Claire must deceive a vampire prince while resisting her desire for him.
Season 1 of Fated Series
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Nothing in my life has ever been easy. Including the mission my family has sent me on.
My sister and I have traveled to the vampire stronghold to...
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Craindre (verb) to be afraid of...
We rode at an unforgiving pace for three days, never stopping except to change horses, then went right back to riding hard.
I saw Bastien only briefly during that time. There was never an opportunity to exchange more than a glance with the vampire prince I was supposed to be spying on.
Sometimes, I'd pull back the heavy black curtains to watch him riding alongside the coach with his eyes fixed on the horizon. His blond hair loose in the wind. The set of his jaw hard. I wondered if his necklace was still pulsing like a heartbeat, and what that meant, but I knew he'd never humor my curiosity.
The smug vampire.
Frustrated, I closed the curtains and let out an exasperated huff, which drew the attention of my only companions. Bastien's nephew, Tyson, and his sanguine partner, a young woman by the name of Okeri.
At times, we'd talk. At other times, they seemed content to ignore me. More often than not, Tyson was grumbling about being locked inside a carriage instead of being allowed to ride. Okeri listened while massaging a sweet-smelling cream on her mahogany skin until it glistened.
Neither seemed interested in me except in fleeting bursts, like when they produced a deck of cards and wanted me to play to pass the time—some game from the capital they called Depouiller that took me the better part of a day to learn. They'd said it was more fun with strong drink and more people and quickly lost interest.
I didn't mind when they ignored me. I was used to being invisible. It was the daily feedings that were more difficult to endure.
At sunset, when the last rays of light were streaking through the sky, Okeri would set her hand on the side of Tyson's face and examine him.
"You need to eat," she'd say without fail.
He'd always make some joke about 'being full' that he probably found funny, but Okeri didn't. And neither did I.
"Laugh all you want, Tyson, but by sunset you always start to look weak."
This caught my attention. I watched them from the corner of my eye, wondering if that was true. If vampires needed blood every day to maintain their strength.
Swallowing hard, I wondered if Bastien expected daily feedings.
Okeri tilted her head to one side, offering herself to him. "Come, drink from me. I can't stand that sickly look in your eyes. It's unbecoming of a prince."
"Well, if you insist," Tyson replied with a cheeky grin, gripping her neck and drawing her close.
I looked away to avoid swooning, but there was no escaping the way Okeri gasped when his lips found her neck or the sound of him gulping mouthfuls of her like she was sweetened tea on a hot day.
