As Victoria looked at him with that coy smile of hers, Vail felt his heart beat a little quicker, and he knew he was starting to fall for this woman. It was a curious thought. He’d always believed he would either remain alone or have his marriage arranged to another vampire by his father. Being with someone for the sake of love had never appealed to him. It wasn’t that he thought there was anything wrong with the concept, but there had never been another person who had piqued his desire like this before. Even Sylvia, whom he had gotten along with when they had last met, hadn’t interested him in a romantic way. He had found her to be pleasant company but nothing more. His emotions toward her were nothing like what he felt about Lady Crest, the intriguing human who had captivated his heart and mind in a way no other woman ever had.

He wished it could be simple. He wished he could just tell his father that he wanted to be with Victoria and gain his approval to wed her instead, but it would never be that easy. Even if he killed her current fiancé and eliminated his competition, Peter wouldn’t allow his only heir to marry a human, a mortal who could offer their elite family nothing of value. To the leader of the Hygraces, his eventual marriage was a tool to be used to gain favor with another clan that would make them stronger, like the Maceys. His father would never willingly let him squander such an opportunity by giving himself to a Crest instead.

Regardless, he was done being someone else’s tool. If Peter would object to his decision, he would stand his ground without wavering. He was not going to marry Sylvia, because his heart already belonged to another. If that meant confessing to the clan leader that he had broken one of their most closely kept rules, then so be it.

Firm in his decision for the first time, Vail didn’t hesitate to lace his fingers with Victoria’s as she took his hands in hers. Her skin still felt cool to the touch, a symptom he had realized was due to the blood that had been drained from her delicate body rather than the cold outside. He hoped the little heat that his own nonhuman frame put off would warm her, if only by a degree.

As she held his gaze, he let himself get lost in the deep blue pools of her irises that were watery with fresh tears. Hearing her profess that she would be his and no one else’s sent a shiver up his spine, and he leaned in to meet her halfway as she kissed him. Everything about the way he spoke and acted with her was new but also thrilling. He reveled in the feelings she stirred inside of him, things he had never felt with anyone else in his two centuries on earth. It was interesting to him that even though he had been alive for so long, there were still aspects of living that he had yet to explore.

With her supple neck exposed before his eyes, he could already feel the saliva begin to flow from his glands. Knowing she had just had so much of her blood emptied from her body only days before, he would not take much, but he also would not deny the meal she offered to him now. Letting go of her right hand, he lifted his hand to rest between her shoulders as he trailed his tongue over her warm skin. Intermittently, he brought his lips to her collar to kiss her as well, letting his affection seep through his bloodlust and quicken his heartbeat with mingled desire. She was his prey, but she was also so much more, so he would take his time before the bite.

Holding her close to himself by her upper back, he turned his head slightly to place a kiss on her jaw just before he finally sank his fangs into the soft flesh above her collarbone.