Page 38 of Cruel Vampire King

“Maybe you can find some berries?” Thessa suggested.

I forced a smile and nodded. Then I shot a warning look at Kael, but he only shook his head as he traded the fire-rocks for fresh ones, heating the tea some more. Greyson gestured for me to follow him, and I stumbled away. Funny how stiff I was. I hadn’t thought I’d been sitting for that long.

We got to the stream and filled the waterskins. I drank directly from the stream, filling my belly. As I straightened, Greyson stepped up behind me and rested his hands on my hips. I stiffened.

“I know you’re worried. I can help you, Elara. We can blow off some of this tension,” he suggested, his voice low. “It’s not just because you’re here, you know. You’re smart and a goodfighter. You’ve got a lot of spunk, and I admire that. I won’t say that this desire is selfless. I want to distract myself, too. But that doesn’t mean my attraction to you isn’t real.”

“Greyson—”

He spun me around and pressed me into a tree. My heart jumped as I remembered Luken doing just this. Greyson’s dark eyes were eerily similar, dark with lust. But while Luken’s look had been intense, possessive, Greyson’s was… cold in comparison. As though Luken wanted me because he wantedme,but I could be replaced by another woman in Greyson’s eyes.

It was ridiculous. And I didn’t want to wish that it was Luken’s hand on my waist, rather than Greyson’s.

“Why should we deny ourselves the right to comfort, Elara?” he asked, leaning closer. “You keep talking about not wanting to be on the porn websites, but let’s be honest. You’re already on them. We all are. Vampires have no respect for our lives, our modesty, anything. Let me take away your worries, even if it’s only for a little while.”

I was quiet as I stared at him, trying to figure out why I didn’t feel the same way toward him as I did Luken. Greyson was undeniably attractive. He had treated me well and made his attraction plain. He had a likable quality to him, and never acted as though he was better than the rest of us. More than that, he’d offered me sympathy when I told him about my family. He didn’t act as though I owed myself to him.

It was natural for people to act on their urges in these situations. Why not embrace, as Greyson said, what comfort we could get?

The problem was, I didn’t want Greyson to fuck me.

Maybe I’d held onto my virginity too long. Perhaps I’d built it up in my head to something that was just too precious. Maybe it was because Greyson would fuck me. We wouldn’t have sex; it wouldn’t even be us fucking each other. It would just be him doing it.

On the other hand, if Luken had come into the forest to demand what was between Greyson and me before, maybe this was the best way to get his attention now.

“I… don’t know,” I said slowly, hesitating on the lie. Was it really fair to Greyson to lead him on? “I think if you really want it, you should ask Ysara.”

“I don’t want Ysara. I want you, Elara.” Greyson moved closer. The heat of his body was markedly different from the coolness of Luken.

I put my hand on his chest, bringing a stop. “Let me think about it. With everything else that’s happened, I don’t know if I can give you a proper answer right now.”

“Just say yes,” he urged. “What do you have to think about?”

He leaned forward to kiss me. I slipped out from under his arm and backed away, frowning at him.

“I told you I have to think. So just accept that, okay?” I snapped.

Greyson’s mouth twisted. “We don’t have much time. We’ll make it to the colosseum soon enough.”

“Don’t wait for me,” I told him. “If you need to be close to someone to feel comfort—”

“I already told you, I don’t want Ysara. What’s wrong with me? Why don’t you want me?” he demanded, his hands clenching into fists.

I didn’t answer. I turned and headed back the way we’d come, his question lingering in my mind. Why didn’t I want him? I wished I did. But I had a feeling that the reason was a pair of glowing amber eyes that wouldn’t leave me alone.

Chapter 15

Marissa came for me again that night. Thessa was sleeping soundly, and Ysara took watch. When I kept tossing and turning, she finally shoved the empty waterskins at me—we’d had to use them up again to make more tea for Thessa’s pain management—and told me to go fill them up. Shortly after I’d left our camp, Marissa’s silver eyes lit the darkness.

“They’re going to be suspicious,” I said as Marissa scooped me into her arms.

“Maybe,” she answered non-committedly. The darkness blurred by us, but she moved slower this time than previously. “He didn’t do it, you know.”

I frowned. Her face was bathed in the light from her eyes, but I couldn’t read her. “What?”

“Luken didn’t kill your family.”

My whole body tensed. I wanted to ask her what she meant, but I locked it down. Lies. She was lying, to make me soften toward the vampire king. He’d put her up to it.

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