Page 39 of Cruel Vampire King

“He didn’t,” she said, her voice softer now. “If you ask him, he’ll tell you. But he isn’t going to bring it up. He’s looking into who really did it, so he can present their heads to you. He didn’t kill them.”

I locked my jaw and didn’t answer. After it became apparent that I wouldn’t say anything else, Marissa sped up. The rushing wind made conversation impossible after that. She set me down at the edge of a cobble-paved path that had solar lights strung up along the edges.

“He’ll be waiting for you,” she said and took a seat on a nearby fallen log.

I frowned at her as she pulled out a book that was tucked into her waistband. But I was here. So now was my chance. I took a deep breath and trotted along the cobblestone path. The ash trees opened up to reveal a large pool. A few picnic tables were set up on a large, flat area near the pool. As I approached, the scent of minerals and sulfur clung to the air. Steam rose from the water, and an unexpected shiver of delight ran down my spine.

A hot springs.

“Elara.”

Even his voice made goosebumps break out over my arms. I swallowed hard as I turned toward where Luken strode toward me. He was dressed in a tunic and pants that would have been in style two hundred years ago. A sword was belted around his waist on one side, several throwing stars were secured on the other, and a dagger in his boot. His hair was loose tonight, wafting in the wind. The pools were lit by several tall floodlights which set a silver gleam to his dark hair.

Looking at him, being close to him, erupted everything I didn’t feel with Greyson just hours before. I clenched my hands, despairing at myself. Even now. It was unbelievable.

Well, at least I know it’s not just because I’m horny,I thought wryly.

“Join me in the water,” he said, his eyes not leaving mine as he unbuckled his belt.

I backed up a step, my mouth going dry. “Here?”

Luken laughed as he dropped his weapons near a large rock, then peeled off his shirt. “Here. At a hot springs. Come in; you’ll enjoy the water.”

He stripped off his pants and dropped them with the rest of his clothes. The planes of his body were laid bare, gleaming under the floodlights. He was beautiful, all sinew and muscle. My gaze dropped to his thick cock. It lay placid and just as big as I imagined between his legs. I expected him to take it in hand or tell me to come kneel in front of him, but he slid into the hot springs and waded until he was waist-deep, then turned back to me. An inviting smile played at his lips.

“Come,” he called, waving his hand toward me.

I eyed the weapons he left near the rock. Could I get to them before he did? If he was even half as fast as Marissa, that was a no.

He wasn’t going to stay patient. And if I had a chance to trade my blood and body for Thessa…What will happen to Darcie?

I undressed, trying to move swiftly, but my hands were clumsy as the heat at seeing Luken’s naked form was doused by reality. I shrugged out of the garments, stiffened by sweat and blood and dirt, and headed for the springs. I didn’t look at Luken, didn’t want to see his reaction to my naked body. Or the scars.

They wound from my face, down across my neck and then wrapped in a wave around my torso. The underside of my left breast had been thickened with the burn scars, all the way to the edge of my nipple. The other breast had been spared, but the scars continued, marring my stomach and then wrapping around to my ass. My right butt cheek had been completely destroyed by the fire. It was only through extensive surgery and physical therapy that I could walk now. Both my legs were covered in scars as well, but these were more from the surgeries, the skin grafts rather than the fire itself.

I quickly got deep enough into the water that I could dunk to my shoulders, hiding my body from view. Only then did I look up at Luken. His gaze was serious but I didn’t allow myself to read into his expression.

“Why do you keep bringing me to you?” I asked.

“Because I've wanted you by my side from the moment I saw you four years ago.” He crouched in the water as well, the steam obscuring his face. “When I thought you were dead… I can’t tell you the feelings that went through me. After my mother died, I thought there was no one else in this world I would grieve. Until you. I could have destroyed myself after I heard what happened.”

His voice was low, rough. In anyone else, I’d believe him without question. A strange point of light burned in the center of my chest. On the one hand, it nearly made me smile to hear that my supposed death hurt him so much.

On the other, it made me want to crow. At least the attack on my family backfired on him in some way.

That being said, he was probably exaggerating his distress.

“As the king, I face threats to my throne,” he continued, not looking at me. He sighed, dipping his head back to submerge his long, loose hair. From my vantage, I saw it spread around him. My fingers itched with the desire to go and touch it, to see if it would be as soft as I thought. “I don’t have many people I can trust. Even my own half-brother betrayed me.”

“Brother?” I repeated.

I hadn’t heard that he had any family. With vampires being the way they were, though, I supposed it wasn’t really that surprising. It’d be more surprising if Luken didn’t haveany siblings… My mind flashed to Marissa. They didn’t look anything alike, but could she be a sister?

Or a daughter?

But she’d said that he was like a cousin to her. If their relationship was any closer than that, surely she wouldn’t have chosen that descriptor?

“My father had a dalliance with an elf after my mother’s death,” Luken said, his tone clearly disapproving. “He fathered my half-brother in the… arrangement. I disliked how quickly my father moved on, but I never used that against my brother. I thought that we were close. Friends, even. Until he tried to coup me twenty or so years ago.”

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