Page 89 of Sun-Kissed Fangs
She wasn’t allowed any of them yet. Hadn’t been with the Chains long enough to be trusted with one. Romantic entanglements with humans could be allowed outside of the Claiming ceremony, as long as you took the necessary steps when time allowed it, but feeding on them was a different matter. For vampires especially.
Some monsters fed by means that didn’t endanger humans at all, but fangers needed blood. Until you could be trusted to stay in control, you couldn’t feed on humans without witnesses present.If you did it anyway, if you endangered someone else, it would have serious consequences.
“It only happened once,” Maya said. “It was just a few drops, from a split lip. I didn’t bite her or anything. I didn’t hurt her.”
“Do you think we would have let you near her if we believed otherwise?” Natalya said, smirking. “You and Harper make a fiery match.”
Silence followed. A long silence, as though they waited for her to fill it. To ask something.
She stayed quiet. Aleksander let out another huff.
“I believe you’re being truthful. If I didn’t, I would have your fangs extracted,” he said evenly. “You show impressive restraint. Especially for a vampire that is as… young as you are. But certain concerns still need addressing. You may only have tasted her once, but I know you want to do so again.”
Maya stepped back, nearly falling down the stairs.
“You don’t know that. You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know more about you than is comfortable for either of us. I know you feel lost. Angry. Scared. I know you hate what you are so much that you’ve avoided every vampire among the Chains even more than they have you. And I know you don’t want solutions for what you have become. You want it gone.”
Aleksander gestured at his co-Regent. “Natalya pointed out that we had certain… similarities. You accompanying me south has an additional purpose beyond keeping the Court safe. You were never taught how to be a vampire, but unlike me, you don’t have to figure it out on your own. I can teach you.”
Teach her?Teachher? What the hell was there to teach? She had a system that she stuck to, one that ensured no one got hurt, and it worked just fine.
If you ignored the way her mouth would gravitate to Harper’s neck whenever she had her in her bed. Whenever she neared the height of pleasure and Maya’s teeth started aching at the thought of what it might taste like.
“Why are you offering this?” Maya asked. Aleksander raised an eyebrow.
“Out of the goodness of my heart.”
“You’re a Regent. You don’t have time for that. Unless you gain something from this arrangement, you wouldn’t waste your precious time on it.”
Natalya snorted, while Aleksander sneered.
“My Court is growing and, apparently, I need to be morepersonable. By watching you, I might learn a few things.”
His gaze hardened. “But you will learn more than I. You have power most would kill to possess. I won’t pretend that life gave you an easy hand, but unlike most people, you might have the skill to play it. If you want to squander that potential and tend the bar for the rest of your existence, then that is your choice. But you have an opportunity to enact change upon the world. You have talent. If you let me, I can help you hone it into a skill.”
He looked at Natalya. “Was thatpersonableenough?”
Natalya rolled her eyes. “You definitely need practice.”
Maya would have stepped back again if she hadn’t run out of platform. She’d seen her share of Court royalty, and it didn’t match the rapport between these two. Aleksander’s ruthless reputation preceded him, and she’d seen firsthand how intense Natalya could be.
She’d assumed that was the common state for them. Instead, she was facing a smirking demoness and an annoyed-looking vampire king.
Her life hadn’t involved many choices. Her formative years were shaped by constricting expectations that she ran from the moment she could. But that hadn’t exactly felt like a choice. More like survival.
What followed hadn’t been much different. She took jobs because of necessity rather than desire. Since her options were limited, so were the paths her life could take. And then she’d been dragged into this dark world, and suddenly she had even fewer options than before.
She’d been offered a choice now. One that felt like standing at a crossroads towards equally dark paths. One of them she was familiar with, having spent enough months walking it that she knew how painful it was. The other, however, was so obscured she couldn’t know how many teeth it held.
“Can I think about it?” she mumbled. Surprisingly, Aleksander didn’t seem annoyed at the question. He just nodded.
“Take the rest of the evening off. I leave at midnight. I expect an answer by then.”
Maya turned towards the stairs and then paused. She spun back towards Aleksander.
“If I accept, which I’m not saying I will, I want something in return.”
