Chapter 12

CHAPTER12

There was a firm, loud knock at my door, and I took a deep breath before moving toward it. My dress swirled around me like glitter as I walked, and I knew that this was exactly what the queen wanted.

Attention.

And she was sure to have it.

I opened the door and was surprised to see Evren standing on the other side instead of one of the guards.

The smile on his face fell as his gaze roamed over every inch of tight fabric that showed off my body that the dress was meant to cover, and I watched his hand ball into a fist as he noticed the long slit that crawled up my thigh.

“Princess.” He cleared his throat roughly before bringing his gaze back up to meet mine. “I’ve come to escort you to your first ball.”

“Shouldn’t Gavril be doing that?” I asked even though I was more than happy that it was Evren instead of his brother.

“The crowned prince is already in attendance at the ball. His grace was presented with the king and queen.”

“But not you?”

“Not me.” He smiled again, this time the move looked genuine as he stared down at me with his dark eyes.

He was wearing his signature black attire, but his dark trousers were finely pressed and perfectly tucked into leather boots and his shirt was molded to his skin like it was made for no other. And for the first time since I first met the prince, he wore a pin of his father’s royal crest along his chest.

“You look…” He hesitated for a moment and his gaze fell to my bodice which was barely covered in white satin and the sheer jeweled fabric that fell along my shoulders. “Unbelievable.” He shook his head.

I could feel heat rising in my chest as I looked away from him. All I could think about was the way I had been on my knees before him only the night before. “You look handsome as well.”

“I do not compare, princess.” He ran his hand over the front of his trousers. “Whatever I am, it does not measure to you.”

I tried not to let him see how much his words affected me, but it was impossible. I was completely and irrevocably altered by his words.

“Thank you, Evren.”

He held out his hand for mine, and I placed it there without hesitation. My star marks sparked to life with the first touch of his skin to mine, and it was odd to feel him against my thigh along with my back and cheeks.

I had hardly noticed the night before because I had felt him everywhere.

He tucked my hand into the crook of his arm as he slowly closed my door behind us and led us down the hallway toward the ball. A ball that was being held in my honor although I had zero interest in attending.

“I don’t want to do this.” I dug my fingers into Evren’s bicep, and he stopped in his tracks.

The hallway was quiet and empty, and even though I knew the palace was filled with others waiting to see me, when I looked up at him, I felt like we were alone.

“I’ll be there the whole time, princess. No one is going to hurt you.” His dark eyes looked over every inch of me. “You have been hurt under my watch once, and I refused to allow it to happen again.”

But being physically hurt wasn’t what I feared the most. I didn’t want to be paraded around their ballroom like a prized cattle who was nothing but a trophy before she was to be slaughtered. I didn’t want to feel their eyes or their hands on me.

I felt desperate to hide away. To run.

But as Evren stared down at me, I knew that wasn’t a choice. He swore no one would hurt me, but it would be by his family’s hand that I would suffer the most.

He lifted his hand before tracing his thumb over my jaw and my bottom lip faintly. I could smell traces of leather on his skin, and even though I knew I shouldn’t, I pressed my tongue against the tip of his thumb before he could pull it away.

His gaze darkened and his thumb pressed harder against me as his fist tilted my chin to look up at him. “You’re playing a dangerous game, princess.”

“And what game is that?” I baited him. I wanted an argument, anything that would take me away from the fate that was set in front of me.

“The game where I take you back to your room and fuck you instead of going to this absurd ball.” He pressed closer to me, and I didn’t dare back away. I was desperate to feel how badly he wanted me. “Instead of this perfect fucking version of the Starblessed they’ve created, you’ll arrive to them depraved and sated.” He leaned forward and his mouth pressed against his thumb and my lips. “My brother will look at you, and every bit of doubt he’s had about your desires will knock the breath from his lungs. He’ll have no choice but to see how badly you need me, how easily I taught you things I’ve been dreaming about since I first laid eyes on you.”

My stomach tightened and moisture pooled between my legs. “And what if that’s not what I want?”

He laughed soft and low. “We both know that it is, princess. I can smell how badly you want me right now. I can’t get the thought of you on your knees before me out of my head. I can still remember exactly what you tasted like off my fingers. I’m dying to see if it’s any different when my head is buried between your thighs and you’re pledging your loyalty with a scream of pleasure.”

“Evren,” I whispered his name in warning, but it sounded like I was begging him to do exactly as he promised.

He moved a hand around me, and he pressed his rough fingers into my exposed back. “Gods, Adara.” He ran his nose along my jaw, and my chest rose and fell quickly against his. “You undo me every time my name is uttered from your lips.”

My back arched as his power thrummed through me, and a deep ache started between my thighs. An ache I hadn’t been able to get rid of since I met him.

“We’re supposed to be at the ball.”

“We are.” He nodded against my neck, breathing me in deeply. “Lots of people are expecting to see the future queen of Citlali.”

He spoke the words, but he didn’t move away from me. If anything, he pulled me tighter against him until I knew that my dress would be wrinkled from his touch.

