Page 30 of Eternal Captive

Who is she to make me feel this way?

Her eyes roamed my face before settling on my lips. She brought her hand up to my oddly steady lips and wiped away the blood that lined them.

“Vampires,” she uttered with such disgust it shocked me. “Do all of you have such awful fucking table manners?”

“If you wanted me to clean you up, all you had to do was ask, little mouse,” I purred and jerked her head to the side so I couldrun my tongue up the length of her neck. I paused when I got to her ear. “Or maybe there is somewhere else you’d like me tolick?”

“Vesper,” she growled and pushed me away. The desire was clear in her eyes, but so was the distaste. “You call me Vesper. Notlittle mouse.”

“Aurelia,” I murmured. “But you can call me princess.”

Vesper

Nothing about the princess should have caught me off guard.

Not her cruelty. Not her bloodthirstiness.

Not even the way she was trying to play me.

But for some reason, the way she treated me after she was done was something I never expected.

She treated me like a lover, not an object.

Her teeth had brought a searing pain, but her hands were gentle, even as she tangled them in my hair. And then there was that pause as she tore into my flesh to allow the venom to enter my system.

It would have been better if she had treated me like the piece of meat she thought I was. It would have made it easier to hate her and not fall victim to the way the venom made my body feel.

After her comment, I couldn’t help but let out a scoff and forced myself back into the seat beside her, whatever happened during the feeding long gone.

But ifthatwas supposed to be a glimpse of what would come…it caused my unease to worsen.

Going to thiseventwould only help me. Even when the princess died, the type of blackmail material I could gather here would be a powerful tool for my family’s future.

I didn’t know exactly what that future would look like. My entire life had been spent preparing for the moment when I would shove my sword into her chest, and that moment alone. For me, there was no talk of an after.

My siblings would get yearly plans. Each of them getting jobs and contributing to the family in ways I never could. I was lucky if I got assigned jobs, and most of the time I had to go out searching for them myself.

But after this?

I snuck a peek at Princess Aurelia as she fixed her coat. The blood had been wiped from her mouth, and her skin had a nice flush.

My body was still buzzing from her venom. Heat curled in my belly at the remembrance of her hand in my hair. Of how she arched into me.

You can think of the future after you complete this job. Stay focused.

My inner critic’s voice was my father’s. Reminding me just how vital this job was. Not like I didn’t already fucking know it.

But for the first time since I was a teenager, I pushed him to the recesses of my mind. As much as I didn’t want to do this job, I would need to if there was any chance of a future for me. And there was no way in hell I would lose my life to the spoiled brat of a princess who had trouble keeping her fangs to herself.

“Will they be watching?” I asked. Her eyes shot to me before a small, feral smile spread across her face.

She likes the attention.

“Me, yes. Everyone wants to see a princess embarrass herself,” she said as she shifted her body to face me. Her fingers worked quickly against the buttons of my uniform coat.I shimmied out of it for her, leaving me in nothing but a tight black tank top that showed off the scars on my arms. “They don’t care much about the blood bags. So just look pretty and try not to scare people off with that mug of yours.”

A smile threatened to pull at my lips at her comment.So she does find me attractive.

The car came to a stop, and, moments later, her original guard was opening the door for us. Cold air rushed through the car, causing my skin to prickle. The princess got out first, and it took me only a few moments to regain my footing as I followed her.

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