“Oh gods, two more?” I breathe huskily as he pulls out of me and I sit on the toilet. “I have no idea how I’ll suffer through the agony.” I can’t help myself. I chuckle as I clean up best as I can with some toilet paper and stand up, fixing my leather pants.
Wolfe watches me, this dark gray shadow in the bathroom, and then turns away when the connection of our gazes gets too intense.
“Shall we go and finish our drinks?” I ask with raised brows. “Because I’ve got a balance of power to upset, some straw to turn into gold, and a crown to claim.”
8
The men follow me to House Verenim. At first, I don’t think they’re going to be allowed in. House Stiltz and House Verenim are notorious enemies. But the guards hardly give them a second glance, like they’ve seen them plenty of times before.
Makes me feel mighty suspicious.
“You guys have been here before?” I ask as I pause at Atticus’s desk and enjoy the look of sheer confusion on his face when I demand to see the king. Because of my new job title, I have free reign to see King Vesnic whenever I want. It was a decree meant to please the royals and yet, it gives me the perfect opportunity to blow his goddamn mind.
“We’re the liaisons for House Stiltz,” Vyce growls, and if I wasn’t high on Heartbeats and sex, I’d have thought he sounded a tad jealous? Huh. I wait for Atticus—who’s now scared shitless of me, by the way—to lead us through the doors into the manor, and then to the king’s receiving room where he originally made his proclamation.
Nobody even questions the three House Stiltz escorts I have with me.
“What’s the point of you guys being here again?” I ask, because I’m seriously confused as hell. “Won’t it seem suspicious if I waltz in there with you on my heels?”
“We’re here on separate business,” Vyce says easily, his voice as smooth as cognac. The combination of his pale skin, red eyes, and blue-green-purple hair drives me completely crazy. He’s the avatar I’d pick if I were playing some badass video game. “Enjoy your little conquest and we’ll see you later.”
The three men peel away from me and head for a small door in the corner. After a few knocks, they’re let in, Wolfe going last. His gray eyes catch mine just before he disappears, and I curse under my breath.
That was a hot quickie for fucking sure. Already I’m wet and ready for a second round. Three times, he says? We can take care of that requirement before the sun even rises tomorrow. Easy-peasy. And fun. Who knew that I’d actually enjoy holding up my end of this stupid bargain?
King Vesnic takes his sweet time before sauntering into the room with a lazy yawn, only two of his original entourage in tow. One of them is the guy that pissed me off last time and I curl my lip at him. Fucker. What a total piece of shit. He glares right back at me as Vesnic pauses lazily in front of the throne, yawns, and cants his head at me.
“How is your search for my future queen going?” he asks, clearly not interested in anything I have to say...or expecting me to turn his world upside down.
“Well,” I say, trying to stretch this moment out and savor it for as long as I can. This is the turning point, the precipice where my old life tumbles off the edge and into my new one. “Actually, I’ve found her.”
The king’s blue eyes go wide and he looks about two seconds away from throwing up.
Taking the small paper bag from under my arm, I unfold the top, take out a handful of straw and feel a smirk take over my face as it melts into gold and drips to the marble floor beneath my feet.
The way Vesnic looks at me, I’m glad the Stiltz boys are in the next room.
Because he sure as shit looks like he wants to kill me.
I’m whisked away to a room on the top floor of a tower—because, like, duh, why not go full cliché on this thing? As I stand there in that stone room, I think about my mother and all the stories she told me about her three terrifying nights in a vampire king’s tower, certain that each sunrise would be her last.
The first night, she paid Rumpel with the necklace she’d gotten for her sixteenth birthday. The second night, she paid him with her graduation ring. And the third night, he’d convinced her to sell her child.
But she was smart.
She took the king’s offer of the crown, waited several months, just long enough for everyone to become complacent, and then she fled.
And yet, here I stand, willingly putting myself through the same nonsense she escaped.
“My mom would be so goddamn disappointed in me,” I say with a sigh, moving out of the round room with the ridiculous spinning wheel and stone walls...and into the lavishly appointed suite that’s attached.
“Good thing three liaisons from House Stiltz were here to witness your proclamation,” Vyce purrs, lounging on my bed, his booted feet crossed at the ankles. “Because if we hadn’t been, he might’ve just killed you on the spot to save himself the trouble.”
“How the hell did you get in here?” I ask as I yawn and glance out the open window. We’re like, twenty stories up. Not impossible for a vampire, but difficult as fuck for someone who has to get past a bunch of paranoid guards. If it were easy to sneak into this place, King Vesnic would be dead already.
“I have my ways,” Vyce says as I open the wardrobe on the far wall and run my fingers across the enchanted dresses inside. They’re spelled to fit whatever woman puts them on. The king put together this suite with every bit of pomp he could manage. It was all a show to please the royals yet again. He didn’t expect anyone to actually be staying here.
“More magic from House Stiltz, huh?” I ask, deciding I’m too damn tired to care that Vyce is watching me. Besides, he’s seen it all before. I tear my tank off and toss it on the floor, lip twitching in a smile as I imagine Sorrow picking it up and stuffing it into the laundry chute. But I’m a fucking queen now, right? Or I will be once I survive three days here—I’m supposed to spin during the day and not at night, contrary to what the original legend dictates—and get through the coronation.
“More magic,” he breathes as I pull all the shades and block out the sun, leaving us with nothing but the flickering of a single candle. I continue to peel off my clothes. Boots and socks go next, leather pants peeled down my legs—no panties under these babies, remember? The bra comes off last.
Once I’m fully naked, I select a see-through lace nightie from the wardrobe and slip it over my head. The lace and ribbons kiss my bare nipples and cunt, amplifying what’s left of the alcohol and blood in my system.
Vyce is hard. I can see the bulge of his cock in his leather pants. But I ignore him, moving back into the room of straw and kneeling down beside it. Slowly, methodically, I work my way through handful after handful, letting the liquid metal fall into the molds I requested. There are scrying spells all the hell over this room, but I know that not a single one of them will be able to see what I’m doing. Rumpel would never allow it. And I imagine that Vyce is here to make sure nobody’s in or around when I’m performing my new magic.
“Tell me a little about yourself,” he calls out, his voice this dark, liquid smoke that swirls around me and makes me shiver.
“Not much to tell,” I call back, amazed at how easy this all is.
But nothing in my life has ever been easy. I imagine that a lot of shit is coming my way. That’s how it always works. One thing goes good in my life and the rest goes to hell. I’ll probably be shot through the neck with an enchanted arrow on coronation day or something. With a sigh, I finish transmogrifying the rest of the straw, leaving several dozen blocks of gold cooling in the molds before I head back into the bedroom and cross my arms over the swollen roundness of my breasts. Vyce hasn’t moved from his spot on the bed, but he has kicked his boots off.