Page 49 of Tempted By the Vampire Prince

I looked back at him. “Forty thousand, Your Grace?”

He clasped his hands behind his back. “Fine. Fifty. But it’s the best I can do without having to go to the small council.”

I nearly choked.

Fifty thousand gold pieces was an absurd amount of money. Thrice what I could fetch from selling a relic. The Duke’s offer was more than generous, but something was holding me back from immediately saying yes—something dangerous.

A home.

No, not just a home. He wanted me to become part of his family. A family that was missing a wife and a mother. And, oh, how easy would it be for me to slide into that role. Especially with a man that handsome, and a boy whom I already adored.

I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t. I shook my head, already backing up a step, but he caught me by the hand. His fingers cool to the touch. “I know Adrien is mischievous⁠—”

“My hesitance has nothing to do with your son. I just…”

I looked to Della, trying to find a way forward. She blinked, and suddenly I saw myself through her eyes. I saw how afraid I seemed. How tired I was of running. The burden of carrying the relics around was wearing me down. It’s why they were able to influence me so much. Because I was exhausted.

If I accepted the position, I wouldn’t have to sell any of my relics and risk them being used for Lou’s war. And I’d also be able to finally set them down safely.

Besides, I could not let Lou disappear while I sat in this cottage waiting for my magick to come back. This was exactly who I was, who I’d always been. I believed in the Blood Treaty. I believed in what it stood for. And I wasn’t going to let The Devouring burn it down because I was too afraid of getting hurt.

But there had to be a limit. A wall. Something to keep this man and his son from coming any closer to my heart.

“One year,” I said. “After that, I go.”

“A blood nanny typically stays until a child comes of age.”

“I won’t be a typical blood nanny. I will be your partner.” I lifted my chin. “One year. Fifty thousand. Those are my terms.”

He went still in the way only vampires could.

“One year,” he repeated. “Fifty thousand.” Then he held out his hand.

I was Cora Kemp. I could survive one year in a beautiful castle without losing my head. One year would pass quickly. At the end of it, I would be fifty thousand gold pieces richer, Lou would be in irons, and Adrien would have a proper blood nanny to replace me.

I went to shake his hand, but stopped short. “Don’t you want to know the name of the woman you’re hiring?”

“Of course I do,” Yves admitted. He slid his hand into mine and covered it gently with the other, folding my fingers into the cool cradle of his palms the way he had once folded them around a small gold coin. “But only if she wants to give it to me.”

To prove his point, he smiled, continuing to hold my hand as though he could wait a year, or forever, whichever I preferred.

Damien, help me. I wanted to tell him who I was. I wanted to reveal every detail. I wanted to get the story out of me so someone else could tell me I wasn’t crazy for doing what I’d done. But after what happened at Lou’s, I knew I needed to protect my name. No one else could know the truth.

“Cora,” I said at last. “My name is Cora.”

His thumb moved across my knuckles, and my traitorous heart flung itself against my ribs hard enough that I knew, I knew, he could hear it. His gaze lifted from our hands to my face.

“And what can I call you when we aren’t alone?” His voice was rougher at the edges. “Forgive me, but the courtiers will have more to gossip about if they hear me calling you Cora.”

“I left my family name behind, Your Grace.”

“Yves,” he corrected. “When we are alone, you will call me Yves.”

My body chose that moment to become acutely aware that we were alone. “Yves, then. I have no family name.”

I braced for the questions. Where I’d buried the old one. What I’d done that it needed burying. Instead, he only looked at me and chose not to press the matter further.

“What if…” he began. “What if I gave you a new one?”