*Ainslee*
Princess Riley’s fangs practically drip with venom as she hisses at me, “Stay the fuck away from my fiancé.” It’s not the venom of a snake. Rather, she’s simply so irate that there’s no other way to describe the way she’s growling at me.
I should be terrified. She’s a fucking vampire—strong, powerful. Able to rip through the flesh and cords of my neck with one snap of her jaws. I wouldn’t be able to do a damn thing to stop her.
And I have no idea if she is at all aware of the intricacies of my existence, especially now that I have been told who I am and what that entails and where I should be. I mean, after all, I just became aware myself, and I’m still not sure I understand. So there’s a good chance she doesn’t know.
I just met her the day before. She could be a lunatic for all I know. It makes sense; she certainly seems unhinged at the moment.
A smart woman would beg her forgiveness, say she had no ill intentions as to tread on the toes of the princess, that she wasn’t aware that Prince Rafe was her fiancé.
Fuck—Prince Rafe is her fiancé?
Yet another secret he didn’t bother to tell me.
Why the hell was he sitting on my bed last night sucking my face if he’s going to marry her?
I have no answers for those questions, but what I do know is that I am pissed.
I’m angry that he never mentioned this particular detail and that this woman is threatening me. I have a strong sense of justice, and since I’ve done nothing wrong, I don’t like it when other people get in my face—both figuratively and literally.
Jutting my face forward so that our noses are nearly touching, I growl, “Back the fuck up.”
Princess Riley is taken aback. She blinks at me a few times and then pulls her head about a foot away from mine. It is enough room for me to push up from the table and lean in toward her. Once again, she recoils. I’ve caught her off guard, and she has no idea what I’m capable of.
But I do recall the fact that Prince Rafe has just told me that he and King Axel agree on my new title.
I’m a fucking princess, too, and even though I’m not powerful like her, and it’s her daddy sitting on the throne, I’m not one to just wither like a dying flower.
With my eyes locked on hers, I say, “Listen, Princess, I’m going to be here for a while, whether either one of us likes it or not. I didn’t choose this life, but here I am. So you can threaten me and be a bitch about it, or the two of us can agree to stay away from one another. And as far as the prince is concerned, we were having breakfast together while we discussed political strategies. If you’d like to be included in our next planning meeting, please let me know, and we’ll listen to your ideas regarding interkingdom espionage and invasion of a foreign kingdom.”
I am throwing big words out there to confuse her, and it is working. Princess Riley blinks a few times and then stands up straight, taking a step backward in her four-inch heels. Her tight black dress shows off her stunning body, making her the first person I’ve ever decided I hate within a few hours of meeting them--ever. I still haven’t forgotten that she implied I was overweight the day before. If anything, I will need to gain some weight to produce the kind of curves she has naturally. It’s both unfair and irritating.
Her fangs are gone when she begins to speak. “I don’t know what any of that means, but now you are on notice. Stay away from Rafe, okay?”
“I just told you I can’t stay away from him. We are working together on some very important policies.” I roll my eyes and lean into the argument.
She doesn’t back up again. “That’s not what I mean! I mean, stop coming after him! I see the way you look at him, you slut.”
A wild laugh escapes my lips, more at her implication that I am a slut when I’ve only ever kissed two males and neither of them so much as touched me. If anything, the gorgeous woman in front of me probably has a lot more milage on her chassis than I’ll ever have.
She takes my laughter as a sign that I’m unstable, which is probably a good thing. And then, growling at me again, she shouts, “Bitch!” and then storms away, her heels clacking across the marble tile.
Once she is gone, my heart begins to bang against my ribcage as I realize what I have just done. Not only did I scream in the face of a royal, I laid down the law with a woman who could’ve killed me. She’s not only strong enough to do so, she’s powerful enough that if she would’ve ripped my throat out, there would’ve probably been no consequences other than Rafe chastising her for ruining his bargaining tool.
