After drinking from Thea, the blood from the bottles was almost tasteless. I stared at the full glass in front of me. Plain, that was one word to call it. But still, I had to push it down my throat. I needed my strength if I wanted to be ready to attack.

In the living room, Luana grunted. She had been pacing in front of the couch for the last hour, grunting every few seconds. Her fast heartbeat and breathing told me she was nervous. Anxious. I was too, but I could do nothing about it other than wait for the right moment.

I sighed and my thoughts returned to Thea. She hadn’t been this annoying. I mean, yes, she had pissed me off in the beginning, but she had calmed down. Thea used to lie down on the couch, read, and talk to me. She had been my safe haven, and she still had no idea.

Luana wouldn’t stop. She paced, she complained, she grunted, she marched up and down the hallway, and she complained some more. I had to refrain from squeezing her neck at least three times a day.

Luana grunted. “This is maddening. You saw her last night. She must have told you when the witches will be ready.”

“Thea doesn’t know.” I had probably told her that several times since I came back from the cottage last night. “She’ll send a message when it’s time.”

She crossed her arms. “So we’re supposed to sit here and wait?”

I nodded. “Pretty much.”

Luana grunted once more then stormed off. Acting like a teenager, she slammed the door to her bedroom and hid inside.

I sighed. She was nineteen years old, for hell’s sake. She was still a teenager. And not much younger than Thea, who had gone through worse.

I had to give these young women credit. Here I was, dealing with upcoming wars when I was almost five hundred years old, and they were only twenty and nineteen.

I felt like an old man. Now all I needed was white hair, a beard, and a beer belly.

A smile spread over my face. Until I remembered I would never grow old.

I didn’t like to think about that because it reminded me of Thea. Witches lived long lives. I had heard of some who had been a little over a thousand years old before they passed, but even if Thea lived that long, she would one day die, and I wouldn’t.

Not liking the direction of my thoughts, I downed the blood in the glass and went for a walk. Being outside, taking in fresh air, and watching the moon would do me some good and ease my worries, if only for a few minutes.

I was in the second hallway near the main stairs when I sensed him.

Every nerve in my body tensed, and I clenched my teeth.

“Alex,” I snarled, once I was sure he was in hearing distance.

In the blink of an eye, he was standing in front of me. “It’s Lord Alex now.” His lips curled into a smug smile. But worse than his grin was the necklace hanging from his neck. I hated seeing Lord Reynard’s silver cross pendant, the symbol of our coven, resting against Alex’s chest.

I bent at my waist, going low, even lower than I had ever gone for Lord Reynard. “Yes, my Lord,” I spat out.

Alex pushed me against the wall, his arm in front of my neck. “Show me respect, worm. I’m your Lord now and you’re …” He stared at me from my head to my toes and back. “You’re nothing.”

I wouldn’t fall for his tricks. I wouldn’t let him get to me. The moment I retaliated, he would know I had been lying about my lost memories and Thea’s control.

He would win.

“If you say so.”

“That’s right,” he said in a low growl. “You’re nothing, and you’ll always be nothing.” I bit my tongue to refrain from saying anything. This was harder than I thought. “Now that I’m Lord, I can do anything I want. I can kill as many humans as I want. Did you know we’re having another feast soon?” My eyes widened, but I smoothed my expression before he noticed. He continued, “Of course you don’t. You’re not a prince anymore. You don’t participate in the meetings anymore. You don’t have a say in any of it.” He smiled. “I was going to have a feast every month, but I think every week serves better. This way, we don’t need to drink from bottles. Only fresh. So much better.”

Rage grew inside me. What the hell was he thinking? Lord Reynard had asked me to put down a werewolf alpha who didn’t mind the humans finding out about supernaturals. Alex was going in the same direction by hosting feasts every week. The humans would notice. It would be hard to erase or change everyone’s mind. It was grotesque and wrong.

“If you say so,” I said through gritted teeth. What I really wanted was to push him back and break his neck.

He shoved me against the wall. “What’s wrong with you? Do something. Show me some emotion. Where’s your rage? It seems you’re truly nothing.” He eased his grip on me. “Oh well. When I take a dozen blood slaves and drain them dry, you won’t have a say in it. And when I come for your blood slave, you won’t be able to say anything either.”

My mind filled with images that made me sick: Thea in his arms in this same corridor as he was about to bite her neck; Thomas crying and jerking at the guillotine and Alex laughing in pleasure.

What would he do to Luana?

I didn’t want to know.

The rage erupted, and I pushed him back until he was against the wall and my hands around his neck.

“Don’t you dare—”

Alex laughed. “What? Do you think you can stop me?”

He retaliated by spinning us around and shoving me into the wall. Then, he did something I wasn’t prepared for.

He bit me.

Alex bared his fangs and sank his teeth in my neck. Pain erupted under my skin.

I had a choice here. To fight back and only hell knew what would happen. If I fought back, he would make things harder for me. He would probably put more guards by my door, and he would grill Luana. He would punish my men, the same ones he kept away from me.

But if I let him bite me, he would think I admitted he was stronger, he was better. He was the lord of the castle. Biting another vampire was a great show of disrespect, and it was showing Alex I was his bitch. As much as I hated it, I needed Alex off my back for the takeover plan to work.

So I let him bite me.

He pulled back a few second later, licking his lips. “Stay down, dog.” With a winning grin, Alex stormed off.

I leaned against the wall, ashamed, but proud of my self-control. I ran a hand over my neck, but it had already stopped bleeding and the holes were closing. Thankfully, I wouldn’t have a mark left behind.

Conflicted, I thought about going back to my quarters and lying down on my bed and dreaming about Thea, but that was the coward in me talking, and I wasn’t a freaking coward.

Ignoring my hurt pride, I resumed my walk to the gardens.

More guards than usual patrolled the outside of the castle, but they didn’t bother me as I made my way to the stone bench where I first kissed Thea. I didn’t know why, but I always ended up there.

I sat down on the bench and closed my eyes, conjuring memories of Thea and holding on to them. Better than thinking about what I had let Alex do.

I felt like my honor was slipping between my fingers like water.

“My Prince,” Thomas called me.

I snapped my eyes open and stared at the whitish shape forming in front of me. It was odd how I hadn’t sensed him coming, but I guess I couldn’t sense ghosts.

“Thomas, it’s good to see you,” I said, being honest. After my encounter with Alex, seeing a friendly face was a nice relief. Even if that friendly face was a ghost. His form looked brighter today. “It seems you’re getting the hang of the ghost thing.”

He looked down at himself. “It’s getting easier, I guess.”

I nodded, unsure what to say. He was a ghost, after all, because of me. “So, anything to tell me?”

“Actually, yes, my Prince,” he said. “I think I found something.”

I held my breath. “What?”

“A rebel camp of vampires.”