6. Cassandra

CHAPTER 6

Cassandra

" C assandra, are you even listening to me?" My mother's voice broke through my thoughts, and I blinked a couple times, reorienting myself in the present.

I had not been listening to her.

I'd been reliving my training session with Talon last night. I'd been feeling his lips on my skin, his body against mine, pinning me to the floor. I'd been feeling the rush that was actually and finally beating him. Yes, I'd had to stoop to a different kind of surprise attack, but it'd worked, and either way, I'd really needed a win.

What I had not needed was the distraction be so good I tuned out what could've been vital information.

"I apologize," I said, adjusting my posture to make sure it was perfect where we sat facing each other at a little table that'd been set up by Joffrey on the veranda. It overlooked the gorgeous, lush jungle below the estate, the stars sparkling like diamonds in the midnight sky.

I could hear the waves crashing from the beach not too far from here, and if I was sitting with literally anybody else, it would have been peaceful.

"It's been so long since I've returned home," I continued, drawing up my most apologetic mask. "I'm distracted by the beauty of this place." I motioned to the area surrounding us, and my mother's eyes softened.

"Quite understandable," she said. "If you came home more often, you wouldn't be so distracted." She snapped her fingers, giving Joffrey some sort of practiced looked, and he disappeared for a moment.

"I will ensure that the length of time is never as long again between visits." The lie didn't even taste bad in my mouth. I had no guilt when it came to the female before me, despite the way I may be acting. Despite playing the role of the simpering, submissive, and dutiful daughter.

"I was just saying how wonderful you're looking compared to the first day that you came. The island is doing wonders for you. Your skin is practically glowing in the moonlight."

I was about to open my mouth to say thank you, but was stopped as Joffrey returned with a human in tow.

This human was not unlike the one we'd sampled the first night. He was young, gorgeous, and looked practically catatonic as Joffrey led him to our table. He unsheathed a blade from his inner pocket, holding the human's wrist over Mother's empty crystal coupe, the blade dragging across the human's skin so easily it was like a knife cutting through butter.

His blood flowed into the coupe, and Joffrey reached for mine, filling it before filling a crystal decanter to the brim and setting it in the middle of the table. He wrapped a napkin around the human's wrist, but the poor thing could barely stand at this point. In fact, he looked quite green.

Joffrey hoisted the human over his shoulder like he was nothing more than a pile of trash to be cleared, and waltzed back into the house, no doubt to the kitchens where the rest of his blood would be used and his body discarded later.

My heart clenched, empathy and guilt sloshing together at the way my parents still operated. There was no need for the way they treated humans, but speaking out now or doing something silly like trying to save the doomed creature would only blow our cover. And put thousands of innocent lives at stake.

I swallowed down the hate and the shame and raised my glass as my mother did, clinking them together before taking a sip. The blood was still warm, filling my mouth with its sweet taste.

"Almonds," I said, nodding to my mother in what I hoped she would perceive as a respectful show of gratitude.

"Quite delicious, isn't it?"

"Quite," I said, taking another sip, every swallow feeling like some sort of damning sentence. It didn't matter that I knew the humans who came to the island came of their own free will. Hell, there were many desperate souls who practically fought for the position to be selected as one of my parents' harvested.

They were well-compensated, the money going to the families of those who volunteered. It was as much of a business transaction as any, and the agreeing parties' participation definitely kept the king and his assassins away from their door for centuries.

Alek would never condone something as heinous as cold-blooded murder just to feed. But my family had found a way around that, like they so often did. Vipers indeed.

I took another mouthful, knowing that not doing so would raise more suspicion than anything. And that's the last thing I wanted. We'd already been here three days but it felt like three months. Every second spent in my mother's presence was one of harsh critique and conflicting ideologies that I couldn't even express.

No. I had to sit here, back ramrod straight and hands delicately placed in my lap if I wasn't raising a glass. Had to sit here silently and nod at any archaic shit that rolled from her tongue.

It was a new form of torture. And I was no stranger to torture. The closet painted with nightshade-laced paint practically had my name on it, no doubt unchanged since the day it was constructed, just waiting for me to get thrown in it again.

Anxiety clawed at my throat, threatening to make me choke on the blood I was trying to get down. The free hand in my lap trembled, and I instinctively reached down to pet Shadow's fur.

