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  “So, wait, you want to know everything he does before you mate?” he asked, the earlier amusement in his voice gone as I hadn’t embarrassed myself. “Kid, no, newborn…The Prince of Night has lived over a millennium. It may take centuries for you to know all he knows.”

  “Thank God I’m immortal then.” I grinned, causing a few others to snicker.

  His eyes shifted to Theseus. “She plans to keep you waiting, Prince, like a pet. One of the great sons of Sigbjørn, held by the collar by a woman? How the mighty have fallen.”

  You son of a bitch. That was not what I said!

  At that, Theseus grinned, and from the reactions of everyone else that must not have been a normal sight for them. “Mikhail, would you like to know something my father once told me?”

  The asshole just lifted his head, waiting.

  “Show me a man—mortal or immortal—that is not bound by the desires of their mate, and I shall show you that he is no man but an injured beast, howling at his own deep wounds. For a man is not afraid to belong to someone. He seeks it, for he knows they will belong to him also.” His words gave me chills. “My intended has told you she means to stay by my side for centuries. If I am her pet, she is mine also, and everyone here should know I am a lot of things but an easy companion.”

  At that, people did laugh.

  “Well said. Once more, your father proves to be wisest among us all.” A raucous voice came from the top of the staircase, and I could smell him from here like he had taken a bath in sage. “Good evening, all.”

  “Good evening, Mr. President,” everyone said at once, and if that wasn’t the eeriest thing, I didn’t know what was. We were all were forced to look.

  He was an aboriginal man who appeared to be at least fifty, with long hair, half white at the top but still black at the bottom. He stood at my height in these heels, and he was dressed in full British-royal attire, everything down to the military-style coat to the fake medals on the breast to the sash across his body. On his arm was a brunette woman with white skin. She was dressed like an English queen with a sash of her own, long white gloves going up her arms, and a crown on her head. Her eyes were green and her lips vibrant pink but without any lipstick.

  They walked down the stairs like the royal couple they pretended to be, and when they reached us, Theseus stepped forward with me on his arm.

  “President Waban Swan. First Lady Mimiteh Swan.” He nodded to them, and I did the same because I was not curtsying in this dress. “Druella and I are thankful for your hospitality.”

  President Snow’s aged eyes focused on me. “You are very lucky, young one to have survived so long in the Omeron territory. Is she not, my swan?” His question was directed not to me, but to the woman beside him, and she nodded, waving her free hand in front of her mouth.

  “It has been almost thirty years since one of Omeron witches sealed my mate’s mouth and throat. She cannot speak, nor smile, nor drink as we do,” he said coldly. “She was lucky to escape at all, and she was only there for a day. Why is it you were spared from their wrath, Ms. Monroe?”

  The question caught me off guard, but thankfully Taelon stepped forward.

  “Father, I have written all about it—”

  “I was not speaking to you,” he sneered at his son, his eyes gazing over Taelon’s attire. “And as you have chosen not to dress in union with our family, you will not call me father again tonight. Understood?”

  “Yes, Mr. President,” he answered and stepped back, standing in front of Lucy.

  I now saw the difference. The Swan family—those who I knew and were here—were all dressed as English high society in some way or another…expect Taelon.

  Because of Lucy.

  “Ms. Monroe, are you unable to answer?” President Swan pressed. “I have read my son’s report. But it lacks…how should say? Depth. He was an outsider looking in. I wish to know from your view, why?”

  “If I knew, I would have stayed?” I just blurted out.

  “Really? Is our home so unpleasant?”

  “Of course not, it is beautiful, Mr. President,” I said, quickly trying to think how to say it politely, but I didn’t have it. So, I spoke. “But it is your home, not mine. Everything I could want could be here, but it still does not make up for my place, my life, and my things. I don’t think anyone should be driven from their home simply for what they are. I was born in northern Virginia, so were my parents, and their parents. My memories are there. It’s beautiful to me. And if I could have stayed there, I would have. So, I can’t give you any more depth than Taelon or my friend Lucy could.”

  His jaw cracked to the side at the mention of Lucy. “Very well, Mikhail. We have taken enough of your night; let us dance.”

  “Fin-a-fucking-ly. I thought we all forgot what a party was.” Mikhail spun back around, throwing his hand in the air. “Play already!”

  Thank God. This segment of the new vampire at the ball was finally over. I understood now why Theseus tried to delay my entrance into vampire society by making me go shopping.

  Theseus leaned over whispering, “You have done well, but do not relax. It is not over.”

  “What more could there be?” I asked as he spun me in his arms, leading us to the dance floor. “We’re dancing?”

  “Every vampire ball on this side of the world begins with the Viennese Waltz,” he said.

  “I don’t know a normal waltz,” I muttered, eyes wide, trying to pull him toward me and off the dance floor.

  But I heard a few vampires—women—laughing, and I looked over my shoulder to see them just watching as if we were their show for the night. All of them were equally beautiful, like muses with their flowing hair and dresses. One looked like she stepped out of the roaring twenties with a cigarette holder and everything. She wiggled her gloved hand at Theseus.

