King of Battle and Blood (Adrian X Isolde #1)(28)

I found Adrian standing by the window, staring out at the night. He was fully dressed and in different clothes than those he’d worn at the wedding. These were not as fine as what he’d worn last night, but they were travel clothes. Still, he looked every bit the ruler, clad in black and crimson. He wore no ornamentation, but he did not need it. His presence spoke of his power.

How was he functioning after the night we’d had together?

At that thought, he looked at me over his shoulder.

“I do not need as much sleep as you to feel recovered,” he said.

“That hardly seems fair.”

He turned fully toward me, and there was a moment when all I could think about was how his skin had felt against mine, how his body had moved inside mine, how desperate I’d been to come and make him come. Tendrils of desire curled inside my body, flushing my skin.

I may have borne his marks, but his body also bore mine—and that was where I was torn. As much as I’d met my match in pleasure, it was through my enemy’s body.

“I know what you think of my kind,” he said, and there was a glimmer of amusement before his expression turned more serious. “But there is more to us than the monstrous parts.”

“Are you trying to suggest you have redeeming qualities as a murderer?”

“Why not ask your father that question?” Adrian said.

“My father is not a murderer. He has fought bravely to defend his kingdom.”

“So it is only murder when your people are killed?” Adrian asked.

I glared at him. “You were created to curse us.”

Adrian stared, and I could not tell how he felt about my comment. But after a brief pause, he licked his lips and answered, “Well, I cannot argue with that.”

The vampire king crossed the room to the chair beside the fire where I’d found him sitting last night before our coupling began. He retrieved a fur-lined cloak and clasped it around his shoulders.

“Bathe,” he said. “You will not have the chance for the next week.”

I glared at him but rose, wanting to wash all evidence of his claim to me from my body. At my thought, he chuckled.

“That is not possible.”

I reached for the closest object, which happened to be a heavy brass candlestick, and launched it at him. It soared past him and hit the wall, damaging a painting that hung just behind his head.

“Stop reading my mind!” I snapped.

“That is like asking you to stop feeling,” he said.

I sighed, frustrated. “I hate you.”

“You hate parts of me,” he said.

“I hate all of you,” I said. I let my eyes shift down, but he was fully dressed, and it was impossible to tell if he was aroused.

“Then why are you wondering if I am aroused?” he asked.

“Because I wonder if you get off on arguing,” I said.

“Yes,” he said. “To answer both.”

I scowled. “Stop reading my mind.”

He chuckled, and I turned on my heels, hips swaying as I headed for the copper bath. I hoped his cock grew tight and his balls heavy with need.

The water steamed, making my face sweat as I neared. I sank into it, groaning as Adrian approached, swiping a few items off a nearby table.

“Soap?” he asked.

I met his strange eyes first, then let my gaze fall to his hand, hesitant, wondering if it was some kind of trick.

“You can call for Nadia,” I said.

“I did not think you would want her to see you like this,” he replied.

I knew what he meant. I looked down at my breasts, my skin covered in dark bruises from Adrian’s hungry mouth. It was bad enough that the Blood King lived, worse that I had let him touch me, enter me, destroy me—and he knew that. Except that instead of forcing me to face my people in a state that would expose me to shame, he was protecting me from it.

I took the soap and the washcloth he offered next.

“Thank you.”

He inclined his head before turning his back and walking toward the window again.

“We will depart for Revekka tonight?”

“Yes.”

“If you intend to conquer the rest of Cordova, why not leave me here until your conquest is complete?”

“No.”

“So you will leave me in Revekka while you conquer my country?”

“I will return to Revekka with you and remain until you are established as my queen.”

“You would risk the Nine Houses plotting against you in your absence?”

“The Houses can plot all they want. I am inevitable.”

He wasn’t afraid. He believed he was truly untouchable.

And he was—as far as anyone knew. I’d stabbed him in the side, and he’d healed immediately. My father must have believed so too, which was why I was now married to the king of Revekka.

I stared at him. “And what does it mean to be established as your queen?”

It was the only question that mattered to me now.

“My people must respect you,” he said. “But they are predators and you…you are a sparrow.”

“Are you calling me weak?”

The thought had me squeezing the washcloth, and when he looked at me, his gaze was both gentle and oddly proud.

“We both know you are not weak,” he said. “But not even you can survive the Red Palace without someone to teach you our ways.”