“But gods, I must taste you before they have their fill.” Evren walked backward, pulling me with him, and I almost tripped over the skirts of my dress as he fumbled for the stone wall and ran his hands along the smooth stone.

For a moment, I wondered what he was doing, but then the stone moved, just as it had for the guard, and Evren pulled me inside the dark corridor that was lit tonight by a few lanterns that hung from the wall. The stone had hardly closed before he wrapped his hand around my neck and tugged me toward him.

“What is this place?” It was small enough that the two of us standing together were forced to be close, but the corridor stretched on for as far as I could see.

“It’s the guards’ passage.” He forced me back against the wall and ran his lips along my neck. “We use it to get where we need to be in the palace quickly.”

“And does the queen know of it?”

His teeth grazed over my collarbone, and my eyes fluttered closed at the sensation.

“There is very little that the queen doesn’t know, princess. But she is far too busy tonight to wonder what’s going on in the halls of her castle.” He brought his mouth up to meet mine then, and he kissed me roughly, as if it was taking every bit of his control not to consume me.

And I kissed him back just as carelessly.

He groaned when my tongue met his, and I could taste the hint of ale on his tongue.

“Put your hands on the wall, princess.” He pushed me forward until I was forced to comply with his words, and I pressed my hands into the stone just above my head as Evren held on to my hips. “Fuck, you’re beautiful.” He ran his hand from the top of my shoulders down my spine, and I inhaled a sharp breath when I felt him drop to his knees behind me.

He pulled my skirt to the side, the slit at my thigh allowing him access, and his fingers grazed over my undergarments in a whisper of a touch. I jolted when he pressed more firmly against my sex, and I heard his soft laugh behind me.

“So ready for me. Aren’t you?” He slid the fabric to the side and dipped his fingers beneath until they met my flesh. “So damn wet.”

I clamped my eyes closed as he gathered my moisture with his fingers before slowly sinking them inside me. I widened my legs to give him better access to my body, and he pressed a gentle kiss to the back of my thigh.

“Do you want my mouth on you, princess? Do you want me to taste what lays between your perfect fucking thighs?”

I nodded my head before looking behind me to where he kneeled. He was watching me so intently, and I knew that I would never experience this again. No matter what happened in my life, I would never experience a lover as possessive as Evren.

“Has anyone tasted you before, or does that honor belong to me?” He nipped at my thigh and my knees threatened to buckle.

“Only you,” I whispered and reached behind me to touch him. I ran my fingers along the back of his neck and felt the way his hair fell through them.

He lifted my skirt then and his tongue caressed the bottom curve of my backside. My hips surged back, searching for his mouth, desperate for his tongue to be exactly where I needed him.

Evren’s hand slipped away from my sex and roughly grabbed my hips before he ripped away the delicate lace of my undergarments.

“Fuck, you taste even sweeter than I imagined.”

“Oh gods.” I pressed my forehead against my arm just as he jerked my hips backward and forced my bottom to arch almost uncomfortably so.

I wasn’t prepared for what he was doing, and when the first swipe of his tongue met my sex, I cried out against my arm.

“That’s it, princess,” Evren spoke against my skin. “Let me hear exactly what I’m doing to you.”

He sucked my flesh into his mouth before he gently lapped at it with his tongue, and I was far too aroused to even consider being embarrassed by the fact that the prince was eating my flesh like a man starved.

His tongue worked me softly before moving faster, a constant change of pace that was driving me crazy, and just when I was about to scream in frustration, Evren spun me around to face him and slammed my back against the stone.

He lifted my thigh in his hands, the one that now held a mark that was somehow equal parts me and him, and his tongue ran over the starlight and shadows just as he hooked my thigh over his shoulder.

The move felt like a direct line to my sex, and I quickly brought my hand down to chase that feeling while he teased me along my magic.

“That’s not happening, princess.” Evren quickly pulled my fingers away from my core before dipping them into his mouth and licking away the evidence of what I had just done. “Your pleasure is mine and mine alone.”

There was no more teasing after that. He widened my legs and sucked my sensitive nub into his mouth in one move, and I quickly gripped my fingers in his hair to keep myself from falling over. The pleasure was explosive and obscene, and I cried out his name as it began coursing through my body.

Everything inside me felt like it was pulled taut, and I knew I was going to snap before I could stop it. “Evren, please.”

He slid two fingers inside me unexpectedly, and he curled them toward himself as he sucked harder on my nub.

“You’re mine, Adara. Regardless of who you dance with tonight or who you’re presented as. You belong to me. Anyone who has you after this will have you with traces of the bastard prince left on your skin.”

His fingers on my hip tightened, and I fell apart with a cry as I rode his face until every drop of pleasure coursed through my body.

“That’s it, princess. Scream my name while they eagerly await you. You are their savior but my demise. You are to ruin every part of me.”

He pressed a gentle kiss between my thighs, then another along the new mark on my leg, before he slowly lowered it and made sure I was steady on my feet. He was still on his knees before me, and as I looked upon him, I could still see my moisture coating his lips.

He lowered my skirt, straightening it back to where it belonged, before he stood in front of me. I was still bracing my back against the wall as I stared at him, and he grinned as if he knew.

“Would you like to know, princess?”

