Page 27 of Sold to the Dark Vampire Prince

Not blocking the door, obviously. The bed was clearly out. Dani probably wouldn’t want him going near the food either, for fear he might somehow tamper with it.

“It’s just the two of us.” Moving slowly into the room, Alex leaned back against the wall, giving her as much space as possible. “It’s fine if you want to call me Zander. Or Alex.”

She released a sharp little laugh at this, still pacing the far side of the room. “I’m not entirely sure I can, Your Highness.”

“Fair enough.” He folded his arms. “If it would be helpful, I could provide a list of the choice names my sister calls me when I’m being an insufferable ass.”

“She needs an entire list?” Dani raised a pointed eyebrow. “Some brother you are.”

He bit back a smile. “My older sister Serafina suffers no fools, and can argue the entire vampire court into the ground, and often used to at dinner parties, much to our father’s mortification. She should have become the lawyer in the family, but the sector had a critical shortage of doctors, and she’s always been called to those who needed help the most.”

“Sera is your sister,” Dani said quietly, her eyes widening in recognition. “There were rumors she’d left the sector entirely.”

Alex smiled faintly. “Yes, and my younger sister Isabella is a biochemist and medical researcher.”

“I would guess there’s no teasing her unless you want to constantly guard your tea.”

He laughed. “And now you understand our rather unusual family dynamic.”

Dani touched her throat, eyes suddenly cast downward. “I don’t know how all this is supposed to go. I mean, I’ve never done this before. Fed anyone.”

A faint flush rose in her cheeks. Their eyes met and held from across the room, and Alex noted what a lovely dark gray they were, not the pale silver glow that vampire irises got in the throes of bloodlust, but the deep pewter of the storm clouds he loved to watch over the mountains to the west in the winter just before it snowed.

“I wish I didn’t have to feed from you at all,” he said gently. “That you weren’t being forced into this. I know you didn’t freely choose it. But your blood will be tested before leaving. If they don’t find traces of my venom in your bloodstream, my bid will be voided, and you’ll be resold to the next highest bidder.”

Dani blanched at this. “I didn’t realize it worked that way.”

“The rule is to prevent sanguines from being resold without the auction house getting their cut of the profits.”

“No, that makes sense.” She rubbed her arms. “I haven’t thanked you, for what you did in there. If you hadn’t stepped in—”

He waved a hand. “It was nothing.”

“You tried to warn me.”

Alex looked down. “I tried to warn you, even knowing that every word I said came from a place of incredible arrogance and privilege. I would have told you, and so many others, not to go through with it, knowing you had no choice.”

“Yes,” she whispered, so quietly he barely heard it.

“That whether you were there to get your sister’s medicine or to keep the heat on in a drafty apartment during months of brutal winter storms, you’d been left without options due to a corrupt system my family has perpetuated and profited from. And for that, I am so wretchedly sorry.”

The lines in Dani’s face had only deepened as he talked. But she’d stopped pacing, and at last, she crossed the room towards him.

“I don’t know which one of you is the lie. The cold and distant prince I see on the media feeds, the radical I just heard, or Zander from the law office.”

“All of them.” He smiled, feeling a familiar knife twist in his heart. “Shall we begin?”

“Yes, of course. Where should I sit?”

But even as she said it, her voice wavered. One arm crossed over her chest, her fingers splaying nervously across her throat.

“Dani, please look at me,” he implored her.

She swiped at her eyes. “Sorry. I just need a minute. I know I’m being so stupid. I literally signed up for this. I knew what was involved. I’d much rather it be you taking my vein than some stranger who wouldn’t be the slightest bit careful not to hurt me. I have no doubt they would have shoved me into a wall and taken what they wanted the moment they walked into the room, rather than taking the time to reassure me as you have.”

“You’ve never fed anyone before. It’s only natural that you’d be nervous.” He kept his voice very soft. “I swear to you, I shall touch you nowhere but your wrist, and only then if you give your consent.”

Her eyes shot to his. Her pulse picked up speed. He swallowed, fangs suddenly aching.