  “If your intended is unable, my lord, let us rehash the past and enjoy each other’s company again.” She winked at him, causing the women around her to giggle.

  I glanced over to Theseus, who only watched me. “Friend of yours?”

  “I do not remember.” He smiled, and though I believed him, it was very convenient. His words made the others go off like hyenas.

  “What of me?” Another, who I swore had to be Marilyn Monroe for they looked so much alike, spoke up as well. “Cancun?”

  I bit my lip and squeezed his hands tightly. “How much fun you’ve had here in America, and here, I thought you came for me.”

  “Are you jealous?” he questioned, his eyebrow raised, pulling me from them and onto the dance floor. His body pressed against mine. He lifted me slightly so that I could step on his feet. “Of women I do not remember? That I do not desire?”

  “I’m just curious,” I shot back as he did all the work, spinning me all around. I did my best to watch the others, so I could learn how to do it myself. “You came here for one woman, and you indulged.”

  “I do not know what I thought of at the time.” He frowned. “But I know, had the woman I sought gave me an expectation date for her appearance, maybe I could have held on and indulged only in her.”

  I glared, but he kissed the side of my face whispered, “I am not perfect, and vampires can get lonely, crazy, and despondent, too. Thank God, you found me, or who knows how long I would have had to deal with the sound of that laughter. It is as if cats were being boiled alive.”

  I giggled when I saw the look on their faces.

  “Ahhh…much better.”

  He was such a freaking player!

  Chapter 16

  “How are you fairing at your first ball? You’ve picked up the dancing very quickly.” Taelon spun us around in the middle of the dance floor.

  “Thanks, but hardly; however, that is the easiest thing to focus on instead of feeling like I’m caught between a vampire inquisition and the vampire diaries.” I made sure to
shuffle my feet the right way. I was determined to get at least the first few steps right. “I can hear them all talking about me. Some have even come right out to ask me what I did to win him over. Like I cast some magical spell on him.”

  “You have captured the attention, desire, and heart of the most eligible vampire in society, and you think no one will talk?” he mocked, spinning me around. He glanced over his shoulder when I came back to him. “I can feel his gaze burning a hole in my back right now.”

  “I don’t like being caged up.” I looked over his shoulder to see Theseus watching us even as he danced with Lucy, who was even smaller next to him. It was odd that he and Taelon were almost the same height and build, and yet, Taelon seemed the only one perfectly matched for Lucy.

  “Lucy tells me you spent most of your time in a lab or your home. How is that not a cage?” he questioned.

  Good point.

  “Let me clarify. I don’t like to be controlled then. He’s had fun with women, the least he can do is stand by and be silent as I dance with other people. He has no right to ban me from touching or even speaking to any other man.”

  “So, in order for him not to control you, you are using me to control him?” he mused and then sniggered at my expression.

  “This makes me a hypocrite, doesn’t it?”

  “Yes.” He nodded. “But I’m sure he’s enjoying that you’re jealous.”

  “I am not.”

  He gave me a look.

  “Really, I’m not.”

  “Okay.” The way he said that made me think he didn’t believe me. “If it were me, personally, I’d be a little jealous to know my mate had slept all over the—”

  “All?” I growled.

  And he laughed. “No, but does it matter if you’re not jealous?”

  “I’m not liking you right now.”

  “Fine, let me give you some insight, young one,” he replied.

  “Please.”

  “You are not fond of the idea that he had other women when he came here looking for you, correct?” he asked, and I made a face and looked down to make sure to watch my feet; I wasn’t stepping on his like I had done with Theseus. “Many people want to know who their mates are, but it’s hard, especially if they are human. What if they haven’t been born? What if they are married and in love with someone else? What if they have already passed? Knowing gets harder to bear with each day you do not meet them. You start to wonder if you will ever meet them. You start to want to forget them so you can move on. Don’t you know hope is the worst thing that came out of Pandora’s Box.”

  I glanced over to the Theseus, but he wasn’t watching. His lips were in a tight line, and he held on to Lucy.

  “He would search for you and search for you, then get heartbroken at not finding you, dejected that you were already gone or with someone else. Then he tried to replace you with another, someone who was close, who was here, and then he’d feel guilty and dive back into his search for you. Just because we are vampires does not mean we are not flawed men. Lucy taught me that.” When he said her name, Lucy’s head snapped toward us—I was sure he knew, but he went on anyway. “Well, her dramas did. I hate almost ninety percent of the male characters in those shows she watches. I hate that they are always so weak-willed, doormats for their parents’ ambitions or expectations. I want them to speak up, defend themselves, their right to love their women. I want them to threaten to disown their own mothers for daring to bring that red envelope.”

  I laughed at the expression he made, his nose bunching up. “You really watch a lot of those.”

  “My mate is Lucy Ming,” he said as if that should have been explanation enough. “I did not realize my emotions toward those males was because of my anger toward myself. I always wanted the characters to be what I sometimes can’t. I want them to be perfect: perfectly independent, perfectly in love, perfectly strong enough to provide on their own and vulnerable enough to speak of their emotions. I want them to be better than me, so I hold them to a higher standard, and rebuke them for failing to be the perfect version of what I want them to be. Doing so makes me a hypocrite. I know it. I can see it, but I can’t help it.”