“Know what?”

“What it is you taste like off my lips? It seems unfair that I’ve tasted myself from yours, but you haven’t had the pleasure to know how sweet you are against my mouth.” He leaned forward before I could answer and pressed his mouth to mine. He forced his tongue inside before I could object, and he groaned as I chased the taste of us mixed together with my own.

“I don’t want to take you to this fucking ball,” he growled before taking a step back away from me.

“But?”

He pressed his hand to the wall again, and this time it opened far easier than the last. “But, I must, princess.”

He reached out for me, and I let him take my hand. He pulled me back into the hallway where this all started, and I pressed my legs together as the fact that I was no longer wearing undergarments hit me full force.

“Unfortunately, everyone will notice if you don’t show.”

He placed my hand back in the crook of his arm before he ran his other hand through his hair, then he started forward as if he hadn’t just completely unarmed me. If I was unprepared to face everyone at the ball before, I was wholly defenseless now.

The closer we got to the ballroom, the louder and louder the music became, until the loud crescendo felt like it was teasing the racing of my heart in my chest.

“I’ll be here the whole time,” Evren whispered before he placed an inconspicuous kiss on the top of my head.

We rounded the corner to the ballroom, and a few of Evren’s guards stood watch just outside the doors. All three of them bowed as we approached, and I fidgeted with my dress to make sure there wasn’t an inch out of place.

Would the guests be able to see where Evren’s hands had bunched the fabric and moved it out of his way as he dove into my flesh, or would they see me exactly like the queen hoped?

“Starblessed. Captain.” One of the older guards moved toward us. “The queen is waiting for you.”

Evren nodded once in his direction before leading me toward the door, and I took a deep breath and closed my eyes before I had to face the reality of the night ahead of me.

“Breathe.” Evren’s voice was a plea, and when I opened my eyes again, we were stepping into the ballroom surrounded by hundreds of faces of people I didn’t know.

Every one of them stopped what they were doing to watch me as we made our way through them. I could hear their hushed whispers and gasps of surprise as I passed. My mark. Every one of them turned their heads to stare at my mark on my back.

I had almost forgotten about it when I was with Evren. It was almost as if my mark didn’t matter when I was with him. But that was absurd.

My mark mattered more than my own life. It was everything that I was and everything that this kingdom wanted from me. And tonight, I was here to show it off.

The crowd moved as we walked, clearing a path for the Starblessed escorted by the bastard prince, and I knew that was how they all saw us. Neither one of us was more than what they had labeled us, and as Gavril came into view, his gaze searched me out and he didn’t even notice his brother at my side.

It was a mistake on his part.

Because his brother was all I could see.

He started toward us with a grin on his face, and he bowed deeply once he stood in front of me. “Adara,” he sighed my name before reaching his hand out for me. “You look breathtaking.”

“Thank you.” My hand clenched against Evren before I mustered the courage to drop my hold on him and allow his brother to pull me away.

Gavril pulled me into his side without acknowledging his brother, and he led me toward the dais where the king and queen waited. “Gods, you’re beautiful.” Gavril ran his fingers down my spine, and chill bumps were left in his wake.

I was still so raw from his brother, so on edge.

The urge to bow before the queen was overwhelming, but I somehow managed to keep my head held high like I hadn’t just let the other prince of their kingdom eat from my flesh.

“You look different, Starblessed.” Those were the first words she spoke, and my breath rushed out of me as fear consumed me.

“What?” There was no way for her to know. No possible way that she could see the way Evren had marked my soul with his touch.

“Your thigh.” She nodded toward the slit in my dress. “That star mark hasn’t always been there.” She narrowed her eyes as she studied it. “It’s different than the others.”

“Oh.” I pressed my fingers to the new mark Evren had given me and looked down at the scar as my heart raced. “No, Your Majesty. It’s new.”

She smiled, although the motion held no trace of pleasure, and looked back and forth between her son and me. “It would appear that this betrothal will bring out the best in both of you.” She paused for a long moment as her gaze fell back to my thigh. “Please dance. Let our guests gaze upon the magic that mars your skin.”

I watched as her hard gaze fell on Evren before she looked back at me slowly, and my stomach sank at her assessment. Her eyes narrowed on me before they fell back to my thigh, and my hands trembled at my sides. Whatever she was seeing was wrong. I had to make sure she believed that.

I turned toward Gavril and smiled at him with as much joy as I could muster. “Then let’s dance.”

He pulled me toward the middle of the floor where others were already dancing, and for the first time since I walked into the room, I noticed how handsome he looked. His brown hair was pushed back out of his face perfectly, and his clothes hung close to his body in a way that drew you in.

“I didn’t think you were ever going to get here.” He laughed as he lifted my hands and placed them along his shoulders. He ran his fingers slowly down my arms, and I tried not to tense under his touch.

“This dress took a long time to get into.”

He laughed softly, and his gaze fell to my chest. “I bet it did. Did I tell you how beautiful you look in it?”

“You did.” I smiled and looked away from him, and I was reminded of how on display we were.

Everyone in the room was watching us, assessing their future king and me, and I could see them waiting for me to make a mistake.

