Page 4 of The Princess's Pet

In the middle of the room stood a grand staircase that the Princess walked towards. I followed her, my head swiveling around as I took in the grandeur of the place, all deep reds, and gold. The Princess walked down corridors and halls, showing she knew them well, before stopping in front of a door, with a Royal guard in midnight-blue uniform—the Princess’s colours.

The guard bowed low before straightening and opening the door. Once again I followed the Princess inside.

The room seemed to be a small house within the mansion. We were greeted with a seating area and table. There were two doors—one was open revealing a large marble bathroom the other was closed.

The sound of the guard closing the heavy door behind us made me jump; my nerves were on edge.

“These are my private quarters here at the Royal Sanguis Academy,” the Princess said, dramatically falling onto the ornate couch in the room. I stayed standing, not knowing what to do, waiting for instruction. She gazed up at me, her arms lazily draped over the back of the couch. “I’m not sure what to do with you,” she spoke, mostly to herself while she seemed to take in my entire form.

She exhaled long and low before leaning slightly forward. “Anything I want, I suppose.” She laughed, and I felt a shiver run down my spine. She could do with me whatever she wanted with me, and Iwas no use to stop her. I felt like I should be terrified as I waited for the Princess to decide exactly what she would do with me.

Her silver eyes glowed in the glum, poorly lit room. The corners of the room were dark shadows where anything could hide. Her ample chest rose and fell softly, her black blouse straining only slightly. She uncrossed and recrossed her legs, encased in fancy black trousers. She breathed in deeply as she leaned forward, her arms leaving the back of the couch.

She raised one arm slowly and called me forward silently with the curve of her finger. I walked towards her, my heart beating loudly in my ears. I stopped when her gesture did, directly before her. She uncrossed her legs this time spreading her knees and pointing to the space on the floor between them. “Kneel,” she commanded, and I cautiously complied falling to my knees between her legs.

She smiled down at me—a smug, the cat that caught the canary, kind of smile—her molten-silver eyes sparkling. She reached out and I flinched. Tutting, she paused slightly before continuing towards me and pushing my sand-coloured hair away from my face and behind my ears.

“Your eyes are an oddity,” she mused, holding my stare. I couldn’t look away as she cupped my cheek. “One yellow, the other blue and they glow a little too,” she almost whispered. “I’ve never seen a mongrel with such expressive eyes before you,” she continued, insulting. “My soul match—how embarrassing you are.” She laughed dryly.

I didn’t respond, but I could feel my frown. A soul match was meant to mean the possibility of the strongest bond one would ever form. A soul match could mean any type of bond: friends, family, romance, but the bond was meant to be exquisite. A bond unbreakable if created, like no other.

It wasn’t destiny as such. You could meet your soul match and never form a bond. There was no instant connection. Only possibility. Great possibility. It meant your soul was entwinedwith another irrevocably, whether anything came of it or not. And that was the problem. My soul was entwined with the Princess’s, and that meant that I could be used against her.

Dark magic could be used through me to affect the Princess. It was why it was the law that all those of lower standing submitted their blood for soul match testing. The Royals and nobility wanted to know if there was someone of lower class walking around—knowingly or unknowingly—with the power to cause them harm. I had never heard of anyone matching with a Royal or noble before, but here I was, on my knees, being called embarrassing by the one person who was meant to, rather could, mean more to me than any other. The insult hurt.

“Have I offended you?” the Princess asked, amused, and she stroked her thumb against my cheek.

“I just thought Ma’am, imagined, that soul matching would be different,” I answered tightly. She hummed, her hand dropping away from my face.

“So did I,” she said calmly. “But here we are. I’ve chosen to keep you alive, so I must keep you close,” she said while once again lifting a hand towards me. This time her hand tangled in my hair and stroked the back of my head. The sensation was foreign but not unpleasant. “You’ll be my personal servant—more like my pet, really—for the rest of your life or however long I can be bothered with you,” she explained, stroking my head and pulling slightly at my scalp. The action was almost soothing, and I struggled not to close my eyes or lean into her touch.

“What does being your servant entail, Ma’am?” I asked, and her fingers stopped combing through my hair. She took a fistful of my hair and pulled my head back to an uncomfortable angle as she stared at me with unreadable eyes.