  “Taelon?” I whispered once again stunned. “Everyone must have heard this conversation.”

  “Only us four did,” he said, pausing to show me the half-butterfly pendant. “It is like the glass in the car and in the building, it creates a sound barrier. No one can hear us when where are close together. If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been doing my best to keep us close to them.”

  “How does it work?”

  “Magic.” Taelon winked.

  “It’s Daiyu’s gift.” I heard Lucy’s voice as if she were standing right next to me, not too loud or soft. “She can create sound like barriers. She can impart that gift to objects. She’s the Swan family sound proofer per say.”

  Taelon frowned as she spoke, “You are always telling me not to speak of my gifts so lightly, and you just shared another’s Lucy.”

  “Well then, I guess I am a hypocrite,” she shot back, and I smiled, and so did he.

  “Lord Thorbørn, would you like to share anything while we are in this private bubble?” Taelon pressed.

  “There is nothing to share. I am perfect. It is quite odd to me that you all have such flaws,” he said with his head held high.

  I wanted to kick him. I wanted to dance with him. However, the music stopped as Mikhail called out, “My fellow immortals, I do believe it is time to feast.”

  One by one, blindfolded humans came into the room, the women wearing nothing but a thin slip and the men in their boxers. Panic for them began to rise; what was about to happen?

  “Go back to Theseus,” Taelon whispered to me seriously, taking the broken butterfly wing and putting it on my wrist like a bracelet.

  “You don’t have, too.”

  “Think of it as thank you gift,” Lucy said when I looked over to Theseus.

  Lucy was already doing the same thing. She let go of him and walked to Taelon.

  Outstretching his hand, I took it and spun closer to him. We walked off the dance floor toward the double glass doors, which lead to another ballroom; only, this one wasn’t full of decadent furnishings. It mimicked the outside patio, the ground made of the best looking and smelling fake grass I’d ever seen. There were even trees, a small pond, and above us, a clear black night sky with a large moon hung within it. It was beautiful and intimate, which was why there were already vampires inside getting handsy with one another.

  “May I be so bold as to ask for the room?” Theseus announced.

  At the sound of his voice, they broke away from each other. The female wiped the lipstick off the corner of her mouth before following her friend out. She gave me a wink before leaving.

  When the doors closed, Theseus exhaled, putting his forehead mine.

  “Finally.” He pulled me close to his body. “I missed you.”

  “It was one dance.”

  “It’s more than that. We haven’t been able to freely speak,” he whispered, cupping my cheek. Again, being surrounded by vampires often makes it hard for privacy. “I also wish to apologize for all the past inequities being mentioned.”

  “You don’t have to apologize. I understand—”

  “I do not wish you to think you are like them,” he said. He peered into my eyes, and I stopped breathing to look back.

  “Am I different because your mother’s gift said so?”

  “I’ll keep saying it until you believe it. You make me feel as if I were a mortal man again.” He brushed my hair from my face, “You are my sun, Druella. I now revolve around you, I crave the warmth of your gaze and touch. I can rest with you, be myself with you, and be the Prince of Night or Lord Thorbørn too. I can be honest. I do not know if I am a hypocrite. I have many character flaws; you will find out.”

&n
bsp; “When?” I whispered, my eyes falling to his lips. “Will it matter? You have noticed, I’ve already almost given into you.”

  “What is holding you back? Your lack of knowledge.”

  “No,” I shook my head. “I’ve been abandoned a lot, Theseus. My mother left me when I was young. My father buried himself in his work and emotionally left me, too. One by one, friends disappeared. So, I don’t let people in easily because I need you to prove first that you’ll stay. Not just when I’m at my best but when I’m at my worst.”

  “I understand.” He kissed my cheek, and I leaned into his lips. “You need an escape, and being mated won’t allow that. I cannot ask you to trust me any more than you have, so know this, even if you never wish to be mated, I will stay by you until you tell me to leave.”

  “You aren’t worried about being called a pet?” I questioned, stroking the side of his face.

  “Here is one of my flaws. I do not often care about others. My heart extends to my family, and you are part of my family now,” he whispered into my neck.

  I shivered when his hands slid down to my backside, and my nipples tightened as I wrapped my arms around him, his chest against mine. I could smell the lust rising from both of us. I couldn’t help but moan as he kissed me, grabbing the top of my breast, playing with my nipples through the fabric with his thumb with one hand, as the other squeezed my ass.

  “Theseus…Oh,” I moaned, my nails digging into his shoulders.

  Slowly, he kissed up my neck, my cheeks, my forehead, my nose, until his lips were directly over mine. The way the moonlight hit the top of his head made it look like he was a saint, and yet, the look in his eyes told me he was anything but. And he was holding on for dear life not to expose the sinister parts of himself. However, I remembered the whispers of every other woman that room, and how they all spoke of him. How they all wanted him, begged him, and yet, here he was right now, begging for me. Wanting only me.