off?” I asked, flailing my arm to jingle the restraint obnoxiously. “I swear I won’t try to run; It’s not like I would get far anyway.”
“I’m under strict orders?—”
“Please, Edith,” I begged. I’d already lost every shred of dignity I had; I wasn’t above groveling. “Tell him I picked the lock. Something,anything. I won’t leave your sight.”
She sighed and slowly crossed the room. Relief exploded through me as she produced an old metal key from a pocket in her dress.
“You really are more trouble than you’re worth, you know that, right?” she muttered as she unlocked the cuff. The second my hand was free, I massaged the feeling back into my sore wrist. “If you run, I’ll kill you myself.”
The venom in her voice was enough to squash any thoughts I’d had of running. Besides, as much as I wanted to get out of these woods and back to my boring life, I wanted to see Corvinagain. The more I thought about him, the more I wanted to see him, like the mere idea of him was enough to light my blood on fire.
If I knew where he slept, I would have headed straight there just to see him. I would watch him sleep, admiring his perfect features while I waited. Maybe I’d even crawl in bed with him…
“You’ll feel that way for a couple of days after he feeds on you,” Edith said abruptly, cutting off my thoughts as she stuffed the key back into her pocket. “It’s normal.”
“Excuse me?” I cocked a brow at her. Surely, she hadn’t read my mind. “Like what?”
“Like you want him to fuck your brains out repeatedly,” she said with a straight face. “Like you want to spend every waking second in his bed.”
My eyes grew wide. “I didn’t say… No, I just?—”
“I can smell your pheromones.” The corner of her mouth ticked upward. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
I blanched, hating how right she was. I couldn’t control my libido, couldn’t rein in the feral urges tearing through me. All I could do was stare, knowing that she knew exactly what I was feeling.
“Does he feed on you too?” The question flew out of my mouth before I could stop it. I shouldn’t have cared, but the thought of Corvin fucking his other servants lit a jealous fire in me that I didn’t understand.
Thankfully, she shook her head. “No. Not in many years.”