“There will be a few noblemen who will ask for your hand in a dance tonight.”

My gaze flew back up to meet Gavril’s.

“The queen has requested that you accept.”

“Requested or demanded?” My heart raced at the thought of having to dance with anyone else. Of having their hands on me.

Gavril gave me a tight smile. “I guess they are one and the same.”

I nodded because I knew exactly what that meant. I didn’t have a choice.

“But trust me, Adara. The thought drives me mad.” His hands tightened around my waist as he whirled us around the dance floor. “I don’t wish to see any other man have his hands on what’s mine.”

His words stiffened my spine because I feared what he would do if he was to ever find out about the way his brother had touched me. The way he has taken what was his right under his nose.

“I’ll do what I need to.”

I looked toward the queen where she was talking to a few men, but her eyes were directly on me. Watching my every move.

I would do whatever it took to make her not suspicious of the son that wasn’t of her blood and me. I searched for him throughout the sea of people and finally found him standing near the door with a few of his guards. They were speaking to one another, all three with grimaces on their faces, but Evren’s eyes were tracking me.

The music slowed before the final notes floated through the room, and Gavril held me firmer against him as our footsteps stopped along with the sound.

“Come on.” He smiled down at me playfully, and my chest tightened. “Let’s get you some wine before you’re forced to dance with some men who aren’t nearly as good of a dancer as I am.”

“You think you’re a good dancer?” I teased, and I hated how heavy it felt in my chest. Gavril was being kind to me, and I was doing nothing but betraying him anytime he simply looked away.

“I have been told that a time or two.” He chuckled and wrapped his hand around mine. “Do you think I need more training?”

“Maybe.” I laughed as he pouted. “But I’m certain that the two of us will get more than our fair share of training tonight.”

“That we will.” He dropped my hand long enough to grab a goblet of wine from a long table that was filled with alcohol and food, and he handed it to me before grabbing his own. “And this should help.”

I took a long sip of the wine and tried to allow it to calm my nerves. I would need far more than a single glass, but I was thankful for the small reprieve.

I finished the glass quickly, and Gavril didn’t say a word as he took the empty glass from my hand and gave me another. He simply smiled as if he knew how much tonight was going to take from me. He smiled at me like he wasn’t the prince who was forcing my hand in marriage because he wanted me for my mark and not for me.

And for a moment, it hit me that Evren probably wanted the same. There was no doubt in my mind that the bastard prince wanted me in a way that was indescribable. He wanted my flesh, and I wanted him just as badly, but would he crave me the way he did if I hadn’t been the girl who was destined?

I sought him out again, my gaze knowing exactly where to find him, and he was watching us both so intently as if I was standing with the enemy and not his blood.

“Excuse me, Your Grace.” I was caught off guard as an older man bent into a low bow in front of Gavril, drawing my attention back to him. “May I ask for the Starblessed’s hand in a dance?”

He stood back to his full height, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. There was something familiar about this man, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but I knew that I knew him.

“Of course.” Gavril patted his shoulder before turning to me with a smile. “Adara, this is Nobleman Etkin.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Starblessed.” He smiled at me kindly, but my back was straight and the muscles in my legs tight and ready to flee.

“Likewise.” It was the only word I could manage.

He held his hand out to me that was worn from age, and I looked to Gavril as I hesitated. But he was smiling up at the man like he couldn’t imagine there being anyone else better for me to dance with.

He wasn’t going to stop this no matter how badly I was begging him with my eyes.

I slipped my hand into the nobleman’s and allowed him to pull me away from Gavril and back to the dance floor.

He held one of my hands in his own, and I lifted my other to rest on his shoulder. I looked anywhere but at him as he started leading me around the floor, but my back was turned to Evren. I just needed to look at him once.

“How are you enjoying the kingdom of Citlali thus far, Starblessed?”

I was forced to look up at him then, and I quickly studied his eyes as I answered. “It’s been lovely.”

“Good.” He nodded once, his gray hair barely moving out of place. “And everyone has been kind to you?”

My stomach dropped as I listened to his words. I knew this man. I knew him, but I didn’t know from where. I didn’t recall meeting him throughout the castle, but I had to be wrong.

“Have we met before?” I studied his eyes and watched as a flicker of fear entered them at my question.

“No, Starblessed. I just arrived in the capital a few short days ago.”

It hit me then who he was, and my entire body stiffened as he tried to turn me along the floor.

“Are you all right, Starblessed?”

I nodded even as my heart raced, and I looked over his shoulder, praying that Evren was still where he had been when I last sought him out.

His eyes met mine instantly, and I sighed in relief. Here I was dancing in the arms of the man who had attacked me only a few nights ago, and all I needed was to see Evren. He shifted as soon as he saw the look on my face. One simple look, and he was marching toward us with determination.

“My daughters told me that they had the pleasure of meeting you yesterday. Both were honored to spend time with the Starblessed.”

His words quickly drew my attention back to him. “Quinn and Lydia are your daughters?”

“They are.” He smiled like a proud father and not the man who had shoved a knife into my leg with no remorse. “They grew up in this palace with Gavril. It feels like home to them.”

