*Ainslee*
The light streaming in through the open window is dim when I hear the door open. I sit up abruptly, on high alert. I knew, eventually, someone would come to wake me, to let me know there’d been a mistake. I’m honestly surprised it took this long. The clock on the wall says it’s almost 7:00 in the evening. Rafe really should have better control of his people.
“Pardon me, Miss Ainslee.” The woman who stands before me is tiny with dark hair and the longest eyelashes I’ve ever seen framing her chocolate eyes. She wears a black and white maid’s uniform and looks to be about my age, though I smell the metallic odor of blood and know she is a vampire, so it’s hard to say how old she is. “I’m here to get you ready for dinner.”
I stare at her for a long moment, trying to comprehend what she’s said. Not that I didn’t hear it; I did. But what I can’t understand is why. “Dinner?” I echo. Zeke had mentioned that, but I thought he had to be pulling my leg or something.
“That’s right, miss. I’m Zoey. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She does a little bow, curtsy thing, and I continue to stare at her as if she is speaking a language that is unfamiliar to me.
When she’s done with her full-body salute, she moves to the armoire and opens it. “Have you made your gown selection, miss?”
“No.” Why does she keep calling me “miss” as if I am someone important? “I…. Why am I going to dinner?”
She pulls out a blue gown that is a bit fancy but certainly not a ballgown and holds it up. “This one will look lovely with your eyes. I think you should choose this one.”
She hasn’t answered my question. I push the blankets off and stand. “Why am I going to dinner?” I repeat.
“I’m sorry, Miss Ainslee. I don’t now why. I only know that I was asked to come and get you ready for dinner. Your presence has been requested in the dining room in one hour.”
“By Zeke?” I almost roll my eyes. That man is going to get me killed.
She shrugs. “The blue?”
“Fine.”
For the next hour, I let Zoey mold me. She brushes out my hair and twists it up into some form I’ve never thought imaginable, all the while nearly pulling off my scalp, though she’s not trying to be harsh. I assume vampires sometimes don’t remember their own strengths. She then applies makeup to my face, something I’ve never warn before in my life. She seems to know what she’s doing because when she’s finished, I think I look lovely, and once again, I barely recognize myself. If I stay here much longer, I’ll be a stranger to myself.
With my makeup done, she carefully gets me in the gown, worried the whole time that we will mess up my hair, or my face, but she knows what she’s doing, and when I see myself in the mirror, I don’t know who that girl is.
“Let me get you some shoes.” Zoey moves to the armoire while I stare at my reflection. I want to cry. I’m sure this will be short-lived, but I wish my mom could see me right now. She’d cry.
Zoey turns and sees my face and says, “Oh, no. No crying. You’ll mess up all my hard work.”
“I’m sorry.” I take a deep breath, and she shows me how to fan my eyes to keep the tears away. I’ve never seen anyone do that before, but it seems to work. I sit on the chair in front of the vanity backward, and she helps me get the fancy blue heels on. They’re not that high, but I’ve never worn anything but boots. This is a far cry from the ones I left on the bathroom floor with the hole in them.
“Jewelry,” she says and moves to a little wooden cabinet next to the dresser I hadn’t really noticed before. When she opens it, I see a ton of necklaces and earrings.
“My ears aren’t pierced,” I tell her.
She stops and looks at me for a moment before putting back the earrings she’d taken out and pulling out a different pair. “Princess Sophia thought of everything.” She comes over and clips some earrings onto my lobes before placing a necklace with matching glass beads around my neck. All of the beads are clear and beautiful. They sparkle like diamonds. I’ve never seen real diamonds before except for in the wedding bands of the Blacks and their wives, but these are much larger beads, clearer, and so sparkly.
“This used to belong to the prince’s mother, Countess Rosa Poe,” Zoey explains. “It’s quite old and worth more than I make in a year.” She smiles at me, and my hand goes up to touch the necklace at my neck.
I twist around to look at my sparkling reflection. “Is it… real?”
Zoey laughs, and I feel silly for even asking the question. Why would anyone let me wear real diamonds? “Of course, it’s real,” she says. “You’re having dinner with the prince and the king. It has to be real.”
“The king?”
It hadn’t occurred to me that I’d be having dinner with him, too. Goddess, how am I going to survive any of this?
Rafe sure knew how to go to elaborate lengths to get someone back for embarrassing them in the town square.
Another thought occurs to me. “Zoey—am I dinner?”
She is in the process of inspecting my hair, but her forehead creases with the question, and our eyes meet in the mirror again. “No, don’t be silly. We’re vampires, not savages. Do you know how cruel Prince Rafe would have to be to get someone all dressed up to bring them to the dining room and then suck their blood? Besides, we have a rule—don’t play with your food.” She grins at me, and for the first time in a while, I’m reminded that she is a vampire. She could kill me in an instant if she wanted to. I might be pretty at the moment, but I’m weak. That will need to change if I’m going to be staying in the castle.
I am going to be staying at the castle, I remind myself, but I had no idea it would be amidst all these people.
Vampires.
I don’t think it will be this way for long. I am only here for the night. For some reason, Rafe has this planned for me. Likely, it’s just to embarrass me, and he will take me to the feeders’ quarters soon enough.
I tell myself I will keep my mouth closed and endure whatever it is he has in store for me because even though I am still furious at him for tricking me, and for bringing me here in the first place, he is the prince, and this is his domain.
Right before 8:00, there’s a knock on the door. I smell more metal than with just Zoey around, and that flower smell is back. Could that be… Zeke? Is he the one who smells like woodsy fresh cut florals? It’s a manly take on the scent, nothing like the flowers I was soaking in earlier in the tub. But I hadn’t noticed it on the ride over here, so I’m not sure.
“That must be your escort,” Zoey says with a wide smile. Her teeth gleam in the light. “You look divine.”
“Thank you, Zoey.” I turn and clasp her hand, figuring I’ll probably never see again. “You’ve been so kind.”
“Of course. It’s my job, and you’re not the tyrant I was told you are.” She grins at me, and I raise an eyebrow. She shrugs. “I heard you like to yell.”
My mouth drops open as I wonder who said that. Not that they’re wrong. I suppose the only people who know me in this castle, other than possibly some of the people in the feeders’ quarters already who have seen other sides of me, have only ever heard me scream.
At the prince.
I take one last look at myself in the mirror as Zoey goes to open the door. She does that bow/curtsy thing, and I figure it has to be Zeke, so I rip my eyes away from the girl in the mirror I don’t recognize and step over to the entryway.
My breath catches in my throat as my eyes meet his. It’s hard to look away, but I have to let myself see him in this suit. He looks remarkable. Lean, muscular, delicious. What the fuck is wrong with me? Our eyes meet again, and he says, “Holy hell.”