I sink back onto the chair I’d been sitting on at breakfast and take some deep breaths, wondering what I’m going to do now. I’m mad as hell at Rafe for not having told me that he has a wife-to-be, but beyond that, I just pissed off the king’s daughter. She’ll probably storm right to King Axel and tell him what I did, which will make him toss me out on my ear. He’ll return me home, and the Blacks will kill me, like Rafe seems to think they want to do. Or they’ll send me to Warfang.
Or the king will send me to Warfang.
Either way, I am a dead woman.
That’s when I hear the applause.
When I’d first dropped onto the chair, I hadn’t noticed it, but now, I realize I hear people clapping.
Turning my head, I see about fifteen staff members wearing maid and butler uniforms standing in the narrow hallway that leads directly to the kitchen, and they are all clapping quietly, huge grins on their faces. One of them is the servant who brought me my breakfast. I’m not exactly sure why they are applauding me, but I have a feeling Princess Riley isn’t kind to the people who take care of her.
When the door opens again, the clapping stops abruptly, and they all scurry away. I turn to see Zoey standing there, her eyes darting from the departing crowd to me and back again several times. “I’m here to escort you to your room, Princess. But… what’s going on?” She whispers the last part like she knows she’s not supposed to question me or anything associated with me, but she really wants to know.
Standing, I shake my head. “I had no idea that Princess Riley is set to marry Prince Rafe. She confronted me, and I told her we are just working on some political stuff, and essentially that if she didn’t like me speaking to him, she could shove it up her ass.” I wish I had actually told her that instead of just implying it.
No, I don’t! What the fuck is the matter with me? If I had said that to the princess, I’d be dead.
Zoey stares at me, unblinking, for five beats of my hammering heart and then grins. “Everyone hates her. Now, the staff knows they can trust you. Good job. Let’s go.” She spins around and starts to lead me out of the kitchen area, but I’m not just going to go back to my room like a good girl. It wouldn’t be in my nature to just roll over and do as I’m told. “Wait, Zoey.” I hurry to catch up to her. Vampires are so fast. “I need to find Rafe.”
She turns and looks at me, arching an eyebrow. “You mean Prince Rafe, and one doesn’t simply ‘find’ His Majesty just because they want to speak to him.”
I take a second to breathe and swallow back my initial impulsive statement. “No, I know. I mean, I really need to talk to him, so how do I go about figuring out where he’s at?”
“You don’t.” She is still walking toward my room, so I follow because otherwise I will be eternally lost in this giant castle.
“What do you mean I don’t? I have to,” I reply, following her up the stairs. “What Riley—Princess Riley—just told me is extremely important, and I need to talk to him about it. You have no idea how badly I need to talk to him.” Again, thoughts of that kiss we shared the night before flood my mind, and I am both on fire for him and ready to strike him dead where he stands.
We are at the first landing by the time she says. “Sorry. That’s not how this goes. If you’d like an audience with His Majesty, you have to find one of his attendants—or send your attendant to find one of his attendants. Then, you have to request said audience and wait for him to get back to you about when he is available. If he is available. Most people who would like to speak to Prince Rafe don’t just expect the prince to change his schedule to accommodate them, after all.”
“I recognize that he’s a very busy man, but he’s just upended my entire life to bring me here, and he obviously hasn’t been entirely honest with me, so I need to talk to him.”
Like most people, Zoey is now annoyed with my persistence. She lets out a sigh and turns to face me. “I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, is there anything I can bring you, Your Highness?”
I realize then that we have made it to my room. And also that she has just called me “Your Highness” which almost makes me burst into laughter because I am no one’s highness, not even my own.
“No, thank you,” I tell her. “Please, just let his attendant know I need to speak to him. You can do that?”
“Yes, I can speak to his attendant. As your attendant, that is my job.”
I cock my head to the side and go over what she’s just said. “I have an attendant?”
An unearthly expulsion of air comes out of her mouth. “Goodness, you have a lot to learn. I attend to you, dear. That makes me your attendant.”
I think that through and see why that would be the case. I notice she dropped the formality just now. “Makes sense.”
Zoey opens my bedroom door for me before she turns to walk away, and I go inside, but I stop in my tracks when I see a beautiful blonde woman standing in front of my window, staring outside.
Fuck. She really is going to kill me.