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shitless of me, by the way—to lead us through the doors into the manor, and then to the king’s receiving room where he originally made his proclamation.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.

“If you think you’re sleeping there, you have another thing coming,” I say, moving over to the decorative sofa and bending purposely low to flash my cunt in Vyce’s direction. I take a decorative throw blanket and lay it out, fluffing a pillow dramatically and spinning back around to find Vyce’s pupils dilated, his tongue running across his lower lip.

Aaaaaand I’m pretty sure it’s not my blood that he’s interested in.

“Get on the couch,” I say, pointing at it. We’re required to sleep together three times in the first three days, but it’s still my body and my choice. “Now.”

“I can see you have problems with intimacy,” Vyce says, standing up off my bed and slowly unbuttoning the sleeveless leather tunic he’s wearing. He tosses it aside, his pink nipples hard and almost impossible to look away from. I want to bite them again, suck the blood from his chest.

“Intimacy?” I ask with a laugh as we circle each other. “There’s no intimacy here. This is just business.”

“That first night I picked you up,” he starts and I laugh again.

“Picked me up? Dude, I picked you up.”

Vyce grins and reaches down, slowly unbuttoning and unzipping his leather pants. He peels them down his legs and steps out of them, completely nude and hard as hell. His rock-hard dick is staring me straight in the face.

“Either way, that wasn’t business, was it?” he asks, crossing his arms over the smooth, flat muscles of his pecs, fully aware that he’s a seriously gorgeous piece of ass. It’s written into every line of his face, etched into the curve of his smirk.

“It was for me. I had wounds to heal. I needed sex and vamp blood.” I shrug. “If you will recall, I kicked your ass out of my apartment as soon as we were done.”

“When we saved you from the hellhound, we were taking extra risk,” he continues and I roll my eyes, moving over to the bed and lounging across it in a way that I know will drive Vyce nuts.

“For a client, one whose bargain was going to be aimed at getting you what you want. All selfish motivation. We’re all selfish here.” Vyce smirks at me and turns, heading over to the decorative couch without complaint. Getting naked just to go to bed seems like a pretty far stretch to me, and I’m certain he’s just playing with me.

But when he actually lays down on the couch with his back to me and pulls the blanket up over his body, I find myself getting frustrated.

Seriously?

“Fuck, fine, get over here and we can share the bed so long as you put a pillow between us. Seems silly to make you sleep with your feet sticking off the end of the couch.” I crawl up and get under the covers.

But Vyce doesn’t bother to move.

He just stays where he is, and within minutes, I can hear the soft, easy breath of someone that’s truly asleep.

Wow.

“Really?” I growl out, tossing the covers back and stomping over to him. He’s a vampire, so he’s got that really annoying selective hearing. He doesn’t think of me as a threat, so he ignores me and stays sleeping while I stand over him with my teeth clenched. “Roll your ass over and fuck me. It’s your damn job!” I snap, realizing that I’m being manipulated but not caring.

When he doesn’t respond, I kneel down next to the couch, brush some turquoise hair from his neck...and sink my teeth deep into his throat.

Vyce comes awake with a groan, reaching back and cupping my head, pressing my mouth to his neck. My tongue laps at his sticky, sweet blood before I pull away and he sits up, turning to face me.

“Demanding little thing, aren’t you?” he asks as I reach down and stick my fingers inside of me, lubing them up as he watches. I then wrap them around his cock and squeeze tight.

“I can be, when I feel like someone’s fucking with me,” I retort, sliding my hand up the length of his shaft and letting go. I grasp him again at the base and start over again. Stroke and release, stroke and release. Our eyes stay locked as I work Vyce up with just my hand, adding my mouth when his eyes are so heavy-lidded they’re almost closed.

As soon as my lips wrap around his shaft, his hips buck and he groans dramatically.

“It doesn’t count if I don’t come inside of you,” he growls as I slide my mouth off of him and straddle his lap. Our eyes stay locked as I align myself with his cock, sitting down slowly until he’s fully sheathed inside of me.

We do what’s called a vampire dance, biting each other at the same time. I sink my teeth back into the same bloody spot from earlier while Vyce bites my collarbone, teasing me with his tongue as I rock my hips against his cock. My breasts brush against his chest, nothing but a bit of lace between us.

Vyce puts his hands on my hips, guiding me into the perfect rhythm, one that has both our pulses racing so quick that the blood leaks from our wounds in little spurts. It drips down our flesh in crimson rivulets, staining our white flesh red. When I feel Vyce’s body tense, I speed up slightly and work him until he groans and yanks my head to the side, biting me so hard that I cry out in pain before the vamp pheromones take over and turn the entire moment into one never ending wave of ecstasy.

He comes before me, filling me with his hot liquid before lifting me up and carrying me over to the bed. There’s blood and...juice everywhere, but that doesn’t matter. Vyce kisses my neck, licking and healing my wounds like Wolfe did. Hell, like Vyce himself did that first night. His fingers slip inside of me as his thumb plays a slick game with my clit. My orgasm is deep and powerful, radiating out from the bites on my neck, my nipples, my cunt, my clit. It takes over me and leaves me sleepy and panting.

“Shall I prop that pillow up between us?” Vyce asks with a chuckle.

I just grab a handful of his hair and kiss the fuck out of him.

We end up taking care of all three of those times in one day.

Damn, Vyce Stiltz has got some stamina.