Twenty-year-old Claire must deceive a vampire prince to infiltrate the monarchy and discover their secrets while resisting her desire for him.
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Nothing in my life has ever been easy. Including the mission my family has sent me on.
My sister and...
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Dépouiller (verb) to strip somebody or something of; to get rid of
As the sound of the door opening ricocheted around the echoey room, I pulled away from Alec, putting a foot of distance between us.
My first thought...was of Bastien.
I didn't want him to see me almost kissing a man.
Which was strange, because I shouldn't care what he saw or thought. This was my room after all.
But...some part of me did care.
The part of me that was dark and sinful and craved his touch. The part of me that wanted him to continue ruining me despite how much I hated him.
But when I looked to see who had thrown open the door, I realized it wasn't my prince standing in the doorway.
It was Tyson, along with his sanguine partner, Okeri.
I expelled a sigh of relief.
As always, Tyson had a smirk on his face, but he wasn't dressed in his usual finery. His black hair was windswept and his plain clothing was torn in a few places, like he'd been in a sword fight.
Only, he wasn't carrying a sword—but two bottles of amber colored spirits.
"I can't believe you're hosting a harem party and didn't invite us!" he announced, wagging the bottles at me. Before I could offer an explanation, he was already talking. "This is the perfect opportunity to play a proper game of Dépouiller!"
Excited applause and giggles went around the room at the mention of the card game, and I swore the temperature rose as everyone's attention shifted to me.
I recalled the game they'd taught me to play on our way here. The one that took me the better part of a day to learn and the one they'd abandoned, explaining it was only fun with more people and...strong drink.
Okeri was similarly dressed to the young prince, in trousers and a tunic that bore evidence of swordplay. Her curly hair had been braided in tight rows with colored beads threaded into the ends.
Tyson kicked the door closed behind him and the pair strolled inside without further invitation.
"Never choose your harem without playing Dépouiller first," Okeri told me, sauntering up to where I stood and pulling a deck of cards from the satchel around her waist. "It's basically an unwritten law."
She was so beautiful and fierce, it was hard not to be intimidated by her confidence and the way she just knew things. Especially about this role I was supposed to be filling.
Still, playing Dépouiller might be an unwritten law amongst sanguiner partners, but I'd promised Bastien I wouldn't drink with my harem.
He'd told me there was no exception to this rule, and I thought that meant it was codified for all sanguine partners, but neither Okeri nor Tyson seemed to know about that rule.
