Before I can talk myself into pulling a Buffy in the bathroom, someone else steps up to the table, blocking the big vampire from my sight. I glance up and allow myself a small, relieved smile as I take in Connor’s familiar face. His blond hair is messier than usual, and his amber eyes gleam like warm honey in the light from the chandeliers.
“Might I have this dance, fair lady?” he asks in an over-the-top formal voice that almost sounds British, holding his hand out with a flourish.
“Why of course, good sir.”
I grin at him, mimicking his voice. Pushing my almost-finished plate away, I lift my hand to his and let him twirl me out of my chair.
It wasn’t hard to accept his offer. I tell myself that I simply prefer the devil I know—but deep down, I have to admit that I enjoy Connor’s attention. I enjoy Connor. He makes me feel almost normal, and in a place like this, that’s like finding water in the fucking desert.
Still, knowing that nothing and no one in this place is truly what they seem, I can’t help but feel like his sweet face and gentle optimism have to be an illusion.
Like it’s just a matter of time until the other shoe drops.
The next week passes faster than I would like. I spend as much of every day as I can wandering the corridors of the palace, breaking up my recon with time spent in the great hall or the small lounge in the female tributes’ wing with the other girls. I know I have to be seen doing other things to avoid drawing attention or suspicion as I search for a way out, but every minute that I’m not mapping out the palace feels like wasted time.
When we first arrived, Anastasyia said that the bonding ceremony was set to take place in a few weeks, so the clock is ticking. I have hope that neither Nathan nor I would be chosen by a vampire to become their blood-bonded human, but I don’t like to rely on things like hope.
Which means I need to get us out of here before the ceremony happens.
I haven’t found a way out yet, despite the hours I’ve spent searching. It’s starting to look like I’m going to have to fight or talk my way out of here—both foolish, neither likely to succeed. But there are still some parts of the palace I haven’t seen yet, so maybe there’s a route I haven’t discovered yet. The sprawling palace bleeds into the old underground, and as such, it’s filled with dead ends and random doorways that lead to nowhere.
Dinner every evening is a grand production, with dancing and music and a million courses. And every evening, Connor asks me to dance.
He’s done the same thing each night since I first arrived, asking me to dance but never touching his fangs to me. I’m glad for the buffer between me and the other hungry vampires, who seem to be getting increasingly irritated that I’m never available. It’s become a bit of a race to get to my table when dinner begins every night, but I pretend not to notice.
Tonight, Connor beats three vampires to my table to ask me to dance. I haven’t even finished my salad yet, but I’m not about to argue. Still, my curiosity is getting the better of me.
I wait until he’s twirled me to the far side of the dance floor, where the music from the band will hide my voice and I’ll be too far away for anybody to read my lips.
“Why do you always ask me to dance?” I ask him once we’re finally there.
He shrugs and gives me a lopsided grin. “Need the practice. Wouldn’t want to smash down some three-hundred-year-old woman’s toes, right? Gotta practice with someone young and sturdy enough to take the abuse.”
He winks at me, his eyes sparkling, but I level him with a skeptical look. I don’t buy for a second that he’s doing this just for the practice, and I let my disbelief etch itself all over my face.
Connor’s grin fades, and he looks away, gazing out over the crowd of vampires milling around and between tribute tables. When he turns his face back to me, there’s a somberness to his gaze I haven’t seen in him before.
“It keeps you busy,” he says quietly. “Keeps the others from feeding on you.”
I fight against a frown. That doesn’t make sense. He sounds almost protective, but that can’t be right. All the vampires do the same thing, don’t they?
They all feed on humans. It’s part of the whole deal. Technically, any of them could feed on me anytime, and a few of them have if they manage to find me during the day, although I do my best to keep moving around and make myself scarce if there are any vamps around. Connor must feed on blood too, although I’ve never seen him drink from anyone during the feasts that take place nightly.
Is he possessive then, maybe? He wants to keep me for himself?
But that doesn’t make sense either, since he’s never so much as tried to kiss my neck.
“Why haven’t you fed from me?” I ask abruptly. Too abruptly, I realize, as the tips of his ears turn pink.
He glances down at me without answering, his golden eyes warm. He looks almost shy. No, I decide as his eyelashes flutter against his cheeks for a moment—he definitely looks shy.
His gaze roves over my face for a moment, and then he pulls me a little closer, too close for a proper waltz.
“Would you like that?” he murmurs in my ear. “Do you want me to?”
My stomach flips. What the fuck? No, of course I don’t.
But… yes.
Some part of me does want it. The part that
