“Malcom knows that if he approaches, I will kill him. Which would ruin the wedding.” He said it so lightly, as if so wild a declaration it were nothing at all.
“My daughter loves him. You told me he led you to where I….” I didn’t have a name for that room or for what had happened in it. “I’m not so stupid that I don’t understand why he—”
Echoing my earlier thoughts, Vladislov showed enough temper that his whole form twitched as if he fought to maintain it. “Ripped out your beautiful fangs, broke your jaw, and delivered you to Darius so he might play his games with you when you should have been immediately brought to me?”
I could already see the seams stretching, patting his chest as if to hold back the beast and its wings. “You’ll rip your fine clothes if you don’t take a deep breath.”
My warning only earned me a poke on the forehead. “If you could only see the mess in here. I tolerate Malcom out of some misplaced fondness for Jade. I tolerate him, because he was loyal. But I can clearly see what he did to my wife. How terrified you were, the pain it caused. Why should I care if it was done in service?”
“You don’t get to have an opinion about it. That’s why. It was done to me.” Had those words just come out of my mouth?
“Consider me chastened.” And tamed. He went from smoking devil to playful puppy. Kissing my lips in little nips and calling me stunning as his fingers found my nipple through the daringly low cut bodice of my ridiculous dress. “Before we go, can I fuck you on the counter? In this dress, just like this? I want to know I’m leaking down your leg while peasants approach and fools think to negotiate.”
It was less of a question and more of a prayer. Already, he’d begun bunching up my voluminous skirt, the edge of the dressing room’s marble counter at my thighs. Moving faster than my eyes might register, he pulled himself from his trousers, uncaring that his pants fell to his ankles, and was in.
In me.
The pinching fetters of so many stones around my neck, the initial cramp when something too big filled a place that seemed incessantly wet. I found bliss.
He fucked me. Right there as I clung and gasped.
Coming too soon, earning cruel laughter from an incessantly hard bull, I braced. Because there was always more.
So much so that we were late for the gathering. My hair, once beautiful, was a half-fallen mess. And yes, he was dripping down my leg.
Not yet recovered from the bending world that went from dressing room to riverside wedding, I stumbled. I clung.
I knew I was ridiculous.
Many approached my guardian.
“Husband,” he whispered at my ear, giving it a lick despite the audience of immortals.
Languages were spoken that I didn’t know. Addresses were made, even to me—polite, tolerant nods in many cases. Wide-mouthed grins in others.
Fangs were on full display, glittering in the moonlight.
Though when I forced a smile in reply, I saw how vampire eyes went straight to my stumped incisors. There were looks of pity, looks of disgust.
“The groom tore them out himself!” Vladislov chuckled, though the very tone of his laughter was menace.
Under my breath, I tried to stop him. “Vladislov!”
“She asked me not to kill him.” My less than delightful companion eased nearer the latest supplicant. “But she never asked me to spare you. Leave.”
A man I hardly noticed may as well have pissed himself, vanishing into the night as if he’d never been there.
Could this be more uncomfortable? “That wasn’t funny.”
“He looked at your throat.” As if that was explanation enough.
Like a king approaching his throne, Vladislov entered the fray, literally dragging me into the masses. Tripping over my skirt, one arm flailed, and a spray of glowing, white flowers began to fall.
Caught before the crash by Maya. Who gave me a wink before a goddess in the flesh moved back into the crowd. I didn’t have a chance to say thank you.
“I’ve known Maya for thousands of years. Believe me when I say, she is genuine, unforgiving, and willing to spend her time getting to know you. That is rare.” With a pout on his lips, my face red and posture shrinking, I heard him add, “I suspect you will be fast friends and that I will be very jealous.”
“Can you please stop? Just stop, Vlad!”
He didn’t stop, but all around us did. It was as if time froze, the stillness of all in attendance. A mercenary indrawn breath to see what would happen next.
“For you, my bride, anything.” Leaning down to press a kiss to my cheek, he added, “I’m sorry.”
Everyone turned my way. A chilling unison of movement. A sea of people, of costume, of fanfare. Of years and years and years of life. This was not an event for the unimportant; even naïve as I was, I grasped that. And all of them were staring at me.