Vail paced the edge of his room with restless energy, still reeling from what his father had told him. Another day had passed, but he was still just as upset as before. There was nothing wrong with Sylvia, she was probably the most suitable fiancée Peter could have chosen for him, but he had [i]just[/i] made the decision to let Victoria in. Their night together at the inn was still fresh in his mind, from the intimate moments to the quiet conversations they’d had. Even though he had initially planned to use her for her blood, he had come to genuinely like every part of their encounters. He wasn’t ready to let them go yet. He wasn’t even sure if he could.

Feelings aside, he had developed a taste for her blood that needed satisfying. It would be difficult for him to cut himself off from the source of his addiction so abruptly. Of course, Peter couldn’t know this. His father still thought he was just meeting with the Crest heiress for the sake of keeping the Hygrace clan safe. He had no idea just how far Vail had fallen in his pit of sin—nor that he had laid with a human in a way that should have only been reserved for another vampire.

If he was honest, he could see why Peter was taking precautions. He was fully aware of the dangers of falling for a human. Perhaps if the clan leader had arranged his marriage sooner, he wouldn’t have let things go so far with Victoria. Unfortunately, as it was, the effort might be too little too late. He was already attached to her like a horse to its rider, and the thought of never seeing her again made him tense.

Frustrated, he fell back on his bed with a groan. He had no idea what to do. On one hand, he wanted to keep meeting with Victoria out of his own selfish desire to have her to himself, but on the other hand, his loyalty to his family told him to obey his father’s order to marry Lady Macey. The choice should have been simple, and perhaps it would have been just three days ago, but now that he had crossed past the line of predator and prey with Victoria, he couldn’t let go of whatever was going on between them.

To say that he didn’t care about her would have been a lie. He knew he was smitten with Lady Crest beyond just his physical draw to her body. He had accepted it. The mischief in her smile and the sound of her melodic voice always coaxed him to relax when he was around her. She was a unique woman, even if she was a human, and he couldn’t help the fact that he found everything about her attractive. He wished he could express the weight of his emotions to his father, but he knew Peter would never understand. The clan leader was paranoid to a fault. He would only see Victoria as a threat. There was no way for Vail to have her and keep his family’s approval.

[i]Maybe I’ll find Sylvia attractive when I get to know her better,[/i] he thought with a discouraged exhale, resting his forearms over his face. Right now, he couldn’t think about any other woman the way he thought of Victoria, but perhaps that was just because he hadn’t been around any others recently. He still despised the thought of giving the Crest heiress up, but did he even have a choice? Peter had made his decision. If he disobeyed the order to court and marry Lady Macey, he had no idea what would happen. He had never directly gone against his father’s wishes before. There was safety in listening to the leader of the Hygraces, who offered protection against anyone who wished do him harm, but what if he was exiled from the manor for his incompliance? The thought made him shiver apprehensively.

Overwhelmed by the weight of both choices, he crawled under the blankets on his bed and pulled them over his head, hoping a nap might help him clear his mind. He certainly needed one after mulling the dilemma over for hours. Maybe when he woke again, he would finally have an answer.