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missed me. Or if he was just biding his time until he got the chance to kill
me.
I commanded myself to stop thinking of such morose things. Whatever might
have begun between Nathan and I was over now. I could continue to cling to the
past, or I could try to be happy in my new life.
Staring in the mirror, I barely recognized myself. In the past, I d been
lonely and unhappy. I d defined my life by my career, and my heart hadn t even
been in it. I d had no idea who I was or any plans to find out. But now I had
the opportunity. I couldn t waste it.
Clarence entered my sitting room just as the clock chimed for the fifth time.
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His face was somber as he led me down the hallway. We stopped at the large
double doors and waited while they were opened from within.
Cyrus s rooms were much larger than mine. The parlor boasted a painted
ceiling where cherubs looked down from a sunny sky. It was a striking contrast
to the marble statues of nude women in the grasps of winged demons that
flanked the fireplace.
Cyrus was seated at a small table in the center of the room. There were no
corpses, as promised. Two champagne flutes and a large crystal decanter full
of blood were laid out before him. He stood when I entered.
Look at you. His eyes glittered with genuine appreciation. You re more
beautiful every time I see you.
You look pretty good yourself. It wasn t an empty compliment, though
anything was better than his pirate outfit from before. He wore a simple,
button-down black shirt and black pants, and his hair was tied back. He looked
surprisingly modern, and I found it easy to imagine he was a different person
from the man who d wreaked so much havoc in my life.
Maybe that s what I d have to do. Live in denial to stand living at all. But
I d been doing that for far too long already.
I cleared my throat. I m glad to see the leather pants couldn t make a
return appearance.
Clearly, he interpreted this as an insult. I beg your pardon? Leather is
very fashionable.
In 1997. I sat in the chair Clarence pulled out for me and spread my napkin
across my lap. And I must tell you I m not really big on the whole Satan
Goes toVersailles vibe you ve got going on here. He ignored me and poured
some of the blood into my glass. It fizzed slightly as it hit the glass.
Let me guess.Poison? Knowing better than that, I took a sip and let the
fluid roll slowly across my tongue, savoring its sweet flavor.
Champagne. Think of it as abloody mimosa. He laughed at his own joke before
he went on. I thought we had reason to celebrate tonight. He filled his
glass and took a long swallow.
I eyed him incredulously. What are we celebrating exactly?
A wickedly satisfied smirk stretched across his face. Your fall from grace.
Hold on there, buddy. I haven t done anything yet. I d learned from past
experience that he would try to tempt me, to appeal to the monster in me. I
also knew I was more receptive to the possibility now than I had been when
he d tried to lure me before. But he didn t need to know that. Then again, he
probably already did.
Cyrus took another drink, his eyes never leaving me. I do like that dress.
You ll have to wear it more often.
I don t know. I smoothed my hands over the silky fabric. When I get the
chance, maybe. It s not really something I can wear around the house.
Why not?
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I laughed, until I realized he was serious. Well, I d feel overdressed, for
one.
No one would mention it. His champagne flute dangled from the tips of his
fingers as he leaned back in his chair. It befits your station.
I huffed in annoyance. My station. Because you said you could make me a
queen, right?
I can tmake you aqueen, that was a bit of a fib. More like a princess. He
made the remark without a hint of humor. You ve readTheSanguinarius ?
Only about half of it.My copy was lost when my apartment burned down.
A pity.So, if I mentioned the name Jacob Seymour, you d have no idea who I
was speaking of? Cyrus s eyes were fixed on my face, as if he were trying to
register something in my reaction.
He d find nothing there. No clue at all. Why, is he someone important?
Yes, you could say so. He was my father.
I didn t know how to respond, so I merely waited for him to continue.
My father was not a powerful man in life. He was an old man with two wives
in the grave and ten grown children when he was turned. We were serfs, what
you call peasants now. We farmed land owned by a wealthy lord and tithed most
of our profit to the Crown.
InEngland ? I took a sip from my glass, enjoying the effects of
light-headedness from the champagne and satiation from the blood mixed with
it.
Cyrus nodded. The vampire who sired my father did so on the condition that
he use all the powers gifted to him to grow strong and overcome those who
would rule him. Father took it quite literally. First, he killed the noble
family who enslaved us. Then he killed and fed from his sire, and finally, one
by one, he sought out those of our kind already in existence.The oldest, the
strongest, the most fearsome. My father slew them all. He drank their blood
and stole their power.
And then, of his seven living sons, he chose the one he felt was the most
ruthless and calculating, and he sired him.
Cyrus straightened in his chair, pride transforming his face. And while my
brother slept, on the first day of his new vampire life, I killed him and
stole his blood. He paused, and his brows furrowed as if he were trying to
remember something. Then I stabbed him in the heart and took a handful of his
ashes to my father to show him what I d done. That I deserved the place I d
been denied.
My heart racing, I reached for my glass and drank half of it down before I
could speak again. Why are you telling me this now?
Because my father has now successfully killed all the oldest known
vampires.He is the leader of our kind. Though he said this in all
seriousness, he shrugged it off rather quickly. His blood runs in mine, and
my blood runs in yours. We are royalty, Carrie.
I looked around helplessly as a tremor of was that paternal affection? passed
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across the blood tie.
So, in a roundabout way, what I m saying is that there s good reason for you
to wear the dress again.
I ll see what I can do, I breathed.
A new, frightening possibility entered my mind. What if Cyrus wasn t the man
I thought he was at all, but merely a pawn under his father s control? How
much of the evil he inflicted on others originated from his own brain? He d
been a vampire for so longnow, perhaps he couldn t remember what it was like
to be free from the blood tie.
Cocking his head, Cyrus regarded me with the amused smile of a man viewing a
prize that was nearly his. My God, but you re lovely.
The sentiment was a bit too heartfelt to sit comfortably with me. Why do you
say things like that?
He lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. Because I mean them.
I filed his words away under Ploys toDisarmMe.
He nodded to Clarence, and the butler stepped forward to clear the table.
Still hungry, I handed my glass over with some reluctance. Are we finished?
Cyrus stood and moved to take my hand. No. This was just an appetizer. Now
we re on to the main course.
He stepped behind me and covered my eyes with his hands. The feeling of him
so close, his body brushing against my back as he led me from the room, set my
nerve endings on fire.
Where are we going? I asked as if I didn t know the answer.
Look, he whispered as he removed his hands.
A huge bed on a raised dais dominated the room. Elegant curtains of sheer
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