“Fuck, she stabbed me!” he cried.
Behind me, the other vampire laughed. “Serves you right for assuming she was unarmed.”
“Sorin, what is going on?” another voice joined the mix. This one was female.
“I caught a mortal sneaking into camp,” said the dark vampire. “She stabbed Isac.”
The woman who approached was blond, her hair pulled into an intricate braid that ran from the top of her head to the middle of her back. She was beautiful and fierce, and she sounded as if she were laughing.
“Stabbed you, Isac?”
“Shut up, Miha,” he snapped.
There were now three vampires standing in an arc before me, and I was shocked I was still alive. Even the one I’d stabbed seemed relatively calm, and I’d expected him to retaliate quickly. Instead, his arms quit shaking, and blood stopped dripping from his wounds. Soon, he let them fall to his sides, healed.
An explosion of cheers sounded behind us suddenly, and I turned to see the group of vampires who had previously been playing cards on their feet. Two men were on the ground, fighting.
Miha rolled her eyes while Sorin and Isac chuckled. “I knew that game would end in a quarrel.”
“Four kings always does,” said Sorin.
I did not ask what four kings was. Instead, I started to shift away from the trio of vampires, until their attention returned to me and I froze.
“So what are you doing here, little one?” Miha continued. “Have you come to seduce and kill our king?”
I was too surprised by her question to complain that she’d called me little one. My brows rose. “Excuse me?”
“It wouldn’t be the first attempt,” Sorin said.
“I—no,” I said and paused. “Did you just say it wouldn’t be the first attempt?”
“That’s right,” Sorin quipped.
“What happened to the woman who tried that?”
I couldn’t help myself. I was curious. Was Adrian capable of being seduced, or had he murdered every woman who tried?
The three of them exchanged a look, and before Sorin could speak, another voice joined the fray.
“Princess Isolde. What a surprise.”
I whirled to face Adrian while the three vampires behind me acknowledged him.
“My king,” they said.
“I caught her sneaking into camp, Your Majesty,” said Sorin.
“She stabbed me,” said Isac.
“We stopped her before she could reach your tent,” Miha added.
Adrian looked at me for a long moment and then spoke. “Princess Isolde is my betrothed. She may come to my tent whenever she wishes.”
It wasn’t a wish. This was business, but I said nothing.
“You could have said that,” said Isac, “instead of stabbing me.”
I turned to look at him. “You were the one who touched me.”
“On the shoulders,” he added, as if to clarify for Adrian’s sake.
“Your point?”
The other two vampires were smiling, and behind me, Adrian chuckled, which drew my gaze. When he wasn’t laughing at my expense, the sound was actually…warm.
“You laugh,” I said and tilted my head back to better meet his eyes, “but he is not the only one who will feel the sting of my blade.”
Adrian touched my chin, and this time, I managed not to flinch. “My sweet, I look forward to that.”
Someone cleared their throat, and I looked at the three vampires, who had all averted their eyes, lingering awkwardly.
“We’re just going to…go,” Sorin said, and I watched the three fall back into the shadows of the wood.
I returned my attention to Adrian, who was still watching me.
“You were heading to my tent?” he asked.
“I need to speak with you,” I said.
He stared and, after a moment, indicated for me to follow. “Come.”
We walked side by side, and as we came around to the front of his tent, I got a better look at their camp. The first thing that took me by surprise was the sight of several fires, over which a mortal man cooked. The smell of sizzling meats and seasonings wafted toward me, and my stomach turned.
“What is he cooking?” I asked, my stomach turning. I didn’t think it was human meat, but I wanted to be sure nevertheless. Vampires did not eat as far as I knew.
Adrian raised a brow. “Lamb. For the mortals who travel with us.”
“You let mortals travel with you?”
“How do you think we eat?” he asked.
His question was so casual, and yet it made my blood run cold. I was not aware that mortals traveled with his army, though there were stories of people who fled to Revekka to gain immortality by offering their blood in the hope that they would eventually be turned into a vampire. The practice was called bloodletting and seen as treasonous to all kingdoms of the Nine Houses. It was also an automatic death sentence.