The Vampire's Mail-Order Bride

Rhapsody was stunned when the marquis turned his back on her and began walking away.

“Master?”

She waited for him to look back. To return to her side. She waited the whole night just to see him again and know that things would be fine once more.

But he never did.

And it was then she knew.

This tremendous pain that couldn’t be anything else…

This pain that came from nowhere to rip her world apart and have her heart break into pieces…

She knew now.

She had her answer.

But it was as Lady Aurora said, and Rhapsody wished with all her heart such a moment had never come.

Chapter Fourteen

Mihail watched Rhapsody’s silhouette cross the curtained windows in his bedchamber as dawn painted over the last mile of darkness in the skies. He had spent the entire night in Amstel Woods, keeping the other patrol guards company while his gaze strayed every so often to the south tower. It had been almost two in the morning when she retired, and now she was up again a mere three hours later. Sleep was probably his pet’s only indulgence, and so for her to rise even before the sun had reclaimed its throne…

He had hurt her unforgivably last night, Mihail thought bleakly.

It was almost as if his demon half had overtaken the soul that she had gifted him with, and he had lashed out with needleess cruelty. And he had not been able to stop, not even when he saw the pain that haunted her dark eyes and he saw her skin turn from ivory to something horribly pale.

Something was fucking wrong with him, and whatever it was, it would either drive Rhapsody away…or force him to stay out of her life.

He waited until she had left for her classes before coming up to shower and change into a fresh pair of clothes. On his way out, he spied the gift on the dresser, and he breathed hard. He unwrapped it carefully, and when he saw what it was…

The Art of Being A Pervert

Mihail closed his eyes. It was just like Rhapsody to mean well by giving him such a gift, and goddammit, he could not – would not – give her up without a fucking fight.

Before leaving the school, he was unable to resist the urge to check on him, needing to see – but wihout being seen – that she was indeed where she was supposed to be, and that was safe and unharmed within the school’s walls. Eventually, he found her in the greenhouse with Peyton. Her friend was busy tending to several pots of cacti while Rhapsody had gloves up to her elbows while checking on a garden bed of poison ivy. She looked paler than usual, and his agitation grew even as the sight made his heart clench.

Something was fucking wrong.

And he had to do something before it was too late.

The thirty-minute carriage ride to the Baron of Woodmere’s townhouse was reduced into ten with Mihail riding his horse in neckbreaking speed. After leaving instructions to the stable boy to have his mount watered, he swiftly ascended the steps and within moments was being escorted to the breakfast room.

“The Marquis of Sangre,” the butler intoned.

“Milord, welcome…” The three Orpheline sisters, despite their visible surprise, greeted him pleasantly.

“How the hell did you know I was here?” Ilie Marcovici, the Marquis of Lunare, on the other hand, did not sound as welcoming, but this was belied by the wicked gleam in his silver eyes.

“It’s nice to see you, too.”

It was Mihail’s usual dry tone, Ilie observed with a frown, but at the same time, it wasn’t.

Soleil, too, noticed the weariness that outlined Mihail’s chiseled features. Something must have happened, she told her husband through their blood bond.

Aurora straightened in her seat when the Marquis of Sangre turned to look at her. Uh-oh.

“May I speak with you in private? It is about Lady Norwood.”

Ilie glanced at his heartkeeper. I never told you, did I? And I suppose your sister would not do so either.

Soleil blinked. Tell me what?

Ilie nodded at his sister-in-law’s direction. Mihail’s heartkeeper is one of Aurora’s patients.

When Mihail saw the Marchioness of Lunare suddenly looking at him with wide-eyed curiosity, he shot her husband a glare. “Stop gossipping about me behind my back.”

“You are right,” Ilie drawled. “These things are more interesting when discussed in the open.”

The words had his marchioness coughing to disguise her laughter while Mihail cursed him fluidly in Daemoniu.

“I believe you already know this, milord,” Aurora said apologetically, “but I cannot speak of anything that Lady Norwood—-”

“It is not that,” Mihail interrupted grimly. “I wish instead to ask you about heartkeeping. My sister Maricha tells me that you have recently been helping her with her research.”

Aurora’s expression cleared. “That, I can most assuredly give assistance to.”

“We can be of help as well,” Ilie offered. “You know this is true,” he said innocently when he saw Mihail’s scowl. “Soleil and I are still discovering new things about heartkeeping even now.”