Page 27 of Our Sins in Blood (Coven of Sin 1)

And, of course, that made my fucked up heart pound even harder.

“I don’t want you.”

He shrugged, the shadow of a triumphant smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Lie to yourself if it makes you feel better, Princess. But I can scent your lies, curling up between your legs.”

His Adam’s apple twitched with a swallow of his own, and by the dark hunger banked his eclipsed gaze, I couldn’t bluff my way out of this one.

He knew the truth.

And I knew his.

“Your eyes are red. They haven’t gone back to their normal color since you first laid eyes on me. So how about you stop pretending like this is one-sided, hmm? You want me too, cupcake.” I flashed him a terse smirk, trying to look more confident than I felt.

“Maybe I do. But that isn’t good news for you. You’re my master’s daughter. You can’t even begin to grasp the sort of torture he put me through. You think I’m evil? I’m a fucking fairy princess compared to that sick bastard.”

Vincent’s hand came up as if to caress my cheek. His cool fingertips grazed so softly against my skin as they drifted down to trace the hollow of my throat. Then they began to curve around my throat, squeezing. He applied just enough pressure for me to breathe, but each wheeze of air struggled to make it up my windpipe past the force of his palm. I became light-headed, and my belly fluttered.

“So, yeah,” he snarled. “Sinking myself into you seems like a great way to stick it to the dead fucker, and get my throne. So your choice, Princess.” He gave a half-shouldered shrug as if he were laying out my choices for something mundane like where to eat for dinner. “You can stay and be my mate and queen, or leave and save yourself the pain I’ll inflict. By the time I’m done with you, you’ll wish I’d never let you loose from your room back in Quincy. For your own good, Princess, go before the Elders and tell them you decline the throne and that you don’t want anything to do with the coven.”

With that, his hand dropped from my throat, and he made his exit from the hanger.

My eyes narrowed on the muscular expanse of his back. “And if I don’t?”

I had already decided that dealing with Vincent while trying to figure out how to be a vampire queen wasn’t worth any of the trouble. But shit, antagonizing the vampire was becoming a swift addiction.

He froze in the doorway and slowly turned, his features awash with moonlight. Then his mouth stretched into that rare, brutally handsome grin. “Then don’t. See what happens. Either way, I’ll get what I want.”

Chapter fifteen

The Silver Prince

TheinterioroftheKnight Mansion was decorated in a way that screamed decadence. There was no question this was the home of a wealthy, ancient and powerful family. The filigree wallpaper was like something out of the Victorian era, old and faded. Countless oval portraits, framed in gold, lined long corridors. Thick, wax encrusted chandeliers hung from the high ceilings with sputtering candles chasing away the shadows to the far corners of the hall, painting everything in an orange, eerie glow.

Seeing homes like this was one thing on TV. Being inside any type of space that wasn’t my own bedroom was like being on an alien planet. But standing here in the foyer of this mansion that was the home to a four-hundred-year-old vampire coven was like being in some kind of drug-induced nightmare.

There was no question I would need some hard-core therapy after all this.

When I’d first followed Vincent through the mansion’s double doors, we were completely alone. But it was almost like they could smell my presence because only a handful of beats later, doors opened, and heads poked out to get a peek at the guest.

A handful of vampires floated down the stairs and several more down the corridor, stretching past the grand staircase. They were all tall, thin, and ghostly, their eyes watching me with a combination of curiosity and hunger. Nostrils flared. Some pulled close and whispered as I followed Vincent’s gesture to follow him through the mansion’s main corridor. The words “Princess” and “half-blood” flitted from the mouths of the gossips as we hurried past.

They knew exactly who I was.

I shivered as I felt a dozen pairs of eyes cutting into my back, a sweep of warm relief rushing through my limbs when Corry came into view, standing beside another set of double doors. In a sea of cold distrust, his was the only face that bore even a shred of kindness.

“The Elders are ready for us, bro.” Corry’s attention darted over Vincent’s shoulder to me. “You ready, Red?”

“I’m ready,” I lied with a gulp.

I shuffled, looking down at my hoodie and yoga pants. From the few examples of vampire governments I’d seen on TV, people never sought an audience with them in their pajamas. Then again, none of those people had been pulled from their beds in the middle of the damn night.

Corry’s brows bunched with concern as his gaze swept over my skin, which was now layered with a cool sheen of sweat.

“You sure you’re ready? You kinda look like you’re freaking out.”

Damn his perception. My fingers curled around the hem of my hoodie, gripping it tightly with white knuckles. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just want to get this over with.”

The sooner I met with the Elders, the sooner I could get out of here. This place was intense. I could still feel every cold eye in the place on my back.

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