Page 88 of Dhampira

“By stating the truth?” Lorcan pointed to the rock we’d left behind in the grass. “We need to continue as we began, not hunt for feygeld.”

“Is that what you think I’m doing?” Vander demanded, his voice rising.

Lorcan’s eyes glittered. “Among other things.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know what it means.”

Vander stepped into Lorcan, their chests brushing. “I don’t, actually. Enlighten me, Your Highness.”

Lorcan snapped his fangs, making Vander flinch and then hiss. “You risked everything, Vander. Everything! Because you let your dick get in the way of your good sense.”

My gasp was loud, but the men didn’t seem to hear it.

Vander loomed over Lorcan with bared fangs. “Like you didn’t?” Vander sneered. “Let me tell you, it was pretty difficult to believe in the infamous Drachvi restraint when you had your tongue halfway down her throat in front of the whole fucking court!”

“Both of you, stop,” I said. Again, the men ignored me.

“I kissed my betrothed,” Lorcan growled.

“Yeah, well, that wasn’t part of the plan.”

“Neither was helping yourself to Corinthe’s pussy!”

Lorcan’s shout echoed off the marble around us. I stood rooted to the path, heat scalding my cheeks. For a brief, blurry moment, I envied Lorcan the glomarid’s wings. If I’d possessed them, I could have flown from the Everless and left my mortification behind.

The men glared at each other. Awareness seemed to hit them at the same time as they slowly turned toward me.

Vander swallowed. “Um…” He shoved a hand through his auburn waves. “We…”

“What are you to each other?” I blurted, Lorcan’s shout still ringing in my ears.

“An interesting question,” a masculine voice said behind me.

The world blurred, and I was suddenly staring at Vander’s back. When I leaned around him, Lorcan faced off with a man on the steps of the nearest temple.

No, not a man. An elf. His ears were pointed, his features so stunning he didn’t seem real. His jaw was clean shaven, and his skin glowed like he was lit from within. Long, glossy hair the color of honey fell past his elbows.

“Stay put,” Vander muttered to me over his shoulder.

Lorcan’s face was tense in profile, his hands loose at his sides like he might draw a weapon at any moment. “What do you want, Ruvien?”

The elf pressed an elegant hand to his own chest. “I?” Golden-blond brows rose on his unlined forehead. “You ask me that when you stand on elven land?”

Vander stiffened. Then he stepped forward. “I can explain.”

Ruvien turned amethyst-colored eyes to him. “Oh, I do hope so. Because whatever you and Lorcan Balauri might be to each other, you’re both trespassing right now.” Ruvien fastened his gaze on me, and a smile transformed his face from stunning to staggeringly beautiful. “And you’ve brought a lovely dhampira with you. Come out, child, so I can see you better.”

My feet moved without my permission, shuffling me out from behind Vander. Somewhere in my brain, I knew my compliance should have bothered me. But my will was gone, the urge to resist melting away as Ruvien studied me.

I couldn’t help studying him back. Tall and golden, he was built more like Lorcan than Vander, with long legs and hints of muscle in his chest and arms. Strands of his bright hair were braided away from his face. Like Rasimir, his face was young, but his purple eyes were ancient and knowing.

He obviously knew Vander and Lorcan. He’d called Lorcan by name. Balauri. The surname landed in my mind with a resonance like a string plucked on a lute, the syllables overlapping. Lorcan was a dark presence at the edge of my vision. I stared at Ruvien.

But I didn’t want to. That thought landed, too, and something popped in my head. I stumbled forward, my heart racing and my limbs free from whatever spell had held me in place. Lorcan and Vander both looked at me, twin expressions of anger on their faces. Instinctively, I knew their displeasure wasn’t for me.

Ruvien’s smile broadened, and his tone turned silky. “Not quite a dhampira though, are you, darling?” Abruptly he started down the stairs. “You’ll be a shining star in the elven court.”