Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 85552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85552 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
“Ian said this all happened before the Quiet King started wars and slaying other kings. Way before he began hoarding dominas. Supposedly, the queen that did the magic was the Quiet King’s original wife, who triggered his ripening from prince to king.”
“I’ve never heard of her.”
“Ian said she died many years before I was born.”
“How did she die?”
“I don’t know.” Xander glanced down at me. A pained expression painted his face. “I’m sorry for getting angry with Ian and you back there. I could’ve handled that differently.”
“Don’t worry. It has been a long night.” I tucked my hair behind my ear. “You almost lost Leeta. I get it.”
“And I may lose you too apparently since you think you’re not my queen.”
“Don’t start that again.” I stomped into a deeper puddle. The murky water sloshed into my boots and streamed down my ankles. “Oh Ambi, I can’t wait to be out of here.”
“Since Freemont is destroyed, could you please remain with me?”
“We agreed that I would stay with you afterwards—”
“No, I want you by my side forever.”
I thought about my husband and how he had simply erased me out of his life with another woman. While I cared very deeply for Xander, my broken heart would not allow me to simply jump back into a new relationship so quickly.
“Let’s. . .take our time.”
“No.”
I blinked. “Xander, I need time.”
“You’re mine forever and that is it.”
“Thank you for compromising.”
He growled. “Do you understand your place with me?”
“I do.” I wiggled my toes in the grime-filled sponges that were now my socks. “You can read my mind. You know what I want.”
“The only thing you’re picturing over and over in your mind is a bathtub,” Xander said as we journeyed farther. “Which doesn’t make me too happy.”
I could see a tiny light ahead and quickened my pace. “Should I be thinking of something else?”
“You should be thinking of me in that bathtub with you, pampering and caressing your skin and treating you like the queen you are.”
I struggled not to smile, but it spread across my face anyway. “If you don’t want to be a king then why must you insist that I’m your queen?”
The light grew larger as we journeyed closer and then a metal door appeared.
“I don’t need to be a king for you to be my queen,” Xander explained. “And that’s not the point. You’ve said you were my queen hundreds of times.”
I released an exasperated breath. “And all of those times we were. . .having sex. People say crazy things they don’t mean in the heat of passion.”
“Not me,” Xander grumbled and stomped ahead of me.
“Well, that’s because you’re a vampire prince.” I twirled my hand in the air.
A rumbling sound emitted from his chest.
Leeta coughed in Xander’s arms.
We both stopped walking and gazed at her.
“Xander?” Leeta’s voice came out in a low whisper with a scratchy undertone. “What’s happening to me? I. . .don’t feel sick, but. . .I feel. . .so cold.”
Her eyes opened, exposing copper pupils instead of their usual brown.
I flinched. “What?”
Only vampires had metallic-colored eyes.
“You’re okay. Go back to sleep.” Xander rocked her in his arms. Leeta’s eyes fluttered for a minute and then closed.
I tapped his shoulder and then touched my forehead so he would know to read my thoughts.
Did you see that? Her eyes are like a vampire’s.
Yes, Xander answered in my mind. I noticed that.
I got in front of him and put my hands to Leeta’s lips, slowly opening them.
Be careful, Xander warned.
I separated Leeta’s cool mouth. Tiny fangs lengthened from her gums.
I jerked back.
Is she a vampire, or something else?
I don’t know.
Shock rocked my body. I stumbled further back.
What’s going on? What did my blood do?
Chapter 17
Many Times
Camille
Xander’s words filled my head. Don’t say anything to Ty and Victoria about Leeta’s eyes or fangs. I need time to figure this out.
Okay was the first thought I could coherently manage as I trailed behind him and stuffed my shaking hands into my pockets.
What are we going to do? Is this even possible?
Leeta’s fangs flashed in my mind a million times.
Ian had said her blood was changing into something else, that she was no longer human.
Then what is she? Is my blood responsible for that?
Xander averted his gaze, opened an iron door, and gestured for me to stay with him.
We entered a room full of shadows that danced along the walls. Lit candles stood in each corner. Dark black liquid soaked the cement, but it wasn’t puddled like the tunnels. Tiny things squirmed in the liquid.
Dear, Ambi.
I recognized this as the place Ty and Xander had taken me two weeks ago when they were helping me escape.
Next, Xander led me to another metal door and rotated the foot-wide circular wheel in the center.
The door clicked open.
A chilly wind brushed past me as we entered a massive room.