Given to the Vampires by Candace Ayers

Author:Candace Ayers
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-11-07T19:01:33+00:00

5

DIMITRI

I don’t know what woke me up in the middle of the night. I normally sleep like, for lack of a better term, the dead. But I did wake, and Raoul was gone. I wasn’t altogether surprised. He’d been distant when I’d come to bed after leaving Anna, brooding by the fire for several long minutes after I’d undressed and slid into bed. Perhaps I hadn’t been all that understanding of how he was feeling. But it was difficult to deal with his emotions when I was feeling out of sorts myself. I hadn’t expected to feel anything when I’d offered to help Anna with her buttons. It had been an altruistic gesture, as I’d seen how uncomfortable she was with all of it, and I didn’t think she would wake the maid.

I’d suspected she’d have slept in her wedding dress rather than do such a thing, and I wanted her to be comfortable. So I’d offered, and been mildly surprised when she accepted.

I’d been even more surprised at the way the sight of her pale skin, slowly revealing itself from under the creamy satin, had affected me. Perhaps it was the memories of Katerina, leftover from our long-ago wedding day. Perhaps it was the oddness of expecting to sleep in a room that was not my bride’s on our wedding night. Perhaps it was a little of everything. But I’d ached, with every shiver of her skin when my fingers grazed it, to reach for her and pull her into my arms. I’d imagined, as I’d undone the buttons, turning her around to face me, bending to kiss her soft, full lips. I’d imagined laying her back on the bed and sliding the dress away from her body, revealing it inch by inch. I’d thought of what it would feel like to bury myself inside of her, to make her truly my bride.

I knew that none of that was remotely within the realm of possibility, and I’d given her my word not to touch her without her consent—not that I ever would have, anyway. So I’d withdrawn from the room, my last glimpse her standing in the middle of the room, frail and delicate, clutching the dress to her arms.

I’d still been aching when I’d gone to Raoul’s and my room. So I’d had very little patience with his mood. And I wasn’t shocked to find his side of the bed empty when I’d woken. I knew he’d be in the library, and so I’d climbed out of bed, intending to go to him and apologize. And then I’d opened the door and seen him by the fire, Anna clasped in his arms, his lips on hers, her body soft and compliant.

I’d wanted, for one furious, red-washed moment, to kill him. Anna was mine by law, even if I’d likely never have her body or her love, and with the memory of undressing her so fresh in my mind, it drove me nearly mad to see anyone else touching her in such a way.

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