Page 40 of Forced Vampire Mate

“How exactly was he chosen by the gods as a child?” I asked.

Donelle wrinkled her nose.

“It might be helpful to know. It might give us an insight into how to kill him,” I added quickly.

“It started with his dreams. He’d be given… prophecies, I suppose, when he was a young child.” She folded her arms, plumping up her breasts. “Then, as he grew older and matured, he began acting so strangely. He spurned any advance, telling everyone he must be ‘pure’ for the gods to speak through him. His prophecies became more precise. And all the while, never having sex.” Here, she snorted. “As though the gods, who fuck whoever they want, are really so pure themselves.”

I frowned. He’d made several attempts during the Blood Trials to get me to sleep with him. Why do that if he was supposed to never have sex, according to whatever strange belief this was?Simple,I realized.The gods told him not to have sex, and then they said he could have sex. With me, to prevent me from fully realizing the mating bond.

I glanced at Luken. If I hadn’t been a virgin when we slept together, would the bond have come so strongly?Luken wasn’t a virgin. Would it matter if I hadn’t been one, either?

No, more likely the plan was to stop me from sleeping with Luken at all. Give me someone else to love so I would have more of a reason to resist the draw to my mate.

“There’s something wrong with him,” Donelle said, shaking her head. “Not to want sex? It’s disgusting.”

Annoyance prickled through me, and I spoke without thinking. “And it’s so normal to want to fuck your son’s brother.”

Donelle’s eyes flashed. She lunged to slap me, but Luken twirled me away, stepping between me and her quickly. It all happened in less than a second.

“Stop that,” Luken snarled. He glared at me. “The Queen is willing to help us defeat the man responsible for your family’s death. What good is it for you to antagonize her? Apologize, Elara.”

I hated the way he said it, as though I was a dog to command. I glared back but bit out, “Sorry.”

Donelle grunted. She pointed to a space on the map. “There’s a hidden portal here that leads straight to the temples. Draven had it built when he was younger, and thinks I don’t know about it. I’ve sent people in. Most have died. There are challenges that you must complete to access it. What challenges, I don’t know.”

Direct access. I gripped Luken’s arm in excitement, my anger disappearing. “That means we can get there tonight!”

“If you survive the cave.” The queen went to the wall and plucked a furled map from it. “This will show you the path to get to the caves.”

She handed the map to Luken, who quickly unrolled it. I leaned in, pressing tight to him to read over his shoulder. The path was marked clearly, with notes about landscape formations marked on it. My heart beat faster. This was it! It wasn’t that far from the cave. With any luck, we’d be at the temples soon enough.

Save Darcie, Thessa, and then get home. And once the dust settled, Luken and I would finally be able to really talk about things. Talk and fuck and maybe even… well. We would have to wait until we actually trusted each other to begin thinking about having children of our own. But it would be a possibility.

“But this is as much help as I will give you,” Donelle continued, her voice low and unemotional. “There’s enough political and religious turmoil in the elven kingdoms to destroy us all. I can’t be seen to take sides, not when one side is my own flesh and blood. It would be different if you put a child in my womb,” she added, shooting Luken a reproachful look. “But I won’t risk my kingdom for a vampire, no matter how good of a fuck his father was.”

All semblance of gratitude I felt toward her disappeared. She’d tried to convincemyhusband to get her pregnant? I clenched my hands around the stupid broomstick I still held. Would it really be so bad to… yes. Yes, it really would be that bad. I breathed through my nose, trying to still myself.

Stop lashing out,I told myself.Stop being so emotional.

“If you win against the gods, consider the Silver Forest one of your allies. I will openly support you then.” Donelle cast me one more derisive glance before she focused on Luken again. “But until then… I have to keep up appearances.”

A distant alarm bell started to ring. I turned, glancing out the doorway. Shouts began to ring through the palace. When I turned back, Donelle was just disappearing through a doorway that swung shut behind her, leaving no trace it had ever been there. I clenched my teeth as I turned to Luken.

He shoved the map into his tunic and grabbed my hand. “Time to run.”

Chapter 19

Being chased by hordes of naked elves was less than a pleasant experience. We ran into a dozen guards on our attempt to get away. My broomstick broke right away, so I ended up with a short sword instead. I wondered if we should try to avoid killing them, but when Luken used magic to blast off the head of one of our attackers, I decided staying alive was more important.

I wish the elves hadn’t taken my staff. The sword didn’t give me as much reach and was far less versatile. It was only thanks to Luken’s magic that we could escape the palace in one piece. Once we were in the forest, we were running. Endlessly running, until I was panting for breath and stumbling over my own feet.

Luken scooped me into his arms and twisted me neatly onto his back, and kept running. I clung around his waist and shoulders, making myself as small as possible so I wouldn’t get caught on the foliage. I wondered at his stamina. It seemed like he could go forever… which only made the relatively short sex we’d had more suspect.

I was fragile in comparison to him. Even though I was part vampire now, I was more breakable. Could he even enjoy himself with me? Was that why it was so much easier for him to fight the draw that kept bringing me back to him? He couldn’t want me as much as I wanted him, because otherwise, how could he hold back? He said he wouldn’t have me again until I begged for his touch, but the truth was, he could easily make me beg for him.

And this was the last thing I wanted, to feel sexually inadequate for a man whom I didn’t even want to want.

We came to a stop, and I blinked. My legs were stiff around his waist, but I quickly unwound myself and lowered to the forest floor. We were in among a group of ferns twice as tall as I was, with feathery fronds that reached out to tickle my cheeks. Ahead of us was a dark slash in the otherwise silver forest, a narrow opening that must be the cave.

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