5_Caught red–handed
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“What?” Kamilla asked. “You can…?”
Rogan laughed, a deep sound with a vague tone of mockery to it. Kamilla stared at him. Could she trust this one?
“I know, Kamilla, that you are here against your will, forced to marry a man you’ve never met. Viktor, our young King, is not a kind man.” He tilted his head. “I just don’t think it’s fair.”
Kamilla swallowed. It wasn’t fair at all. She looked around at the corner of her eye. Viktor wasn’t here. If this man could get her out and away from this place, shouldn’t Kamilla let him? What if it was the only chance she got to
escape?
On quivering knees, she took a step forward.
Wordlessly, Rogan lifted a hand, requesting hers. Kamilla tried not to let her heart flutter as she put her hand in
his, but it was useless. A Vampire’s mere presence could rattle you to your toes, but his touch? Kamilla shuddered.
This was nothing, however, compared to how she felt when Viktor appeared. It was as if her heart wanted to leap out of her chest and go to him, the feeling was overwhelming.
And now, she would be free of it.
With a nod and a smile, Rogan turned on his heel and pulled Kamilla in the opposite direction.
Rogan pulled her behind a large flowerpot that concealed them from the rest of the guests.
Kamilla’s heart was pounding. What if they got caught? Would the king really hang her from Witcher’s? She bit
her lip in anxiety.
Hearing a low creak, she looked and saw Rogan pulling open a secret door. Before she could curse in reaction, he had her tugged through into the darkness.
“Hold on, where are we going?”
Rogan chuckled easily. “To safety, my Queen. Do you not wish to be free of your betrothed?”
Kamilla said nothing. He pulled her around a corner where there was sudden light. The corridor was wide and glowed with the golden light of lamps.
Suddenly, Rogan cursed. She gasped when he came to an abrupt halt. Kamilla looked up with wide eyes and before them, the air shifted.
Just as her heart kicked up in a panic, he appeared, like a dream before her eyes.
Walking easily out of his darkness, Viktor smiled.
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Kamilla shrunk back behind Rogan, failing to stop her trembling.
“What’s this?” asked Viktor, his voice quiet but laced with an underlying violence, an unspoken threat. Kamilla wanted to cry. She was going to be hung from Witcher’s, wherever that was. He was going to kill her and her mother would never know.
“Viktor,” greeted Rogan, still holding onto Kamilla’s hand.
Kamilla peaked up to see him smiling. What in the hell was he smiling about?! Didn’t he know the dangers they were facing? Didn’t he know about Witcher’s?!
“Kamilla.”
She froze. The king had called her. Slowly, she peaked at him from over Rogan’s shoulder.
When Kamilla saw Viktor’s face, her knees nearly gave out.
He was pissed.
He stood utterly still, his body betraying no form of anger, but his eyes. Kamilla could see the rage boiling in the glowing greens.
“Yes?” her voice was barely a whisper.
“I was going to show your bride the gardens, Viktor. Nothing more,” said Rogan easily.
When Viktor’s gaze lowered to their linked hands, Kamilla snatched her hand out of Rogan’s.
The goal was to stay alive for long enough to escape. She wouldn’t make it if she kept pissing the King off.
“Kamilla,” Viktor called again, completely ignoring Rogan. “Get over here.”
Kamilla balked at his authoritative tone, wanting to tell him to go fuck himself, but she held her tongue.
Stiffly, she inched out from behind Rogan and walked slowly toward Viktor. The closer she got, the stronger his anger felt. Kamilla gasped. She could feel his fury, it emanated off him and seemed to absorb into her.
Feeling equally fascinated and terrified, she stared up at him. Viktor’s mouth curved up in a crooked smirk and before Kamilla could react, he’d caught her around the waist and dragged her against his body.
His mouth covered hers and Kamilla saw stars. He completely dominated the kiss, taking as much from it as he wanted. Kamilla whimpered against him even as her hands clung onto his jacket.
She didn’t know whether to push him away or pull him close! She felt his tongue dance around hers, seducing her into a state of utter weakness.
Kamilla could feel herself surrendering. Unable to hold back any longer, she pushed up on her toes to kiss him back but was left gasping as Viktor wrenched his mouth away from hers.
Kamilla swallowed, struggling to catch her breath. Her head inclined against his shoulder and she heard the
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beating of a heart. The weird part was, she wasn’t certain if it was hers or Viktor’s.
It sounded like both, it sounded like their hearts were throbbing together.
Kamilla heard Rogan laugh behind her. “No need to show possession, Viktor. What you’re thinking isn’t my
intention.”
“I suggest, Rogan,” said Viktor. “That you return to the feast. I will show my Queen the gardens myself.”