“Excuse me, Nobleman Etkin.” Evren stopped at my side, close enough that we had no choice but to stop our dance. “I would love to have a dance with the Starblessed if I can interrupt. She did promise to save me one.”

“Of course,” he said quickly, although his face contorted in annoyance. “We shall talk again later.” He nodded toward me, and I quickly returned the movement.

Evren didn’t hesitate as he took my hand from the man and pulled my body into his. He held me closer than even Gavril had, and I tried to put some space between us but he refused. He spun us around the floor effortlessly, getting us lost in the mix of the others, and only then did he open his mouth.

“What’s wrong?” He searched my face quickly, scanning every inch of me.

“I don’t…” I shook my head because I didn’t know how to put into words what I believed to be the truth.

“What is wrong, princess?” He said the words through his teeth, annunciating each one.

“Who was that man?” I nodded to where I had just been dancing.

“Did he say something to you?” His gaze turned murderous, and I quickly shook my head.

“No. Who is he to you?”

“He is Quinn’s father.” He nodded toward where the girl was dancing with someone else. “He has been a part of my father’s court for as long as I can remember.”

“But he doesn’t live in the palace?”

“Not anymore.” His hands tightened against the small of my back. “Why are you asking?”

I shook my head because I didn’t want to tell him. What if I was wrong? What if he wasn’t the man I had seen that night?

“Fucking tell me, princess.” He growled at me, and my heart raced even harder.

“It’s just…” I looked back for the man, but he was nowhere to be found. “I think he was the man who attacked me.”

Evren’s body went rigid under my hands, and I knew that I shouldn’t have said anything.

“I’m sorry. I must be mistaken. I shouldn’t have said that.”

He looked down at me, and I could see the anger burning in his gaze. My hands loosened against him, and for the first time since I met Evren, I truly feared the man standing in front of me.

“I’m sorry.”

“Do not apologize.” He shook his head before looking over my shoulder with the same ferocity that he had just been directing at me. “Don’t you dare fucking apologize for that coward.”

“But what if I’m wrong?” I shook my head and tried to pull away from him, but he held me tighter against him. “He’s a part of your father’s court.”

“I don’t give a damn if it was my father himself, princess. No one will hurt you and not see the end of my blade.”

I was shocked by his words, but when I looked up at him, he was staring down at me with nothing but truth in his gaze. I wanted Evren desperately, but he was still my enemy. The blood that ran through his veins was the very blood that was trapping me here, but he was also something more.

He would destroy anyone who hurt me, but would he do the same when it came to his brother?

“You should never be afraid of telling me the truth of what is bothering you.” He lifted his hand and pushed a stray strand of my hair out of my face, and the urge to lean forward and kiss him was overwhelming. He had just had his head buried between my legs, but it wasn’t enough.

If anything, it only made me crave him more.

“Evren,” I whispered his name as I turned my face into his hand, and that was when I remembered where we were. Faces I didn’t know were staring back at me, but I easily recognized the look they were giving me as they looked back and forth between their bastard prince and me.

They could see everything I had been trying to hide.

“The queen is watching us.” Evren pulled his hand away from my face before putting the slightest distance between us. To everyone else, it would appear as nothing, but to me, it felt like he was a thousand miles away. “I will find you after.”

He slowly bent into a bow as the last notes of the song rang out through the room, and I couldn’t look away from him as he rose before walking away from me. He left me standing alone in the middle of the dance floor, but everyone was still watching me.

When I turned back to face the queen, Evren was right. She stared at me with a cold, shrewd stare, and I could barely look away from her. Not as Gavril came back into my view with a charming smile on his face or when he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me back into a dance.

The queen watched me through it all, and I knew that she was dissecting the way I held on to Gavril versus Evren. But even knowing, I wouldn’t be able to convince her.

“I’d like to show you something.”

I looked away from the queen long enough to look up at my betrothed, and his smile was tight as he watched me.

“Okay.” I nodded even though I didn’t want to go anywhere but back to my room. I wanted to find Evren and disappear in his darkness for just a few more moments.

But that wasn’t going to happen.

Gavril took my hand in his, and he laid a gentle kiss against my knuckles before he pulled me toward him. I followed behind him as we left the ballroom, and every eye was on us. This was what I needed them to see. I needed them to feel how in love I was with their crowned prince.

I needed them to believe something that would never be the truth.

Gavril pulled me into the hall, and I finally took a deep breath as I walked to keep up with him. He took me down the hall where I knew Evren’s room was, and he kept going even after we passed his door.

He didn’t say a word as we walked, he just pulled me along after him, and the farther we got from the ballroom, the harder my heart raced in my chest.

“Where are we going, Gavril?” I could hear the fear in my voice, and so could he. His hand tightened its hold on me as if he feared I was going to run.

“To my rooms.” He glanced back at me for only a moment, but he didn’t stop even as fear crawled up my chest and threatened to bubble over into a scream.

There was nothing for me in Gavril’s room. Nothing that I didn’t fear.

He stopped in front of a large set of double doors, and I glanced at the two guards that stood outside them. I pleaded with them with my eyes to do something, anything, but neither of them held my gaze for long.