Not Shadow's.

Talon's , I mentally corrected myself, but it didn't matter. To every outsider it was my panther, laying dutifully at my feet, just a bit of her massive body sprawled out over the floor-length gown that splayed at my feet underneath the table.

Talon lifted his panther head, leaning into my hand in a comforting, supportive gesture that I knew he'd never give me if he was in his human form. Chalk it up to playing his role incredibly well, the male had absolutely embodied Shadow, who I missed so terribly.

And despite knowing it wasn't really my cat, I was able to pretend just enough to combat the anxiety that threatened to ruin us all.

I had no doubt he could sense the anxiety in me, the bond between shifter and companion he'd created that first day sending him every little emotion as I felt it.

I could easily feel how hungry he was, and that guilt hit harder than watching the innocent human be used like a spigot.

Talon's hunger was relentless, an incessant ache that made me wonder just how much he enjoyed feeding—it had only been a few days and I'd heard ancient vampires like himself could go months without feeding before descending into bloodmadness. And yet, he seemed to be riding an edge that leaked into my very bones.

I desperately wanted to take that decanter back to my room and give it to him, but I knew my mother had no intention of leaving this table until we'd gorged ourself on every drop. The evidence only further backing up my theory as she poured me another glass the second I finished the first.

I tried to shove my feelings away, both mine and Talon's. His hunger was incredibly distracting, almost as much as the memory of his mouth on mine. The bastard could probably tell how much desire fluttered through me at the memory, and I honestly couldn't remember a time when I'd been kissed like that.

I'd had my fair share of conquests, but none had ever been so... raw . There was no love shared between Talon and I, that much was clear. We didn't even have a mutual respect for each other beyond the forced pairing of this mission.

The physical chemistry was undeniable, and I'd been denying myself for so very long.

I was half tempted to beg him for a release just because it'd been so treacherous these last few days. We could both use some tension relief, but knowing him, he'd probably use the request as some kind of ammunition against me.

That's last thing I needed.

My mother had been throwing around enough of that for a lifetime and it'd only been three days.

"So, you haven't had any luck with anyone else after your utter disaster of a failure in pairing with Alek?" my mother asked as we started our third glass of blood.

My stomach felt sloshy, so much so I had to set the half-full crystal goblet down on the table.

I slid my finger around the rim of the crystal coupe, doing my best to be slow to react to the insult posed as a question.

"There have been many interested suitors," I said, rattling off a few names of the dukes and earls who'd tried to seduce me recently. "But none have offered the standing in which our family demands."

Her eyes narrowed at me across the table, and she tilted her head. "Do you have your eye on anyone?"

I continued the circling of the glass, dipping my finger just slightly into the blood, and dropping my hand beneath the table, a move so subtle my mother didn't track it.

"There are a few I have future engagements with who I think will benefit our line." I answered with the right words, doing my best not to tremble when Talon's panther tongue glided over my fingers, lapping up the blood.

It wasn't even a fraction of what he needed, but it was all I could offer him at that moment.

A shudder ran the length of my body as he continued to lick my fingertips, the motion slow and deliberate and doing everything to make my core clench with need.

I remembered how that tongue felt in my mouth, shifted or no, and I hated myself for wanting him as badly as I did. Especially when I knew the male wouldn't blink if my mother decided to slit my throat on this table and have me for dessert. I wouldn't put it past the bitch.

"Well, I hope these future engagements will pose a better outcome than the past ones. After your dear father's death," she said, feigning tears that I had a hard time not gawking at. "We could absolutely use a strong alignment. A prestigious marriage and a quick conception would do just that."

My blood ran cold, icy rivulets that chased away every ounce of desire that Talon had created in the last ninety seconds. The idea of bearing some noble vampire's offspring had been my nightmare since I understood the process. It's all my parents ever wanted me for, and I had yet to deliver. And even though vampire time moved slower than humans, my mother was getting agitated about it.

"Surely Edward's endeavors have helped us along in terms of alliances," I said as casually as possible. Talon lifted his panther head into the hand he'd just been licking, leaning against it in what I could only assume was a reassuring motion.

Mother took another drink from her glass, draining the contents before pouring herself another. "Edward is filling in where your father left off as the eldest male heir," she said. "He was always my brightest offspring," she said without any hesitation. "But we mustn't be lazy, right, Cassandra dear? Surely you want to do your part? Even your brother Warrick, with his rebellious phases, is likely out there with Edward right now helping him in his endeavors."