“She doesn’t want to be here. What kind of King would you be if you forced such a life-”
“Rogan!” Viktor growled.
Kamilla held her breath.
She couldn’t even look back at Rogan, so she just stared at Viktor’s shoulder.
“Very well then,” said Rogan. Kamilla could hear the smile in his words and irritably wondered what the hell he was smiling about. He got her into this mess!
Damn, and now she had to deal with the King and his anger.
She didn’t hear Rogan walk away, but somehow knew he was gone. Silence fell around them and slowly Viktor stepped back an inch to look down at her face. Kamilla wanted to step away and put more distance between them.
but found her feet unable to move.
Biting her lip, she risked losing both eyes from his scalding glare as she looked up at him. Viktor wasn’t glaring.
He was smiling. A cold bastard of a smile that left Kamilla worried about what he was thinking. Blast! Maybe if she’d been a full Vampire, she could’ve read his thoughts.
“Uhm…” she said. “Vi–V…” When his name wouldn’t make it passed her lips, Kamilla kept quiet.
Viktor’s brows rose in mockery. “What is it? Bat’s got your tongue?”
Kamilla made a face. “It’s ‘cat’s got your tongue‘.”
Viktor’s gaze lowered to her mouth and Kamilla quickly tucked her lips away. She had to protect her mouth from his at all cost! His kiss had been… ravaging. She’d felt its power to the depth of her soul, felt their connection more strongly than anything else and that… scared the shit out of her.
“Is it?” Viktor asked in a voice dark and menacing. Kamilla trembled, but nodded. “Here, we say ‘bat‘. There are many things we do differently here. I’ll teach you and you can practice.”
She gulped. Why wouldn’t he stop smiling? It was scary. Kamilla was trying to guess what he’d do to her when he suddenly spun around and started to drag her the rest of the way down the corridor.
“What are you gonna do to me?” she asked.
“Why, I’ll teach you how we ‘blood–sucking bats‘ speak. You’ll have to practice.” He glanced back at her and
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flashed her a sinister smile. That she found his smile sexy scared Kamilla more than the kiss. Was she going
crazy?
“Where are you taking me?”
Viktor reached the end of the corridor which opened onto a long wrap–around porch. Beyond it, Kamilla saw a vast garden.
“To the best place for studying and learning Vamp terminology,” Viktor informed her, dragging her through the garden.
Kamilla stared at the back of his head.
“Where?”
“Where else?” Viktor laughed. “Witcher’s cliff.”
Kamilla gasped and dug her heels into the ground. “What? Wait. No, no! Please, stop!”
Viktor ignored her, easily tugging her through the dark garden.
Kamilla pulled on his arm. She didn’t deserve this! She hadn’t lived a life sinful enough to die like this!
“You said you wouldn’t kill me! Please, don’t kill me!” She bent her knees, making herself heavier. It was useless.
His strength allowed him to carry even ten of her if he wanted, but Kamilla didn’t give up.
When she started grabbing random plants and holding onto them, Kamilla found that she could slow him down.
Annoyed, Viktor lifted her and tossed her over his shoulder. Kamilla couldn’t stop the scream that escaped her.
“Why are you doing this?!” she cried.
“I told you,” Viktor said through gritted teeth. “That this is your home and if you tried to leave, I’d hang you from
Witcher’s, didn’t I?”
“If you’d let me go, I wouldn’t have tried to escape!” Kamilla snapped.
Spotting a row of tall rose bushes, dug her hands in to cling for dear life. The piercings came unexpectedly and Kamilla yelped from the pain. She snatched her hands away, horrified to see some pieces of black thorns sticking out of her palms.
Shit! What kind of thorns did these bushes have?
Her hands throbbing in pain, Kamilla hit her elbow repeatedly against the back of Viktor’s head.
“Let me down, I’m bleeding!” she cried.
Oh, God, the pain!
“Stop it!” he warned, but Kamilla’s hearing was killed by the pain in her hands.
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She slammed her elbow against his head again, begging to be put down.
When Viktor suddenly stopped walking, Kamilla froze. Eyes wide, she looked around the garden where they’d
stopped. Little lights embedded into the ground and some bushes, illuminated the space around them. The night was silent with party music in the distance. Why had he stopped?
“Uh… excuse me?” she called.
Viktor said nothing. In the next instant, he twitched and let out a blood–curdling scream. Startled, Kamilla fell off his shoulder and onto the ground.
She watched in fright as Viktor clutched his head, his eyes shut tightly. She gasped when he suddenly dropped to
his knees.
His body was jerking around violently, his hands clutching at his head.
Kamilla was horrified. He was in pain.
She tried to crawl to him.
He suddenly raised his head.
Kamilla screamed.
