Twenty-year-old Claire must deceive a vampire prince to infiltrate the monarchy and discover their secrets while resisting her desire for him.
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Nothing in my life has ever been easy. Including the mission my family has sent me on.
My sister and...
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The gravity of what I'd just done and the decisions I'd made settled over me when I came face to face with Natalia.
As soon as the door was closed, she rounded on me. Hands on her hips.
"What the hell was going on in there?"
This was a rhetorical question—she saw me with my pants down. It was clear I was doing something I shouldn't have been, and Natalia knew the law just as well as I did.
Vampires weren't allowed to make sexual advances on their sanguine partners.
But she didn't know the truth.
Hell, I'd known the truth for weeks, and I was still wrestling with what I'd done.
I had to be strong enough to carry out my duties as lord of this castle and Marius's general, but thoughts of Claire permeated my every waking moment.
As loathe as I was to admit it, I needed help.
The only problem was that I didn't want to involve Natalia in this. It was unfair to implicate her in my wrongdoings.
So, instead of being honest, I brushed past her, making my way across the hall toward the council chamber, irritation collecting at my temples and the weight of responsibility sitting on my shoulders.
Undeterred by my coldness, Natalia caught up to me, grabbing me by the arm and whirling me around.
"Bastien!" she gasped. Her attention fixed on my chest. "Y-Your bloodstone!"
I looked down, only to realize that in my haste, I hadn't put my jacket or cravat back on, and the bloodstone was glowing right through the button holes. Pulsing away for all to see.
This was why I needed her help, but I was too proud to ask.
"Leave it alone," I said, slapping her hand away and turning around to fetch a new jacket and tie from my room.
Natalia chased after me, following at my heels. The door of my private apartment was carved of ebony-stained wood and bore the sigil of House Allard, opened at my approach. The magick of the castle allowing only its master passage.
She followed me inside, and the door closed behind us.
"Gods, this makes so much sense," she nearly shouted once we were safely behind the wards. "This explains why you've been acting so...so weird."
I glared at her. I'd been called many things over the course of my life, but never had I been accused of being weird.
I could feel my temper begin to rise, and the part of me that was a predator awakened, just as it had done in Claire's room.
