Page 14 of Vampires of Eden: Oliver
“You don’t need to be sorry,” Alexander says. He turns forward and grabs his fork as he smiles. “It was lovely. I wish… that you would do it more often. That’s all.” I glance down at his plate and it’s messy. Like the food has been pushed around to look as if it’s being eaten but it hasn’t really. I suspect that not a single vampire will chastise him for that.
The way our eyes locked, even from across the room… Could Aries possibly feel the same way about me?
After an eternity, dinner finally ends. A visiting purebred from London corners Alexander, trapping him in a long-winded conversation about the recent demand increases in exports, so I bid them both goodnight and sneak away.
It’s a long walk back to my wing of the castle grounds (which I am fully capable of traversing alone). I take the outside pathways for some much-needed fresh air.
In an unexpected turn of events, I don’t hate my life at this exact moment. I lift my chin, taking in the cool nighttime breeze underneath the infinite sea of blackness overhead. The stars are bright specks of light and the crescent moon glows hazily. It’s still technically summer, but I can smell autumn hovering at the edges—threatening to jump in and take over like a game of double Dutch.
My eyes almost alighted.
My aura responded to someone today.Twice.
These moments, albeit brief and arguably very awkward… I don’t know if I’ve ever felt so alive. I know what Sasha meant now—how she never forgot that Ethiopian dignitary. How could she?
How could anyone forget the sensation of their blood rushing like scorching, sparkling champagne inside of them? Your energy threatening to swell and break free from your body, reaching for someone you might truly and deeply desire if you allow yourself to submit to it.
There are no words to accurately describe the euphoria and ecstasy. The smallest hint makes me feel like I’m walking on air, which is a lovely change from my normal existence of being crushed between two concrete slabs.
When I arrive at my wing, it’s silent. I have to pass Aries’s door in order to climb the spiral stairs to my room in the tower.
Honestly? I’m looking forward to it. I acknowledge that my behavior is quite questionable right now, but I want to smell him as I go by. Nothing more. Just a nice, healthy inhale as I pass.
I approach, knowing he’s inside because one, I do indeed sense him, and two, the lights are on underneath his door. Slowing my stride, I relax my aura and breathe in to indulge a little. It’s truly wonderful, and the fizzy sensation in my core immediately kicks up again.
The door whips open and I start and stumble backward until my spine hits the opposite wall. It’s like my breath and heart have been snatched from my body as I stand pressed against the stone, gasping and wide-eyed.
Aries looms in the doorway, unsmiling as he stares down at me. He’s still in his stylish teal suit. It’s even more striking up close, but that’s beside the point.
“Can we please talk, your grace?” he asks. “May I have a moment of your time?”
Shaken, I nod and stand straight. “Yes. Sure.” My heart is back inside me, but shoved into my throat as Aries pulls the door open wider. Nervous, I push up from the wall and timidly step past him into the room.
ChapterSix
The large sconces adorning the stone walls in Aries’s room burn brightly with real candlelight, drenching the space in a soft yellow glow. He’s been busy, because there are raw materials draped on male dress forms. His worktable is messier than it was this morning.
Hearing the door close, I turn toward him. He stands with his back pressed against the rosewood. “Permission to speak frankly, your grace?”
“Please… and you don’t need to add an honorific every time you talk to me. You can call me Oliver, if you’d like.”
He shakes his head. “No, I cannot. Whatisthis? What are you doing?”
“What do you mean?”
“What do I mean? I mean you, telling me that I don’t need to use honorifics, even though you are a purebred in an infamously strict aristocracy that shuns any and all vampires beneath your bloodline. You, watching me and fidgeting—staring from across a crowded room and fanning your aura out toward me.You, standing outside my room in the middle of the night.”
Blinking, I run my fingers into the top of my hair. God. I sound crazy—like an actual stalker. I take a breath because my pulse is beating in my ears. “I don’t mean to do those things, I really just…”
How do I explain myself without explaining myself? Without sounding like the pathetic, sheltered and awkward loser that I am?
At my hesitation, Aries cuts in. “You are a purebred of ancient blood.”
I nod, uncomfortable. “I… know that.”
“And you’re getting married to the Royal Prince of Central Eden in a month.”
“Iknow. You don’t need to tell me those things.”
