Suddenly, Ilta whirled around, lips rolled back and snarling. ‘Oh, Your Highness, forgive me, I thought you were somebody else,’ Ilta said, bowing low. There was begrudged politeness in his voice.
‘I wish to have this dance with Violet.’ Kaspar glowered. Ilta reluctantly let me go.
‘Of course, Your Highness.’ Stiffly, he bowed again and swept off, disappearing into the whirling crowd.
‘What was that for?!’ I hissed, shooting daggers at the Prince, whose eyes were cemented to the spot where Ilta had slipped into the crowd. I took a step forward, but he took a step back.
‘Curtsey,’ he snarled. I lowered myself as little as possible, never letting my eyes leave him. I didn’t bother to take his hand as I turned on the spot once more.
‘I told you to stay away from him!’ he scolded, talking to me like a child.
‘I know you did. But I am not a child or a vampire so you have no control or right to tell me what I can and cannot do. I will make my own judgements about people, thank you very much.’ I went to leave, but he grabbed my wrist. His nails dug into my skin, as they had done that first night I met him.
‘Do not walk away from me. No one refuses the heir to this Kingdom.’ He glared at me, the power he clearly knew he possessed radiating in waves as the admiring eyes of the passing women and girls swept over him.
‘I do,’ I whispered, leaving him and the dance floor behind.
TWENTY-TWO
Kaspar
‘I do,’ she whispered and with that she was gone. I narrowed my eyes, watching the flash of purple disappear into the crowd.
‘Damn it,’ I muttered, shoving my hands into the pockets of my trousers. I had never met such an irksome woman, let alone a human one. But I had enough experience of irritable females to know I should let her think she had escaped for the time being.
Instead, I meandered through the crowd, enjoying the attention my title and good looks attracted, until the scent of hairspray started to loiter in the back of my throat, and a flash of bleach-blonde hair caught my eye. Sleeping with Charity was one thing, and dancing with her bearable if I wore steel-capped shoes; spending time with her when I didn’t have to, on the other hand, was plain traumatic.
I made a beeline for the alcove in which Fabian and the others were talking, and was far more satisfied to see a head full of dark curls amongst them. That feeling quickly moved to surprise as I realized Violet was comfortably leading the conversation.
‘I’m intrigued. How do vampires liven their balls up?’ she said in reply to Fabian.
I saw my opportunity and seized it. ‘May I ask for the next dance, intrigued one? I can show you how.’ I bent down and kissed her knuckles. She flustered and I was pleased to see the shiver travel up my arm; pleased to see her react like any other girl would react in that situation.
She recovered quickly. ‘Fine,’ she snapped, with a flick of her head. ‘But if you dare lecture me, I will step on your foot.’ She met my gaze as steadily as she would if her threat was not hollow, and I held it. I was not going to alter my view on Ilta Crimson. He was no friend of my family, and I had no doubt that he had contacts with various slayer clans. That wasn’t to mention the fact he was a known lecher.
To simply get her to give in and stop being so stubborn, however, I would tell her the sky was green. ‘Fine,’ I agreed, equally as terse.
She removed her hand from mine and I found Fabian frowning at me. I rolled my eyes with a slight shake of my head, which Violet didn’t miss.
‘Lyla!’ She seized my nearby sister’s hand with as much vigour as when I had seized on the chance to steal a dance. ‘You dance with Fabian.’ She joined their hands and left before they could protest.
I hurried to catch up with her. ‘Girly, you little matchmaker!’
‘You know too?’
‘She is my sister.’
She seemed somewhat disappointed that she wasn’t the only one to know about my sister’s obsessive – but very recent – crush on Fabian, and didn’t speak as she curtsied without any prompting and gazed over my shoulder. She broke out into a smile and when I glanced back, it became obvious that the sight of Lyla in Fabian’s hold was the source of her happiness. But Fabian was my best and oldest friend, and I knew him well enough to see that he led my sister only in a stiff, mechanical fashion.
‘This is a little too risqué for the elders,’ I explained as I moved away and circled her, already having missed the more traditional waltz at the beginning. As much as I thought my sister’s love of clothes was almost as fanatical as her feelings for Fabian, I couldn’t deny that she had done a good job with this waif.
She watched me warily, craning her neck as far as it would go. ‘I’m sorry about—’
I cut in before she could finish. ‘Sorry about lecturing you and crap.’ Her eyes narrowed and I could see in her face exactly what was in mine: apologies? I looked away before she could register any surprise in my expression.
Everywhere I looked there were joyous smiles, raucous laughter, and the younger vampires holding one another far closer than what was ‘proper’. Hands grazed necks and shoulders; outwardly, it looked innocent, but the looks in their eyes told me it wasn’t. And I was about to show Violet exactly why that was.
‘Are you ready?’ I grinned and placed my hands firmly on her waist, tightening my fingers around the boning of the dress.
‘For what?’ She looked rightly anxious.
‘For this.’ The music paused and with that I hoisted her high into the air; she shrieked and her hands automatically sought my shoulders, forcing me to inhale first the perfume dabbed on her wrists, which I recognized as Lyla’s, and second a scent that made my throat burn. She might look like a vampire for the ball, but she still smelt like dinner.
I lowered her a heartbeat too early and as soon as her court shoes kissed the floor she was telling me off.
‘A little bloody warning would be nice next time!’ With that she purposefully stepped forward instead of back and jammed her low heel onto my toes.
I let my eyes flicker closed. ‘You do realize that didn’t hurt me in the slightest?’
‘You do realize you’re intolerable?’
‘The feeling is mutual then.’
I lifted her twice more, and would have done an extra time if she hadn’t put up such a loud fuss, cursing vampires under her breath.
‘You never learn, do you? You have to be polite to me. I am the Prince. Prince. Ring any bells?’