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)
I blinked. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am very serious.”
“I don’t want any tricks or—”
“Until I drank your blood, I hadn’t been able to see in a hundred years. You restored my sight.” Those coppers eyes glowed. “Thank you, little queen. Forever I will be your servant.”
“I can. . .trust you?”
“As long as I live, you can trust that I will serve you.” Ian stepped to me and gently seized my wrist. “I have no intention of angering or tricking you in any way.”
Can I really trust him?
Always.
I pursed my lips together.
He held my wrist up to his lips.
“Okay,” I agreed, not really sure of myself, but praying to Ambi and Ressi that I was doing the right thing for Xander and I. “Go ahead.”
He opened his mouth. Only one fang pushed out of his teethless gums.
Then, he lifted my wrist to his lips and that fang cut through my skin with ease. A sting of pain bit at the area.
With Xander, bliss came soon after his fangs buried into me, but not with Ian.
Instead, this felt similar to when the castle doctors stuck needles in my arms to take samples of my blood.
Ian’s eyes closed as his head tilted back and pressed his lips to my wrist. My blood seeped into his mouth. A low groan left him.
Go ahead with your questions, little queen.
“You said I looked like your first queen, but Queen Regina thinks I look like the Quiet King’s first queen.” I shivered as he drank my blood. “What’s the truth, Ian?”
His giggle danced in my head. It was the gentle strumming of a guitar and felt like the soft touch of a velvet glove.
My bottom lip quivered. “What is the answer?”
Both are true, little queen.
“I don’t understand.”
My brother Nai, the one you all call the Quiet King, and I shared the same first queen.
What?
Shock filled me as he continued to drink.
Another tiny groan slipped from his mouth.
He let go of my wrist.
I kept it up to his fang, afraid to yank it out too quickly and hurt myself.
Ian’s hands went to my waist and he pulled me close to him and sucked in more of my blood with no restraint.
My breath caught as our bodies pressed together.
He pulled the fang out of my wrist for a second and slipped his tongue along the wound.
I shivered.
And then he returned to drinking from me.
I swallowed. “T-tell me. . .about this. . .red-haired queen that you shared.”
Her name was Phinova and she was a blood mage just like you.
I widened my eyes. “Blood. . .mage. . .like me. . .”
Yes.
He tightened his grip on me and pressed his body into mine. His chest, which at first seemed soft, was now hardening with each second. Instead of one fang inside my wrist, another one appeared and sliced into me.
I trembled in shock. “Tell me more about blood mages. We don’t have much time.”
There weren’t a lot of blood mages in my time with hair as red as yours and such sweet blood like yours too. Even then, other mages killed them due to the power of their blood.
Ian drank some more.
My heartbeats boomed in my ear.
Your blood can heal most creatures quickly and turn a human into a vampire.
Instantly, I thought of Leeta. “How is this even possible?”
I am more shocked that your parents did not tell you.
My mother and father both had brown hair. I doubted that they were mages, but then I didn’t know what a mage looked like anyway. As a kid, I had always thought that. . .my differences perhaps. . .pointed to the fact that I was not my parents’ kid. But that was a fate that I never wanted for myself. Therefore, perhaps. . .I lived within the obvious lie that my parents told me, just to enjoy their love and continue my life with no more questions.
Ian’s words filled my head. Vampires never figured out the how and why of blood mages.
My body heated as he drew more blood.
Mage tribes fight a lot among themselves, but when it comes to maintaining their powers and history, they unite together and keep all of it secret.
I swayed a little. My body felt weak. “You have to stop drinking for a while. At least until I can get my balance again.”
Ian released me, backed up, opened his white shirt further, and gazed at his chest. Gray flesh transformed to pale new skin right before our eyes.
“When Nai and I were young, there were ten vampire kings throughout the territories,” Ian whispered. “Each had a reasonable sized castle and ruled the small city around them. People called that time the Age of Peace.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“Because you are young, little queen.”
“Tell me more.”
“My father was king of Capitol City. Since the city is so close to the mage territories, he spent most of his life trying to build strong relationships with the tribes.” Ian tore off his shirt and grinned as muscles appeared on his body, sculpting his waist and arms into thick, coiled muscle.