Page 102 of Their Rejected Queen

Maybe he sent the powerful vampire hybrid after me, knowing exactly how I’d fall for his pretty smile and his courtly ways.

Oh Gods. I’ve fallen right into another one of my brother’s schemes.

Scrambling out of the water, I kneel on the edge of the smooth stones. Steam drifts from my body as I pant and hold my stomach.

“Stay away from me! Edward sent you!”

“What? No, Liliana,” he presses as he watches me with those pretty eyes. “Forget your brother. You have to let me help. Your heat has progressed too far.”

His voice is so soft, so sweet, so caring.

But those are the words of a viper who knows how to sound like the cure when he’s the poison.

“Only Godric or Ze’ev,” I growl. “Not you.”

“Ze’ev?” he asks, his bright blue eyes widening with surprise. “The royal bastard? Seriously?”

I cry out again and Arwan curses. “Ze’ev won’t be within a hundred miles of me. He’s not here. But I’ll let Godric in before he breaks his knuckles on my ward.”

A pop sounds in the air and Arwan storms out of the pool, sending the water sloshing. “He’s the only one coming in,” he says as he raises his hand. Another sound hums through the air. His dark veins throb in response.

The shadows curl over his shoulder and jolt down his entire body before dissipating, making my jaw drop.

Gods. He’s gorgeous.

And dangerous, I attempt to remind myself as I watch my only hope leave the pool.

Pain cracks through me as I look longingly at Arwan’s back. Every muscle ripples into the next. He’s a lean sort of perfection against the shifter who barrels across the rocks in the next heartbeat.

Arwan wasn’t lying. Godric’s fists drip with blood, and he snarls at the royal. “I should rip your head—” he begins as he lunges for him, but Arwan blinks out of sight and reappears behind Godric.

Arwan slams his hands down on the shifter’s shoulders and swivels him to face me. “She needs help. I’m afraid I made it worse, and she thinks I’m working with her dead brother.”

What?

Edward’s dead?

Godric’s pupils dilate as his nostrils flare. “Liliana,” he says. His voice is hardly recognizable as he growls. “Don’t move.”

I curse as I realize that by putting me in the bath, any masking soap I’ve used has been washed off.

And now I’m out of the water, practically naked, with nothing to keep Godric’s instincts from taking over.

But I need help.

That invisible dagger inside me twists again and I cry out, then I sputter. Covering my mouth, I see black spots when my fingers come back red with blood.

“Godric,” I whimper.

I’m going to die.

I’m human.

My family left me here to finally be rid of me.

The weakling of the Rinhold line.

The broken daughter.