They simply nodded toward their future king as he pushed through the doorway and pulled me behind him.

His room was massive and lit up with dozens of candles and lanterns throughout the space. A fire roared in the far corner and a bead of sweat dripped down the long expanse of my exposed back within seconds of entering the room.

Two more guards stood in the room near Gavril’s bed, and when I noticed them, I stalled and jerked my hand from Gavril’s.

“What are we doing?” I backed up until my back hit the doors with a loud thump, and Gavril turned to me with so much mistrust in his eyes.

“How did you get that new mark, Adara?” His gaze slid down to my leg, and I quickly tried to cover it with the sides of my dress.

“I don’t know. I told your mother—”

“The queen doesn’t trust you,” he cut me off before I could finish. “She doesn’t believe a word that slips past your lips.”

“And you?”

He shook his head, and I knew that Gavril didn’t have the opportunity to form his own thoughts. Whatever he believed of me was fueled by his mother.

“I believe that this union is going to save our kingdom. You and I are going to be the very thing our people have begged and prayed for. It doesn’t matter where you got that new mark as long as it fuels us to be the strongest king and queen that this court has ever seen.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask him if he cared about what his brother had been doing to me. Did he care that I was betrothed to him but desperate for someone who should have been the most loyal in his court?

“What are we doing here, Gavril?”

The door pushed open behind me, and I quickly moved out of the way so it could open fully. I wanted to run before any of them could stop me, but I wasn’t able to do a thing as the queen walked into the room and the door closed silently behind her.

“Good. You haven’t begun yet.”

“Begun what?” I took another step backward toward the fire I felt desperate to get away from and looked between them. But I already knew the answer. I knew the moment I walked into this palace what they wanted from me, but I wasn’t ready for them to take it.

They couldn’t just take from me.

“Gavril, take her to the bed.” The queen nodded toward his massive bed that was centered in the room, and I jumped when Gavril reached out for me.

“Please don’t do this. I’m not ready for you to do this.”

There was no sympathy on his face as he grabbed my wrist in his hand and tugged me toward him. I tried to pull away, to fight against his hold, but it was no use.

He pulled me into his chest and wrapped an arm around my back. He lifted me against him as if I weighed nothing, my feet dangling above the floor, and a tear slid down my cheek as he moved us toward the bed.

“Please, Gavril.”

“Hush, Adara,” he commanded me. “This will be pleasurable for the both of us.”

I pushed against his chest as he led me to the bed, and when my gaze connected with the queen’s over his shoulder, I began kicking in an attempt to get away. Someone grabbed my arm, and I cried out as I looked behind me and found one of the guards now trying to hold me still.

“Put her in the chair,” Gavril commanded him, and he pushed me into the arms of the guard as he moved toward his bed.

I slammed my head back, connecting with the guard’s face, and he let out a curse before the other guard joined him in his hold on me. Their hands dug into my skin, the bite of pain fueling my fear, and even though I barely budged an inch, I didn’t stop fighting them as they forced me down into the chair and held me against it.

I watched as Gavril lifted a dagger into his hand and unsheathed it before him. He was going to use that dagger on me. He was going to pierce my skin against my will and take from me.

And I couldn’t just sit here and allow it to happen.

“You said that this wouldn’t happen until we were married.” I looked up at the queen as I kicked and tried my hardest to pull out of the guard’s hold. “You promised me.”

“I underestimated you, Starblessed.” The queen stepped closer to me, and I stilled with every inch she closed in on me. “That mark on your leg didn’t just appear. That is the result of magic. I’m not a fool.”

I clamped my mouth closed as I stared at her. There was no way that I would tell her the truth of what happened. I would never tell her that Evren was the cause of that beautiful scar on my skin.

“If you won’t tell us where that mark came from, then Gavril will taste it within your blood. We shall see how powerful you make my son before he is forever attached to a girl with nothing but lies on her tongue.”

Gavril came back into my view with the dagger held in front of him and determination in his gaze. Nothing I said was going to stop him.

“Gavril, please,” I begged a man who I knew didn’t really care about me, but he refused to meet my eyes.

“This will only hurt for a moment, Adara.” He dropped to his knees in front of me, and when I kicked out toward him, he pinned my knees in front of him, pressing his torso against my legs. “Hold her still.”

Both guards had a hold of my arms, pinning them down to the chair, and I didn’t stand a chance of getting away from them. I whimpered when I tried to struggle free again and didn’t budge an inch. I hated that I was showing so much weakness in front of Gavril and the queen, but I couldn’t stop the panic that was crawling over my skin. Even my mark burned against me as if in warning of what was to come. It knew this wasn’t right. This wasn’t what we wanted, but I had no choice. My blood was going to be drained from me despite my desires.

Gavril lifted his dagger, never once meeting my gaze, but I didn’t look away from him as he pressed the metal into my inner wrist, and pain sliced through my skin.

My blood pulled there, seeping through the cut on my arm and dripping down the side of my wrist and onto my pristine dress.

“I’m sorry, Starblessed.” Gavril dropped the dagger at his side before leaning forward and hovering his mouth over my wrist. I didn’t know what to expect, but I felt so violated as he stared down my blood with more admiration than he had ever given me.