“Whatever I want it to,” she answered, releasing my hair and smoothing it down after. Her hand moved back to my face, her thumb swiping my cheek once before moving delicately to my neck. Soft fingertips trailed against the skin, pausing and pressinggently against my pulse, causing my pulse to hammer harder and faster at the subtle threat behind those fingers. “I’ll enrol you in servant classes. Sanguis Academy caters to all our needs, and you certainly need etiquette training. When you’re not in class, you will be with me, attending to whatever need I request.” She paused her fingers stilling and her hand softly gripping my neck. The memory of when her hand last encased my throat caused fear to spring forth within me.

She leaned awkwardly forward, her molten-silver eyes glowing, and she pressed her lips against my neck and growled low. After a moment, she inhaled deeply before speaking “Your fear adds a note to your scent that borders on the divine. Though I worry it might spoils your taste.” She hummed against me.

I tried to pull away then, fear spiking, caught in the grasp of a predator. Her hold on my neck increased and her free hand landed roughly on my shoulder, freezing me in place. “Tut, tut, tut, my little pet. Trying to run away from me isn’t very clever,” she chided, speaking softly, and pulling me closer to her until my face was pressed against her neck, and my legs straining on my knees. As she pulled me up, my hands reached forward to brace myself against the couch, my hands at either side of her thighs.

“Stop, please,” I spoke into the quiet as she breathed heavily against my ear, her hand tightening around my neck, not painfully so, but the threat was there. Every part of me wanted to run away, to pull away, but I felt half paralyzed at the same time.

“Shhh,” she hummed against me. I felt her lips part and press wetly against my skin.

She pulled me up further as she leaned back into the couch, and before I knew quite what was happening, she had lifted me, sitting me in her lap, her arms encasing my waist. From this position, I was taller than her, but it only served to give her perfect access to my neck. My hands came up to her shoulders to try and push her away. She growled low, her tongue swiping out against my neck and her hands trapping my wrists, holding them both firmly against my stomach with one of her strong hands.

I cried, words leaving me. She seemed to notice my tears as her warm tongue ran up my face tasting them. “Shhh, pet,” she almost cooed. Her eyes glowed brightly, signalling she was all vampire now, reason left behind and consumed by hunger. “It’s been a long day. I haven’t fed today, and you smell so good,” she said, running her nose from the base of my neck up to the shell of my ear where she unexpectedly bit my earlobe. Her free hand stroked my arm soothingly as she went back to nuzzling my neck. “I won’t hurt you, not really,” she whispered, taking deep breaths through her nose. “I’ll be gentle,” she promised, and then began to pepper small, almost caring kisses against my neck, stopping every so often to nip at my flesh but never actually breaking the skin.

After what felt like a long time of her gentle ministrations against my neck, my heart began to slow, and I started to calm down. Yet my skin was hot everywhere her lips and teeth and tongue touched along my neck. I tried to keep my senses. I tried remembering where I was and what was happening—but it felt good. A moan escaped the Princess’s lips as she sucked against the juncture of my neck, and I hissed in pleasure at the slight pain of my now overly sensitive flesh. And once I thought I’d lost myself completely to her touch, I felt at first just a slight nip, like the almost gentle bites of before, but this bite did not end and only grew harder and heavier.

Almost in a dream-like state, I became aware that her fangs had pierced my skin and I heard as she gulped and swallowed between her moans of pleasure. And though it was indeed painful in a way I had never experienced before, there was also my uncomprehending pleasure as the Princess of vampires drained my blood. I began to feel more disconnected from my body, a cold chill running through me. When panic began to prick the back of my mind, my eyelids had already grown heavy.

2. Waking in a Stranger’s Bed

Light shone brightly against my closed eyelids. I lifted a heavy arm to shield my eyes as they opened groggily. Everything was blurred, and I blinked, trying to clear my eyes of sleep and see better.

“Awake, finally.” I startled, sitting up too fast, my head becoming dizzy at the sound of her voice. My last memories flooded back; my hand reaching for my neck, only to snap away as I hissed at the pain I found there.

Muffled laughter, light and carefree, caught my attention and I looked to my side to see the Princess smiling down at me.

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