Sold as the Alpha King’s Breeder

Chapter 96 : Submitting to the King

*Lena*

Black double doors made of iron opened wide as the vampire guard pushed me into the dining hall.

My toes curled as the smell of blood hit me, and I closed my eyes, hanging my head to stop myself

from gazing upon whatever bloody sight lay before me.

I heard the doors close behind me, locking shut. Heat rippled over my skin, and the roaring of a

massive fire thundered in my ears.

“Open your eyes," came a rich male voice that echoed through the hall.

My lashes fluttered as I opened my eyes and stared down at my feet, trying to get a sense of the room

and the ageless vampire who was seated yards away, commanding me.

When I finally had the courage to look forward, I wasn't overcome with shock like I had been when I

first gazed upon Narcissa. There was no metallic taste and feel of ancient magic, and no intense,

unearthly pull like the one that made it hard for me to tear my eyes away from her translucent skin and

silver hair.

Like Narcissa, Nikolas was incredibly tall and lean, graceful in every moment he made. But his hair was

an icy platinum, similar to my own, and his skin had a creaminess to it that hers hadn't possessed.

He looked shockingly human, compared to his sister.

Violet eyes flaked with crimson looked me up and down, but I didn't flinch or cower beneath his gaze.

He wasn't what I'd been expecting. He didn't ooze power. He didn't scare me.

I straightened my back, squaring my shoulders as I took a shallow breath and looked around the room.

Long, narrow, endless stone–there wasn't a single decoration save for the dozens of thick, tallow

candles that burned along the center of the table and along the mantel over the hearth that stretched

the entire width of the room.

He was seated directly in front of the hearth, and some of the peachy color of his skin could probably

be attributed to the red and amber flames that danced behind him. He didn't rise to his feet as I took a

single step in his direction.

“Beautiful," he cooed, his eyes flashing with an emotion I couldn't quite read. Hunger was there,

obviously, for more reasons than one. But he looked… impressed.

I fought the urge to bow, to kneel before him as I tucked my hand behind my back and held his gaze. A

man was slumped in a chair next to him, his neck bloodied and oozing. King Nikolas followed my gaze

and chuckled low in his throat.

“He's still alive," he said in an almost seductive whisper as he ran a long, pale finger across the man's

cheek. “Just asleep."

“I want a fire lit in my room," I said through gritted teeth, “and food… water that doesn't freeze solid

within a few minutes of being delivered."

“So many demands and yet you haven't even bowed before your king?"

He was not my king, and I wanted to say as much, but I bit down on my tongue. I wondered if he could

read my mind like Narcissa had been able to, and possibly Kiern as well. But as I watched him settle

back against a high-backed chair, his eyes taking in every line and curve of my face before settling on

my neck, I had the suspicion that he could not.

I wondered what his powers were if he didn't share the same ones as his sister. He was immortal, yes,

but not a seer.

“You have demands of me as well," I spat, realizing my life and plan for his death involved playing his

game. “And I can't do anything unless my basic needs are taken care of."

He narrowed his eyes at me, studying the color flaming across my cheeks. I made myself look as angry

and confident as possible, but on the inside I was crumbling. The warmth of the room was seeping into

my bones, replacing the icy chill that had numbed the pangs of hunger, dehydration, and the distress I

felt about Xander and the whole portal situation.

He snapped his fingers and two gray, molted vampires stepped forward. I studied them, wondering

what the difference was between them and the man who the king had been feeding on moments before

I was brought to the dining hall. They carried him away, and within seconds the blood was mopped

from the table, and the king summoned me to sit on the opposite side of the table from him.

There was a great distance between us as I sat down. The table was at least twelve feet long. I had to

squint over the candles to see a clear glimpse of his face.

He was handsome in the same way Narcissa had been beautiful, more captivatingly strange than

anything. He looked no older than myself, but his eyes gave away his true age. They were deep wells

of vivid color, and full of secrets lost to time.

A large bowl of chopped fruit was laid in front of me. I looked down at it, then up at Nikolas, letting my

face twist with disappointment.

“I need more than fruit," I said sharply. I hadn't been given a fork or spoon to eat with, either.

“All of my feeders eat only fruit," he said casually, leaning back in his chair with a goblet of blood, or

maybe even wine, in one of his hands. “You all taste better that way."

