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The Reluctant Queen 12
“Bishop.” Trick’s voice was bone chilling. “Yes, Your Majesty, Lord Hail came to pay his respects to Miss Saraya earlier today.” Bishop’s already grey skin appeared more sickly as he spoke. The muscle along Trick’s jaw clenched. “You are dismissed,” Trick managed through clenched teeth. Bishop bowed his head and disappeared. My heart sank. Was he coming back? Had Trick just fired him? “It appears that I’ve caused some discord between servant and master,” Hail said, smirking while he took his seat. “Trick,” I said softly. “Not now,” he replied shortly. His tone dumped cold water on my feelings causing tears to form. I stared at my plate, trying to
The Reluctant Queen 13
I rubbed my sweaty palms on my leggings and stepped out of my room. Jules and Lucy looked relieved to see me.“You didn’t need to check on me,” I told them. “I appreciate it, though.”“Well things were pretty intense and that group is not exactly easy,” Lucy said understandingly. “Jules and I remember meeting them for the first time.” Jules nodded.“It was horrible. The only saving grace for me was no one said anything bigoted. If they had, I would’ve just been done,” Jules remembered. “Thankfully, Risk scares most of them and the ones he doesn’t scare don’t care.”“Does Trick care?” I asked. I already had an oppressive mother, I couldn’t stand it if my husband was the same way.“Nope. He gave me away at our wedding.” A tender smile crossed Jules’ face. “My parents refused to attend, so he declared he was my father for the day. It was perfect.” My heart burst with pride. And relief. “I’m glad. I may need a set of substitute parents for my wedding.” Jules and L
The Reluctant Queen 14
My mouth went dry as all liquid in my body shot straight to my panties. Trick took advantage of my shocked open mouth, inserting his tongue, closing the gap I had been maintaining. My hands fisted his dress shirt, while he took handfuls of my ass. I rubbed myself across his front, feeling his erection through his pants. Damn, that was an inhumanly impossible cock. Duh stupid. I groaned at my idiotic thought but Trick took that as approval, sliding both hands under my shirt, lifting it until both of my breasts were exposed.“Hey now,” I squealed, trying to step away. Trick’s eyes were black with need and he pulled me back to him, dropping his mouth to my left nipple. My toes curled the second his lips touched my skin, his tongue teasing me. “Oh, uh, mmmm, we can’t,” I panted. “Please.” Trick stopped and I died when he pulled away, the cold air replacing his breath.“Give me one good reason why we can’t,” he demanded, his tone low. It wasn’t threatening, but it still
The Reluctant Queen 15
After living through Bishop’s morning schedule for me, I could see why Trick always hired him back. The man was like a machine, never deviating from the task at hand, a clear plotted course for each action, and always ready with a reason why we couldn’t take a break to have a snack or a shot of tequila. By the time I was allowed to make my way to Lucy’s and have lunch with her, Jules, and Kyla, I was ready to forsake Trick and run back to the bookstore. Then Bishop brought me a giant toasted club sandwich with extra bacon and a side of potato soup (heavy on the bacon) and all was forgiven. When he sat down a vodka spritzer, I almost kissed him. “Rough morning?” Jules commented, watching me drain the entire drink. Bishop whisked the empty glass away and set down a replacement beverage.“Did you know that I have to invite the queens of each realm to monthly lunches for the rest of my life? And then attend them in each of the realms? Every month. In every realm. Also, there’s an entire
The Reluctant Queen 16
There was no time to think about my mortality now. As I finished off the last of my drink, Bishop whisked me back to my new office. It had an entrance directly to the Great Court but the main entrance was accessible through the Lesser Courts. The gold motif continued and I wondered if it fulfilled some kind of fetish for Trick. The wall paper was cream with gold flecks, the writing desk was cast in gold, the chandelier shimmered with Swarovski crystals in gold settings. Sunlight gleamed through windows trimmed in gold and the whole room had a wicked glare to it. First order of business, sheers to diffuse the light.“Well, Milady, here are the final candidates for your staff,” Bishop brought my attention to the paperwork on my desk. Each showed a headshot of the woman being considered, as well as a detailed resume. “No humans?” I inquired, flipped through the sheets.“Given the nature of the palace business, it’s best to have a staff well versed in vampire culture,” Bishop explained.
The Reluctant Queen 1
The bookstore was more crowded than usual. A new controversial book had been published on the war between the three humanity derived races and it had crashed the internet, so people were coming in by the droves to pick up hard copies. It was said that it was actually being denounced by the leaders of the vampires, werewolves, and humans, so it made one wonder how it got published in the first place. It also made it that much more desirable.I watched as a vampire led his human mate around the store, the two of them lost in their own world. A hundred years ago, they would've been met with alarm and disdain but since the end of the war and the dominance of vampires and werewolves and their need to only have human mates, it was now a very common scene. It was now more rare to see a pairing of the same race. "We're almost out of the Creighton book," my employee, Janus, let me know as she set out more copies of the controversial book. I wasn't surprised
The Reluctant Queen 2
Considering the vampire king was almost six centuries past when most of his kind found their mate, it was shocking to hear that he was finally claiming his and that she lived in Gardena. Gardena was barely on the map, only notable for having cheap living accommodations still within walking distance to the city center. It was widely accepted that when he did find his mate, she would be from Harpsmore or one of the provinces that were governed by a titled member of the gentry. “So any thoughts on who she could be?” Janus asked once we were at the bistro. She was bouncing in her seat from excitement. “Who is she?” her boyfriend, Kyle, asked, leaning over to try and plant a kiss on her cheek. He finally grabbed her face with both hands and kissed her forehead. “She is the vampire king’s mate!” Janus squealed excitedly and Kyle and I exchanged a look. It wasn’t like Janus to be this excited over something that didn’t involve skulls or rituals. Often confused for a vampire mate, she wore
The Reluctant Queen 3
“Breathe baby, damn it, come on honey breathe.” I could hear a man’s voice, panicked. “Your Highness, the doctor is on his way.” Another man’s voice. “He better get here soon or I’ll rip his arms off and beat him with them,” the first man snarled. All of a sudden a rush of oxygen filled my lungs and I began to cough. “Finally! I finally come to claim you and how do you repay me? By almost dying. Don’t you ever scare me like that again. I’m nearly six hundred years old. It’s not good for my health.” I opened my eyes and saw two dark chocolate brown eyes looking down at me, full of concern. “You’re in perfect health, stop whining,” a third male voice said. “I’d drop dead too if this is how you came to claim me. What were you thinking? She’s a human, they’re frail, you can’t just stalk them in the dark. You, get the electricity turned back on and get a light on in here.” “I didn’t do this to her,” the first man hissed. “That idiot over there did.” “Good gawd Trick, did you kill him?”
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