“Please, Gavril,” I begged him again with fear coating my words. “Please don’t do this. Not tonight.”

But he still wasn’t listening to me. He leaned forward, closing the space between his mouth and my blood, and when his tongue swiped out of his mouth and lapped at the blood on my skin, I screamed.

I closed my eyes as I cried out, praying that anyone would hear me, that anyone would dare go against the queen to save me, and I hated that there was only one name on my lips. One name that I shouldn’t have dared whispered.

Evren.

I screamed for him as Gavril sealed his mouth over the cut and began sucking the blood from my veins. My scream cut off as the sensation overpowered me, and I opened my eyes to watch my betrothed as warmth raked through my body and my mark burned against my skin.

My mark had only felt so real when Evren had touched me, but that was different. This was, it felt… a soft moan slipped past my lips.

I watched as he fed from me, and even though I wanted to pull my arm away, I was frozen exactly where he wanted me. A rush of pleasure shot through me as he sucked deeper, and my eyes rolled back as I tried to make sense of what was happening.

I didn’t want this, but my body buzzed with desire.

“Please.” The word slipped past my lips coated in longing, and even I didn’t know what I was asking for. My stomach tightened with a need I didn’t understand, but even through the pleasure, I could feel myself losing part of me to him.

It seeped out of me slowly, lazily moving through my veins and into Gavril’s waiting mouth.

“That’s enough for tonight,” the queen barked, but I could barely hear her words. They felt muffled and so far out of reach.

I could barely feel the hold of the guards on me either. Everything felt so centered around Gavril and what he was taking from me.

“Gavril!”

He lifted his head then, his tongue brushing over his lips as he looked up at me, and I blinked my eyes open and closed to try to force myself out of the spell I felt trapped in.

“How do you feel?”

I glanced toward the queen when I heard the question leave her lips, but she wasn’t talking to me. Her gaze was directly on her son as he climbed to his feet before me.

But I couldn’t focus on either one of them.

Instead, my distorted gaze slammed into Evren. He stood in the room with his back against the door and hostility filled his gaze. I tried to lift my hand to reach out for him, but I felt so sluggish and my arm fell back against the chair.

I glanced back down at the cut on my arm, bright red blood coated my wrist and dripped from the cut. The cut where Gavril had just taken from me against my will. I looked back toward Evren and saw him staring at the exact same spot.

Had he watched him? Did he know what his brother had planned for tonight when he was whisking me around the dance floor and making declarations about others hurting me?

Of course he had. Evren didn’t belong to me. He belonged to this court. They were his family, the court that he served, and his loyalty lay with them and them alone.

I had just let him do things to me in that hallway I had never let anyone else do before, and all the while, he knew what his brother had planned for me at the end of the night.

He had me begging for him to feed from between my thighs moments before I would beg his brother not to feed from my blood. Did he think about that when he was bringing me pleasure? Did he know that I would hate him by the end of the night?

Because when he looked back at me, that was the only thing I could think. I had trusted him, and I hated that I had allowed myself to do so. He was the enemy, and I had put far too much hope into who I thought he was.

But he was no different than the rest of them. He was the captain of their guard, the son of the king, and I was a fool.

“Gods, I can feel her running through my veins.”

I looked back at Gavril as he spoke and watched as he clamped his hands into fists before slowly letting them relax.

“It’s never felt like this before.”

Before. When he had fed from other Starblessed. Had he done so against their will also, or had they been more than willing to serve their future king?

Gavril glanced back at me as the queen came to his side, and I could feel the fog from what he had done slowly lifting. My blood still coated his lips, but his eyes shone bright as he stared down at me.

“Are you all right, Adara?”

I didn’t answer him, and when he stepped closer as if he was going to touch me again, I flinched back into the chair.

“I think she’s had enough for tonight,” Evren growled at his brother, but I didn’t dare look back to him.

Gavril did, though. His gaze slammed into his brother, and I tensed as I saw the venom in his eyes. “I am not going to feed from her again tonight.” Gavril lifted my wrist in his hand, and I winced at the pain.

He reached out behind me, and one of the guards handed him a roll of cloth. I wanted to pull my hand away from Gavril, but I didn’t have the strength left in my body. Even though my mind felt like it was clearing, my body felt as if I had spent hours working in the sun.

Gavril slowly wrapped the gauze around my wrist, over and under, meticulously wrapping it over my cut, before he tied it off.

“But Adara is my betrothed, Evren.” He squeezed my wrist gently in his hand before looking back toward me. “I will feed from her as I see fit.”

I stared up at him, and I hoped that he could see the fear and hatred in my eyes. I had softened to the prince in the last few days, but that feeling was long gone now. When I looked up at him with the knowledge that he was the man I was to marry, to spend the rest of my life with, I felt sick.

Gavril lifted my wrist to his mouth, and I once again struggled in his hold. But he pressed his lips gently against the gauze and his eyes softened. “I’m sorry, Adara,” he whispered before dropping my wrist, and I pulled it against my chest.

