Sitting with my glittering black crown atop my head, gazing down on the laughing and chattering students, reminded me I would never be one of them and I never was.
Princess. Royalty. Future Queen. That’s who I was.
Setting down a turkey leg, Zyacus leaned closer to me. “You seem to be deep in thought. Is something bothering you?”
“I’m just trying to get used to this new arrangement.”
“This is how it should have been from the start. At my academy in Hesstia I was never treated as a common student.”
“But who did you sit with then?”
“My siblings and cousins and some of the Entari’s children.”
I turned to Aric. “What about you?”
He hadn’t touched his food. But his drink was almost empty. “I sat with cousins. Most of whom are ahead of me in the line of succession. But, you know how it is in the north, the title is often a challenge then fight to the death. My uncle has fought in King Faustus’s stead several times to keep the family’s rule.”
I watched him sip on his red drink and although I knew blood didn’t fill that cup, he probably wished it was. The thought brought an involuntary shutter. “How are you doing with your new… senses?”
Aric stiffened and slowly turned his head toward me. “I’m fine. Why? Does something appear wrong?”
“No, quite the opposite.” He almost seemed too fine given what happened to him a few months prior. I couldn’t imagine I would be the same. “Except for one thing. Why are you avoiding Legacy?”
Zyacus choked on his drink and covered his mouth with a napkin as he coughed. Dramatic much? He had to expect I’d ask.
Aric swirled the deep berry liquid in his glass. “As I said the night I turned, I want her to forget about me. I am no longer the man for her.”
Obviously he’d changed but it wasn’t for him to decide who the right man for her was. He could just admit if he no longer felt the same. “Oh, then who is?”
Aric narrowed his eyes. “Someone who is still human. You aren’t like me, you don’t understand.”
“Enlighten me.”
Aric leaned ever so slightly closer and the look in his suddenly wild eyes made me want to shy away. “I hear every thud of your heart. I hear it quickening now. I notice the throbbing of the vein in your neck, yes that one,” he said when my hand covered it, “the smell of you, of Zyacus, of all humans makes me hungry. But instead of like when your mouth waters for food, my throat aches for the coppery liquid coursing through your body. Right now I would like to bite your neck and let your warm blood wash over my tongue and wet my aching dry throat but I won’t. But I want to. That is why, Visteal.”
I felt lame when all I said was, “Oh.” I turned back to my plate, ashamed to admit my magic flared in defense sitting so close. I didn’t want to believe he’d ever hurt me, but I silently wondered. It took every ounce of my self-control to not move away from him. “I’m sorry, Aric. I wish I could have stopped it from happening.”
“It was destiny,” he said with a shrug. He absently rubbed his wrist where the skull mark used to mar his skin.
Leaning forward Zyacus asked, “But could you control it and be with her?” Something in his expression made me think he wasn’t asking for Legacy’s sake.
Aric took another sip of his drink. “Maybe with time. But I wouldn’t expect Legacy to wait.”
“But both of you will live hundreds of years,” Zyacus argued. “You have time. Lots of time.” There was a pain in his voice that I knew well. Hundreds of years. What Zyacus and I wouldn’t have.
“When she last even thought I was a vampire and I wasn’t, she broke it off with me. Was disgusted at the thought. I doubt she’s changed her mind.” He was quiet for a moment. “Besides I’ve heard rumors she moved on with someone else recently.”
Even if it didn’t matter, I didn’t confirm the rumor. I’d promised not to tell.
Zyacus whispered. “What do you think?”
I lowered my brows in confusion. “About?”
“Does it disgust you?”
Disgust? Some things about the vampire nature did disgust me. I wouldn’t admit in front of Aric that my instincts wanted me to believe him to be a dangerous predator that I should be wary of. I glanced at Aric then back. “No.” To my rational mind he was still a friend too. Other than what he’d described a few moments ago I wouldn’t know a difference. “Why?”
He shook his head. “Just curious.”
I watched Zyacus for a moment. His long dark lashes covered his beautiful eyes as he looked down at his plate. Shiny, almost black hair waved under his silver crown. It hit me what he might be getting at. No way. No way would I allow him to turn into a blood drinker for more time with me. Aric hated what he was, and what if the change made Zyacus not want me anymore? With Aric sitting so close I wouldn’t bring up my suspicions but if he hinted at it anymore, I’d set him straight.
∞∞∞
As the first week went by, I grew used to the new arrangements. Students bowed to me more. They moved out of my way in the halls. Professors didn’t say a word if I arrived late. A small part of me wanted to test the limits of my new bounds but I held off even though Legacy and Taz both begged me to try some pranks. “If they’re giving me this sort