She really had no idea where her second son was, and that was a win in itself.

"Of course I want to do my part, mother," I said in the most sugary voice I possessed. "I need to ensure that the suitor I choose to seduce will be the most advantageous for our family. I won't settle. I wouldn't do that to us." I regurgitate the words that have been drilled into me since I could remember, doing my best not to throw up in my mouth. "And with the flood of new aristocratic vampires coming to the king's residence, there is no rush. I would hate to make a hasty decision and then have a better prospect come along. Besides," I continued. "With Edward picking up where Father left off, I have time."

"Yes," she said. "You have some time, but when your brother is successful we'll all need to move quickly. You'll have to make your decision. You should be thanking me that I'm allowing you to make your choice now . I could just as easily pick a name out of a book of bloodlines and demand it."

In that split second between breathing and sipping the blood from my glass, I imagined killing her.

I'd imagined killing my mother a million different ways over the past century, but the urge had never been as so potent as it was now.

If she demanded I marry and procreate with a vampire, I would kill her or die trying.

I dipped my head because I couldn't possibly open my mouth to respond to that. She took it as submission, smiling sourly at me before continuing to drink.

The rest of the evening was spent devouring the decanter full of blood. By the time Talon and I made our way back to my room, I felt a little drunk on it.

No sooner had the door locked behind us than Talon shifted, his back to me, his nakedness revealing every muscular line of his perfect body as he moved across the room, quickly slipping on a pair of black sweats before turning to face me.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get you more blood," I said at the same time he said, "What a bitch."

My eyebrows raised at his jab at my mother, and a laugh ripped out of me.

"Truer words never spoken," I said, a little wobbly on my feet. God, had my mother spiked the human's blood with something? She was known to dabble in dangerous herbs that sometimes gave us the full effects of what alcohol would do to a human.

"Thank you," he said, his movements lightning quick as I almost tripped in my attempt to take one of my high heels off. He caught me against him, not unlike our training sessions, and I gasped at the contact. "For the blood," he explained.

I pushed out of his embrace, needing the space. The heat pulsing beneath my skin whispered in my ear, begging me to do terrible things with this hunter.

I kicked off my other high heel and it flew across the room as I reached for the zipper on my dress, undoing it and letting the thing fall to the floor, leaving me in nothing but the black lace slip I wore under it.

It was absolutely stifling hot in my room tonight, or maybe that was the blood, but I didn't care as I made it to my bed and laid against the crisp silk sheets.

"It's not enough," I said as Talon slid in on the other side of my massive bed, his weight dipping it even as he kept two arm lengths' worth of space between us.

I turned on my side to face him, and he mimicked the movement, the motions almost natural between us now after four days of sleeping in the same bed. Some days we stayed up past dawn discussing where and what Edward might be doing—thanks to my room being light tight and protected from the island's bright sun—but eventually we'd always succumb to sleep.

Sleep was the last thing I wanted to do now.

I wanted to feel alive again.

I wanted to feel wanted again.

I wanted to feel like I had last night where, for a brief moment in time, I'd held the attention of this annoyingly gorgeous hunter.

"I'm fine," he said.

"You're not, though," I said. "I can feel how hungry you are. I didn't realize it was going to be this difficult to get blood to you. We're going to have to figure this out."

And I didn't just mean the blood, but whatever was crackling between us needed to be sated. Maybe the sexual tension brewing between us could be chalked up to his hunger or perhaps his hatred for me. Either way, I didn't care. I just wanted it taken care of.

Desire flooded my veins, and Talon's nostrils flared across the bed.

I knew he could scent me. I didn't care. I would not be ashamed for how my body reacted to this male. Something entirely out of my control.

"You need to feed," I said. "You could feed from me?—"

"I'll find something to eat in the jungle tomorrow," he cut me off, flipping around so his back was to me.

I glared at him, rejection and vulnerability crashing inside me so intensely I felt ill.

Did he think I offered my blood to everyone ?

I didn't.

I was trying to save the stubborn old asshole, and he'd just thrown it in my face.

I turned my back on him too, gripping my pillow harder than necessary.

Well, fuck him then.

I hoped he starved to death.