Chapter 3
Seraphina settled into the chair beside Maeve and then she lifted a crystal goblet of dark wine and took a slow sip.
That was when her gaze finally landed on Otto, who she had been ignoring.
“Who is this human?” she asked Maeve, genuinely curious.
Maeve felt the weight of every eye in the room and she had no ready answer.
She turned toward Otto for help and he spoke at once in the light tones that now belonged to him.
“I am the king’s new slave,” he said.
Seraphina’s eyes narrowed and the temperature at the table seemed to drop.
“Who gave you leave to speak? A slave remains silent until addressed.”
Maeve rushed to smooth in at that moment, “It is fine. She may speak when she likes.”
Seraphina studied the King for a long moment and she could sense a wrongness she could not yet name.
“Where does the slave sleep?”
Maeve answered without thinking, “In my bedchamber.”
Shock flickered across Seraphina’s face and then a flash of pure resentment darkened her eyes before she masked it with a polite smile.
The servants who lived for new gossip around the palace were already speaking about the new human slave girl.
They knew that she shared his bed at night and that single fact was enough to spark resentment and hostility within them.
After breakfast, Otto and Maeve made their way to the great library in search of any record that might explain the curse that bound them.
They worked in tense silence for nearly an hour before Otto rose and announced that he needed the restroom.
He left the library and walked down a quiet corridor.
Two young maids came around the corner at the same moment and their shoulders bumped hard into his small frame.
The force of the collision sent him stumbling backward and he landed on the cold stone floor with a sharp gasp.
The maids looked down at him and their faces were twisted with open scorn.
“Watch where you step you clumsy little whore,” one of them said.
“The king’s new pet looks rather good on the floor, a little rag,” the other added and both of them laughed as they stepped around him and continued on their way.
Otto remained on the floor for several heartbeats and the helplessness that flooded through him was an emotion he had never felt before.
His true body could have tossed both women through a wall without effort yet now he possessed only the limited strength of a human girl.
He pushed himself upright and continued to the restroom.
The practicalities of using the toilet in a female body proved more daunting than he expected but he managed the task…
After a bit of trial and error.
When he stepped back through the tall doors of the library, he found the librarian leaning over the table where Maeve sat.
The woman was a young vampire with pale blonde hair pulled into a neat twist and thin gold spectacles perched on her nose.
Her blue eyes sparkled with open interest as she spoke and Maeve laughed at whatever clever remark had just been offered.
The sound of that laughter struck Otto with unexpected force.
A spark of jealousy flared in his chest and he told himself the feeling was ridiculous.
Mainly because the librarian directed her attention toward the body of the king and not toward Maeve herself.
Still, the fact that someone else had drawn genuine amusement from the girl before he himself had managed it left him oddly unsettled.
He shook his head and forced the emotion aside and joined them at the table as if nothing had occurred.
They searched until the light outside the high windows began to fade.
They found nothing helpful so far, but it was just the first day of searching, and there were tons of other books left to be studied.
Halfway back to the royal wing Maeve realized she had left Otto’s ruby signet ring on the library table.
She told him to go ahead and she turned back alone.
The corridors had grown quiet and the floating orbs cast long shadows across the stone.
She rounded a corner and nearly walked straight into Seraphina.
The redhead wore a gown of deep red that clung to every curve and left her shoulders bare.
She smiled when she saw the tall figure she believed to be Otto and she stepped close enough that the scent of her perfume filled the space.
“You did not need to bring a slave into your rooms when I have been waiting right here,” she murmured.
“I still remember how you used to let me take you in the bath and how you gripped my hair while I used my mouth on you. I enjoyed every moment of it and I know you did as well.”
“I miss that, I miss us.”
Maeve’s borrowed face burned with heat and she tried to step sideways but Seraphina moved with her and blocked the path.
“Let me pass,” Maeve said and the deep voice trembled despite her best effort.
Seraphina only looked more intrigued by the uncharacteristic reaction.
She lifted one hand and rested it against the center of the white shirt and she leaned in with clear intent to kiss.
Maeve twisted free at the last possible second and the near kiss missed by a finger’s width.
She did not wait for another attempt.
She strode down the corridor as quickly as the long legs would allow and she did not stop until she reached the safety of the royal bedchamber.
Otto sat on the edge of the great bed with a book open in Maeve’s small hands.
He looked up when she entered and the light voice that belonged to her asked what had happened.
“Your ex tried to kiss me,” Maeve said and the words came out sharper than she intended.
Otto closed the book and regarded her with mild amusement.
“Seraphina can be persistent. Sometimes it is simpler to let her kiss you and have done with it.”
Maeve felt a flash of pure revulsion at the idea and she shook her head hard.
“No. I do not want her kissing me,” she said and Otto merely shrugged with a lack of interest in the whole thing.
Maeve did not add that the true reason for her refusal lay in a sudden and unwelcome surge of jealousy.
The thought of that beautiful woman pressing her mouth to the body Maeve currently wore made something tight and ugly twist in her chest.
They bathed separately as they had the night before and then they climbed into opposite sides of the wide bed.
Maeve lay on her back and stared at the canopy overhead while the power in Otto’s body hummed beneath her skin.
Curiosity finally overcame her sense of reasoning.
She slipped one large hand beneath the covers and let her fingers travel slowly across the hard planes of the chest she now inhabited.
The muscle was dense and cool and it flexed under her touch in a way that sent an unexpected shiver through her.
She traced the line of a collarbone and then higher until her fingertips brushed the sharp points of the fangs.
The contact sent a jolt of sensation straight down her spine and she bit back a soft sound.
Her hand drifted lower of its own accord and found the heavy length of the cock that rested against one thigh.
Even the lightest brush of her fingers made it thicken and rise and the pure physical response left her breathless and furious at herself.
She yanked her hand away and clenched it into a fist against the mattress and she ordered her racing thoughts to still.
On the other side of the bed, Otto fought the same battle.
The soft curves of Maeve’s body started to entice him despite his tastes.
His small hand slid under the sheet and cupped one full breast.
The weight of it filled his palm and the nipple hardened at once beneath his thumb.
He explored further and lower and his fingers found the heat between her legs.
She was already slick and the discovery made his borrowed heart pound.
This body of his was so sensitive.
He traced the delicate folds with trembling care and the pleasure that sparked through the unfamiliar nerves was so sharp he almost gasped aloud.
Shame and aching want warred inside him until he forced his hand back to his side and lay rigid and staring into the dark.
Shit, this was going to be far harder than he had previously hoped.