Alik barely had time to get Treestomper back in her stall before Zuriel ordered everyone out of the stables.

“Where did you go?”

“Alik and I just went for a ride. You said that I could come and go as I pleased without asking permission.”

“I meant within the halls of the castle.”

“So I do need to ask if I intend to leave the castle?”

He ran his palm down his face in blatant agitation. “No, you are a queen, you may come and go as you please. But why didn’t you take Tannin with you?”

“It was an impromptu trip.”

His jaw tightened as he struggled with his words. “Was it because you wanted to be alone with the human?”

I laughed. “The human? Isn’t he your ward?”

“I noticed you didn’t answer my question. I know vampires have their appetites, but I will not tolerate disloyalty.”

This was all Mara’s fault. She filled his head with a bunch of nonsense. “If you fear my appetites might lead me astray, why don’t you satisfy them?”

He wouldn’t even consummate his own marriage, and yet he was lecturing me on disloyalty.

“You don’t understand, for us, sex isn’t just recreation, it binds us. How can I bind myself to you when I don’t trust you?”

“But that’s exactly what you expect me to do, isn’t it?”

“Why didn’t you tell me about the werewolf?”

“Because it didn’t matter.”

“He’s been your lover for almost a century, how could he not matter?”

“I didn’t say he didn’t matter, I said that it didn’t matter, as in my relationship with him.”

“I don’t understand.”

“What would have happened if I refused your offer?”

“The council would have insisted we go back to war and I would have been inclined to agree with them.”

“Exactly. Maxwell has lost his entire clan defending the kingdom, and he would have also died if the truce ended. An entire line, wiped from existence in service of my house, and it would have been for nothing because the Deabru would have killed every last one of us. There was no reason to tell you about Max because my feelings for him don’t split my loyalties, they make me even more determined to make this marriage work.”

Zuriel backed up against the wall and slid down onto the floor with his face in his hands. “I proposed at the end of a sword. Didn’t I?”

“I assumed that was fairly obvious.”

“I just didn’t want any more blood. I wanted my sister’s sacrifice to mean something. I didn’t mean to do this to you.” I stood there confused. I was in awe of his honesty and of how vulnerable he had made himself. But part of me was still questioning his every word.

“There were worse things you could have done.”

“Come here.” He held out his arms for me.

I hesitated momentarily but quickly pushed my doubts away and slipped into his lap allowing him to pull me into his warm embrace, his wings cocooning us.

“You must be hungry. You haven’t fed since you arrived here.”

“I am.”

He offered me his wrist and I automatically shook my head.

“Why not?” His dark eyes flickered with concern and confusion.

“I don’t wish to drink Deabru blood.” I stated quickly, avoiding my reasoning as to why, as if he didn’t know already. “Can we send for my slaves?”

I could feel him going stiff around me. “You claim to be the protectors of humans yet you keep them like chattel, how do you reconcile those things?”

“It’s complicated. We’re incredibly possessive over our sources of food. They nourish us. It’s hard to be reasonable when it comes to our humans, so for the sake of maintaining our composure we must have complete dominion over them.”

“So if you were to drink from me, you’d become madly possessive of me and unable to stray?”

“I already won’t stray. I gave my word. Doesn’t a vow from someone who can’t lie mean anything to you?”

“It would mean more if you would drink from me. Bind yourself to me, biologically and then I can trust you.”

I sighed. “That’s not how trust works.”

“Fine. Drink from me. I command it. Isn’t that how a vampire husband would handle this?”

My fangs grew in response to his command. The vein in his wrist pulsed like clockwork, inviting me to take a bite. But I found myself unable to move. His arm was only a few inches away, but I couldn’t close the distance. I couldn’t allow myself to drink from the creatures that killed my people.

Hot tears rolled down my cheeks as I sat there frozen.

“Claudia?”

“Take it back,” I begged in a choked whisper.

“What’s wrong?” his voice laced with genuine concern.

“Please, don’t make me.” I pleaded softly.

“It’s fine. You don’t have to drink if you don’t want to.” He pulled my head against his firm chest and rocked me. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he whispered against my tousled hair. “I just want you to want me.”

His confession threw me through yet another loop. I had grown up being taught how wicked his species was, yet here I was in the most tender of embraces being soothed by their very leader. This was a side I had never been subjected too before and nothing I had ever learned about them had prepared me for it. Something inside of me stirred at his embrace and I couldn’t figure out what it meant.

“If you refuse to believe anything I say for the rest of my days, please believe me when I tell you that forcing your blood down my throat is not the way to win my affections.” I whispered softly against his rugged chest.

We sat in the darkness trying to reach for each other, but lifetimes of pain and hatred stood between us. A chasm so deep and wide I wasn’t sure how we’d ever get across it and reach one another.