“You think so little of me, mi’ lady?” he whispers in her ear.
She turns her head away from him. “I know nothing about you,” she says with her lips pressed tight together.
“Well, while a bit of rape and pillage never went amiss, it’s more fun when they scream,” he says, and climbs off her.
A chill races through my veins at his words and I scramble quickly to my feet. “You are despicable,” I hiss, brushing off my gown.
“And you are a fraud,” he responds.
It catches me off guard and I frown at him. “I don’t know what you mean, sir,” I say stiffly.
“This is the most alive I have seen you since you crawled into the castle over two hundred years ago. This is the most honest you have been with your true self in centuries,” he says. “Admit it, you are enjoying yourself.”
“Do not presume to know me,” I say, and turn my back to him. I cannot let him see that he is right. I won’t give him that kind of satisfaction. “I do not enjoy being accosted by filthy Vampires on the side of the road,” I add with a sneer.
“Filthy?” he asks incredulously. “I find offense, mi’ lady, I bathed this morning.” He is mocking me with his tone, and it brings a flush to my cheeks.
“Yes, in the stream, where the peasants bathe,” I say so derisively, it actually makes him laugh.
“I thought that was your preferred bathing area, Mistress,” he replies. “Or is it just a ruse to cover up the rutting you engage in out in the open?”
I clench my fists at my sides. Frederick tricked me into this and now I am cornered by my own actions.
“How I spend my time is nothing to do with you,” I say with a little sniff, and his laugh deepens.
“You are right,” he says eventually. “I do not care who you spread your legs for. If it is your wish to displease your sire, then that is up to you.” He dismisses me and goes back to chewing on a piece of grass.
I glare at him, opening and closing my mouth, having nothing to say to him, but needing to say something. He will not have the last word with me. Not now, not ever.
“I do not wish to displease Constantine,” I say sharply. “But he is so overbearing, he makes it impossible for me to breathe without having to be lectured and punished over it!”
Frederick stares at me and my sudden outburst with a look of utter disbelief. I press my fist to my mouth, cursing myself for my traitorous remark.
“I didn’t…” I start.
“Oh, no,” he says, almost with pride. “Now that is the first honest thing, I have heard you say.”
“I spoke out of turn,” I stammer.
He rolls his eyes at me. “I am not your sire, Aefre,” he says, and I gasp at his use of my name. “Say whatever you will.”
The panic wells up in me for my comments. If this gets back to Constantine, that I spoke ill of him, he will skin me alive. I drop to my knees in front of Frederick and take his hand to his surprise. “Please, sir, I didn’t mean it. You cannot tell him.”
The desperation in her voice interests Frederick on a level he didn’t know he had with regard to her. She is truly worried that he will tell on her and the consequences of that. He knows just how Constantine works and any punishment that he doles out is harsh and meant to humiliate. Suddenly, he feels that is something he wants to protect her from, and he isn’t happy about it. He pulls his hand out of hers and says gruffly, “I won’t say a word.”
“Promise me,” she whispers.
“I am not a man of my word,” he says looking back at her. “But I do promise you I won’t say anything.”
“Thank you,” she breathes and sits back on her heels. “Anything I can do for you in return, please do not hesitate…”
“There is nothing that you have that I want,” he says coldly, very unhappy with her proposition. He wonders when he became like this. Any other woman would be under him, servicing him for his silence, but with her… He shakes his head to clear it.
I bite back the insult I had ready. He is doing me a favor so I must stay on his good side now. I keep silent but stay where I am and pluck at the grass, as he too sits in complete silence.
“Are you hungry?” I ask, after I have counted to five hundred and Frederick still hasn’t said anything.
He breathes in deeply and doesn’t answer me.