“I’m taking her back to her room.” Evren made his way toward me but stopped suddenly as if he had been hit in the chest. But no one was within reach of him.

“Mind your place, brother.” Gavril seethed as he said the words, and his hand lifted forward as pain crossed Evren’s handsome face. “I am perfectly capable of taking my promised back to her room for the night.”

He dropped his hand, and Evren jolted forward. “More than capable.” Gavril looked down at his hand and turned it back and forth as he marveled at what he had just done.

“I am Captain of the Guard, brother, and as such, it is my duty to protect the Starblessed.”

“From me?” Gavril laughed, but Evren was already making his way toward me once again.

“From anyone.” He looked back and forth between Gavril and the queen. “I serve our father, and he demands that she be protected.”

His words felt like a slap in the face, and I couldn’t stop the way my heart was racing in my chest. The words he spoke to his brother and the words he whispered to me earlier were so vastly different.

“Come, Starblessed.” He reached his hand out for me, but I refused to take it. Instead, I gripped the arms of the chair where I had just been held down and stood on shaky legs.

I could see how displeased Evren was, but he didn’t open his mouth for a second to argue with me. What was there for him to say?

“I wish to go back to my room.” My voice was as weak as I felt. “I would like to be alone.”

No one answered me, though. There was a loud knock against Gavril’s double doors before a guard I didn’t recognize pushed through. His gaze bounced around the people in the room, frantically looking back and forth between them.

Everyone seemed on edge as we waited for the guard to speak.

“Captain.” He nodded toward Evren, and I stiffened where I stood. “I need to have a word with you.”

“What’s happening?” Gavril questioned before Evren could take a step in his direction.

The guard looked back to Evren, seeking permission, and Gavril huffed in frustration.

“I am your future king. Tell me what’s going on.”

The queen stepped toward the guard, but Evren simply nodded his head. One simple move and the guard opened his mouth.

“There are whisperings, Your Highness.”

“Whisperings of what?” the queen demanded.

“Vampyres in the capital.”

My stomach flipped as his words rolled through the room, and I could feel magic stirring around us. I didn’t know where it came from, but from the feel of it against my mark, my gaze slammed into Evren.

“That’s impossible.” The queen shook her head and grabbed the bottom of her dress in her hand as she moved even closer to the guard. “We haven’t been under attack in centuries.”

The guard looked back and forth between Evren and the queen, and I could see him battling with what to say to her.

“What numbers are we talking about?” Evren asked, ignoring the queen completely.

“Inside the capital, our intel is guessing close to fifty. We’re not certain what waits for us outside the capital’s borders.”

The queen turned toward Evren, and for the first time since I met her, I could see the panic on her face. “I thought you said our borders were protected.”

“They were when I left them.” Evren stared at the queen without an ounce of fear. “But I haven’t been at the border in quite some time. I don’t know what’s happened since I’ve been in the capital.”

“What do we do?” Gavril asked, and it hit me how unprepared he was to be king. He may have been who the queen wanted, but Evren was far better suited to rule.

Evren looked back and forth between the queen and his brother, and I knew he was probably thinking the same thing as I was. “We protect the capital. Send any guards we can spare from the palace to protect our people.”

“No,” the queen replied quickly. “We must protect the palace and the Starblessed.”

“If the vampyres reach the palace, the Starblessed will be no concern of yours. They will wipe out every one of us with a vengeance you cannot grasp.”

“Take her away.” Gavril moved toward his brother without even looking in my direction. “We need the Starblessed, and she must be protected. Now that I’ve fed from her, take her away. Take her to Nabál until we know the threat is over.”

Evren shook his head as he looked at his brother. “That’s a bad idea. They know she’s here, and they are going to be looking for her. Do you know what the Blood Court could do with such a powerful Starblessed in their hands? We don’t have guards capable enough to keep her protected.”

“You go.” Gavril nodded toward him. “And take your best men. I’m not sure what I’m capable of now that her blood runs through me, but I can take care of the palace.”

“And our people?” Evren growled.

“Are the least of our concerns. We must protect Adara and our home.”

Pain sliced through my chest as Gavril showed me who he was again and again.

“These people trust us.” Evren pointed to the wall where the city lay just outside the stone. “You cannot leave them defenseless against the Blood Court. It will be a massacre.”

“It is not your decision to make, Captain.” Gavril stared at Evren, and the feel of magic flared in the room. “You have your orders, and you will obey them.”

“Of course.” Evren dipped into a small bow, but his jaw tensed as he did so. “We will leave in the early morning hours when everyone least expects it.”

Evren finally looked toward me, and I could see the hesitation in his gaze. He didn’t like this plan any more than I did. I had no interest in staying in the palace, but I also didn’t want to be taken somewhere else where I would remain their prized prisoner.

And I didn’t want to be taken there by him after what he had just allowed his brother to do.

“Come, Adara. I’ll take you to your rooms until we are ready to depart.” He outstretched his hand, but I passed by it without taking it. I didn’t want anyone in this room to touch me. They had all done enough already.

I moved toward the door and pulled it open, and I took a deep breath as I stepped outside of Gavril’s chambers. I was leaving this palace tonight, and I had no intentions of returning.