Page 40 of Queen of Vampire Hearts

Erik slapped me on the back, and the two of us strode side-by-side into the throne room. I couldn’t hide my wince when I saw the empty throne beside mine, and I knew that Erik had noticed when he said, “So, tell me about her.”

I gestured him into my office and closed the door behind him. This was where I preferred to hold my more intimate meetings. It was one of the few modernized rooms in the entire castle. It had been a forced upgrade as I clung to the ways of the past as much as possible. I despised technology, truly anything that I couldn’t wrap my head around. WiFi? Social Media? Pass. What was wrong with sending a letter?

“Well, as much as it pains me to admit this, Erik, you were right. The woman on Tír nAill was my mate.” I grimaced at the look on the lycan’s face and the bitter taste left in my mouth at uttering the wordsyou were rightto another. People usually said thatto me.

I poured us each a drink from the sideboard, vodka for me, brandy for Erik. Erik took the glass, and we toasted in solidarity. He sat in a chair before the desk while I took the one behind it.

When had Erik become a friend? He understood the burdens of being king, how every move you made needed to keep an entirespeciesalive.Immortal regents had made the wrong choices in the past and been reduced to figments of myth and imagination, wiped from all realms. The power some of those kings and queens once held boggled the mind, but still, they were decimated.

Erik took a bracing sip of the brandy and let out a refreshing breath. He leaned back in the chair, his bright blue eyes scanning me. I shifted uncomfortably before catching myself. All the control I usually had over my emotions, actions, evenbreathswas gone. His lips twitched into a smirk, and my fists clenched. “Did you catch her name this time?”

My eyes narrowed on my old friend, picturing how fantastic he would look without a head. “Wait until it’s your turn, my friend. You’ll fuck it up even worse.”

Erik raised a tawny eyebrow. “Is that even possible?”

I hissed at him, my grip tightening on my glass, tempted to throw it at the chuckling werewolf. Instead, I sighed and swirled the vodka, watching as it hit the sides of the crystal, letting the hypnotic rhythm lull me into some kind of calm. “Her name is Phoebe, and she’s a witch.”

Erik’s surprise resonated between us. Matings outside of species were rare and often fraught with problems. I looked up as Erik slowly set his glass on the desk. Erik had dealt with the spell casters in the past. They came in handy when his wolves turned in public. The Witches Council was excellent at wiping memories and altering the perceptions of mortals. I relied on my fearsome reputation to keep my vampires in line. That, and myotherprojects.

“A witch? No wonder you look so fucking miserable. What bloodline?” Erik inquired.

Fuck, I didn’t know.

“What does it matter? Her name is Silvano now,” I snapped. A witch’s bloodline was everything, each specializing in a single form of magic. I couldn’t pin down a single magic she seemed to favor. She’d used a shield in the alley of New Orleans, battle magic when the vampires first appeared, and then her rift. Then I’d bound her. She had so many secrets.

At Erik’s penetrating stare, my eyes darted away, and I pinched my nose. “She can create and close rifts.” The wolf’s gasp of shock kept my eyes down as I continued, heat burning its way up the back of my neck. “I…I bound her powers to keep her from running.”

There was a litany of curses from the lycan so foul that even my head came up in surprise.

“You know what that does to a witch!” he hissed, standing and slamming his hands down on the desk between us.

I stood in response, my mouth opening and closing, trying to find something that could explain my actions. I came up short because I knew there was no excuse. Instead, my desperation colored my words. “Rifts, Erik! At will! I could turn my back, and she could be in Etrebeus!”

Etrebeus was the realm of darkness from which all shadows originated. It was home to the Erinyes, female spirits of vengeance with shadow wings. They were the judge, jury, and executioner for immortals they perceived were escaping justice. It was a plane no one ever escaped from.

Erik winced, sitting back in his chair again, running a hand down his face. “Are you sure she would run?”

“Yes,” I answered resolutely, falling back into my chair, glaring up at the ceiling. She hated me and wanted to run. She didn’t trust me to protect her.“Phoebe makes no secret of her plans to escape.”

I threaded my fingers through my hair, tempted to rip the strands from the roots. I rolled my head to the side and dropped my hands uselessly, looking back at Erik. The lycan stood, refilling both our glasses, holding mine out for me to take. I barely felt the glass between my fingers. When had I finished mine?

“I’m just so fuckinglostwith her, Erik. The more tightly I hold on to her, the more I feel her slipping away. It’s like trying to catch smoke.” I threw back the drink, not even feeling the burn against the back of my throat.

“You need to trust her, Lucien.”

That was easier said than done. “Could you, Erik? Could you trust her?”

Erik glanced away, unable to admit that he could. Mates were everything to lycans. Once found, a wolf would doanythingto keep theirs. Erik had been searching for his queen for the last millennia. The lycan must despair of ever finding her, and Phoebe justlandedin my lap. Fuck, I was an idiot.

Elijah burst into the study, saving Erik from responding. The vampire’s eyes were wide and frantic, his dark skin waxy, but he took the time to bow to each of us despite his obvious urgency. Elijah was a traditionalist.

“My king, if I may?” Elijah’s shaky question made my nerves stand on end. I’d tasked the vampire with keeping an eye on Phoebe. It wasn’t one of my proudermoments. Though I don’t think I’d had a single one of those since meeting Phoebe.

I gestured for Elijah to proceed, knowing Erik was hanging on every word. “I was spy-watching over Phoebe, as you asked.” Erik’s gaze seemed to bore into me, and I swore I could feel his judgment. “Well, the lycans,” he continued, gesturing to Erik, “seem to have taken aninterestin her.”

Oh, had they? The sound of roaring filled my ears, and my fangs dropped into my mouth. A flood of liquid emotion scalded me, and I knew my eyes had turned red. She was mine! If one of them dared to touch her... The glass in my hand shattered as I bolted to my feet, the chair slamming against the wall behind me.Mine. Mine. Mine!

My mind whirled with images of dead werewolves. All that breathed in her direction would meet their demise.I made it to the throne room before Erik slammed into my side, tackling me to the floor. I bared my fangs and hardly resisted the need to rip out the werewolf’s throat.

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