A Castle of Sand (A Shade of Vampire #3)(15)

“Jumpy, isn’t she?” He chuckled.

Derek glared at his father, his sovereign. “Don’t touch her.”

“What is it with you and this consuming urge to protect this little firebrand?” Gregor kept his steely eyes on me, amusement and mockery dripping from his every word. “What’s so special about her? What makes her so different from all the other women you’ve brought to your bed?”

My eyes shot toward Derek. I knew that I wasn’t the first woman he’d had in his bed, but to hear someone call him out on it felt different. I could practically sense how torn apart Derek was at being reminded of his past. He just hung his head, staring into space as Gregor drawled on, this time addressing me.

“Do you have any idea how many lovely ladies have graced the presence of your prince here? Do you know the kind of women whose pleasures he’s willingly partaken of? Do you really believe an immortal could stay faithful to a mortal like you?”

I hated the way he was talking. I knew it was meant to cause doubt in me, but more than that, it was meant to inflict pain on Derek. I gave Gregor the sweetest smile I could manage before turning my eyes toward the man I loved. I hated how dejected he seemed when all his past weaknesses were slapped right into his face. I brushed a hand over his cheek and tilted his chin so that he would look at me and see me smiling.

“I don’t have a single doubt in my mind that he can and he will be faithful to me,” I spoke the words with conviction emanating from every fiber of my being. I knew then that the words were true and from the spark in Derek’s blue eyes, I could tell that he too knew that I meant every word.

Gregor laughed wryly. “Sure. You must be really good in bed if you think you can keep him interested for…”

“Enough,” Derek spoke up. “You don’t talk about Sofia that way. Ever.”

“What? You deny that she isn’t the first whore you’ve taken to bed? That she’s just one among many who…”

“I said enough.” Derek’s glare was so menacing, even I stepped back. “She’s not one among many, father. She’s the only one, the only woman I have ever been in love with.”

“In love?!” Gregor exclaimed. “Do you even know what that means, son? Is that what you think you feel whenever you have this nubile body of hers writhing beneath yours?”

“It’s got nothing to do with sex.” Derek looked around at the crowd now beginning to form around us—made curious by the argument going on between king and prince—and raised his voice, “In fact, I vow that I will no longer take her to my bed and make love to her until she’s become my wife…until the world knows that Sofia Claremont alone owns my heart.”

My eyes widened with surprise. His eyes met mine and if he didn’t know it already then he was a fool, but I was his. I was forever his.

Still, he wasn’t done astounding me. He looked deep into my eyes and I found my mind reeling at the next words he spoke, “I’m going to marry you someday, Sofia Claremont. I don’t know how it will happen, but it will happen. We belong together and you know it.”

I tried to say something, but I had no idea what to say, so my jaw just hung loosely as I gaped up at him.

“Until that day, Sofia, I can’t treat you the same way I treated all the other women who came before you. You’re too precious for that, but be sure of one thing…I will pursue you. Relentlessly. I will pursue you until death pulls us apart. I will find a way, Sofia. I’ll find a way to make what we have last forever.”

I shuddered at what he was trying to tell me. He knew that I could never become a vampire, an immortal like he was, so how he thought that the words he was speaking could possibly become true was beyond me. Still, the determination in his eyes told me that he meant everything he had said.

Moved, I caressed the side of his face with my hand, enjoying the feel of his skin beneath mine. “No matter what happens, Derek,” I tried to assure him. “Remember that my heart belongs to you, and it could never belong to any other.”

A smile formed on his lips. “That’s all I need to hear.”

Given that statement, every single person present that night was made aware that Derek’s pursuit of me had just begun.

CHAPTER 10: LUCAS

I didn’t know what to expect after the Maslens—our clan’s archenemy—offered me sanctuary. It felt like such a gamble, but having been informed that my father would rather send me back to The Shade and face death at Derek’s hands instead of taking me under his wing, I really had no other choice. The Oasis, home of the Maslen clan, became my sanctuary.

Thus, I travelled to Cairo where Borys Maslen—lord of the Maslen clan—sent an escort to take me to The Oasis. In a couple of days’ time, traveling by night and seeking shade by day, I arrived. At first, I thought that it was some sort of joke. It was exactly as it name implied—a small oasis hidden within the Egyptian boundaries of the Sahara Desert.

A slew of curses escaped my lips as I approached the small lake surrounded by three palm trees that appeared to form a triangle around the lake.

“What is this?” I hissed at my escort.

“Wait and see,” he responded smugly.

I’d already heard a lot of stories about The Oasis. It was said to be a marvel, but nothing prepared me for what I saw.