“I wasn't aware I was here as your feeder," I said, plucking a piece of what could have been an apple

and popping it into my mouth. I did everything I could to stop myself from moaning with relief as the

taste of it hit my tongue, and I stopped myself from scooping fistfuls of the fruit and stuffing it in my

mouth like my body wanted.

“You can be more to me once you prove to me what you can do. That is the rule." He snapped his

fingers, and a door opened along the side of the room. The same man he'd been feeding on earlier

was dragged into the room again as though they'd just stored him in some back hallway until this very

moment. “Heal him."

“Why? You said he was fine–"

“I want to see that you can do it," he said with a shred of coldness to his voice.

I took another bite of the fruit, then another, and another. I watched him as I chewed, trying to get a

sense of what exactly he was looking for.

Maxwell had told me the woman who went missing in Crimson Creek were all females who may have

been from a White Queen bloodline. It wasn't far-fetched, given the family tree my Uncle Troy had

found in the library in Winter Forest. There were dozens upon dozens of spindly branches hanging off

the main line of White Queens.

I realized as I finished off the first bowl of fruit that many a woman had gone through his ice trial and

had sat in this same chair. They'd watched the guards drag a body across the floor, and they'd been

commanded to heal it.

They hadn't been able to do it. But Nikolas knew that I could. There wasn't a shadow of a doubt in

those eyes of his as he watched me stand and make my way over to his feeder, who was so bloodless

that his wounds had gone dry.

I didn't break eye contact with Nikolas as I held out my palm.

“I need a knife," I demanded, but a sly smile twitched on the corners of Nikolas's mouth.

“You don't need a knife," he growled. “Come here."

I hid my terror as I obeyed, but my skin crawled as I came within touching distance of the Vampire

King–the god. He took my outstretched hand in his, his touch like ice. He bent his head, running a

single blade-like fang across the meat of my palm at the base of my thumb.

His mouth hovered over my skin for a moment, his breath ragged as he lifted his head to meet my

gaze.

Could he taste the difference between me and the other woman he'd tortured in this way? My powers

were weak if they were even there at all. I was also the youngest of the women who he'd taken, at least

from what I knew. I hadn't come into my shifter powers yet, and wouldn't for several months.

I didn't hesitate as I knelt before his feeder and dropped my blood into his gaping mouth. I didn't wait

for the results. I sat back down in my seat and wrapped my hand in a cloth napkin, then started eating

from a fresh bowl of fruit that had been brought out in my absence from the table.

The king said nothing. He kept his eyes on the man as I ate my fill of fruit, not bothering to remember

my manners. A pitcher of water was placed in front of me, and I pushed the glass that had

accompanied it out of the way and drank straight from the pitcher, water spilling down my chin and

soaking my shirt.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the man's leg twitch, and Nikolas rose so abruptly from his chair that

it fell backward and sent a thundering echo through the dining hall.

I wiped my face on my sleeve and watched Nikolas with interest as he crouched in front of his feeder

and poked the man with his finger. The man groaned, then quieted, a little color returning to his skin.

“Do you not find it odd that you feed off your own kind?" I said flatly.

Nikolas chuckled, a boyish gleam in his eyes as he met my gaze. “You are… brilliant–"

“Do you have a library?" I asked sharply.

I kept my expression stone cold and razor sharp, my tone betraying the rapid beating of my heart and

adrenaline rippling over my skin.

I needed to play this game with him. I was good at games. I'd been playing chess since I was just a kid,

balanced on my grandfather's lap while he taught me every move he knew.

I would play, and play, and play until Nikolas believed I was submitting to him. I needed certain

freedoms to be successful in this mission. I needed full access to his castle to learn the layout. I

needed access to his guards and subjects to learn his plans, his strengths, and his weaknesses. I

would set my trap, between my legs if I was desperate, and I would lure him into his own death at my

hands.

No one had said a thing about the portal I'd opened, twice now. I'd heard no whispers of its existence. I

found it likely he wasn't aware that it was there… not yet, at least.

I needed to keep that a secret.

But first, I needed to find out what the sunstone could do.

“I do have a library," he replied.

“I want access to it, freely, whenever I want."

“Fine." He rounded the table, walking slowly toward me. He was dressed in all black, which brought the

sharpness of his features. He laid a hand over the top of my chair, looking down at me as I brought the

pitcher to my lips once again, drinking deeply.

“I want to see what else you can do," he whispered, reaching down to tuck a lock of my hair behind my

ear, his finger brushing slowly across my cheek.

He didn't just mean my powers.