Blood & Honey #1

*Chapter Fourteen*

With my hand stationed securely on Kinley's lower back, I guide her trembling form down the hallway toward my room. It's somewhat annoying the slow pace I have to maintain for this human to keep up. Her short stature doesn't help either.

"Here we are." I remove my hand from Kinley and push open the double doors.

I walk in first, leaving Kinley in the doorway to test her level of obedience.

She forces the lump that is caught in her throat down and exhales a ragged breath. She steps over the threshold into my room as if she thinks the moment her foot lands on the other side the floor will reach up and swallow her whole.

Kinley's tightly squeezed shut eyes confirm that she indeed must feel something is about to reach out, grab her, and then pull her under. When nothing happens, Kinley opens one eye, then the other. The tension caged in her lungs gets released, riding out on a wobbly puff of air that matches her unsteady legs.

"Have a seat," I say heading to the joint bathroom to wash the blood from my arm.

Kinley does exactly what I ask. She starts to sit right there on the floor.

"No, not on the floor. Anywhere you like." I gesture to the entirety of my room where she has a choice of a chair, chaise lounge, or my bed. I highly doubt she will choose that last option.

I leave the door to the bathroom open as I wash the dried, crusted red off my forearm and wrist. As the clear water tints pink, I find I'm unable to fully digest everything that took place less than ten minutes ago: Kinley's episode, Dorian's cryptic behavior, but most notably what I cannot wrap my mind around is that in six months I'm to be paired with a vampire who referred to me as a starving mutt.

How could my parents agree to such a union? They know I vowed to take no mate as my own. Can things be so bad for the Vondarrie that they truly believe my union to the princess is a viable solution?

Damn you, Alekos for being too cautious over the years.

I shut off the water after soaking a clean rag and ringing it out. Kinley's posture goes from slumped to board straight when I emerge from the bathroom. She chose the chaise lounge.

Walking over to where she sits, her complexion grows paler as if all the blood is draining from her. She doesn't look up when I am right in front of her. Instead, she cast her gaze down like a submissive animal. I grab her chin roughly and force her to look at me.

Kinley flinches away, pulling her head back from the sudden movement of my hand. Her gaze falls onto the damp rag I have paused inches away from her face.

"My kind may bite, but the rag is just a rag." A lopsided grin eases onto my face.

Kinley sucks in a sharp intake of air when the damp cotton in my hand touches her face. She stays still while I drag the rag from her nose down to her lips, following the trail of dried blood her nosebleed left.

Being this close to her makes it feel like my heart is beating as my chest soaks in the vibrations of Kinley's pounding heart as if it were my own.

"How often does passing out like that happen to you?" I flick my gaze to her eyes, worried if it stays fixated on the task at hand I may be tempted to lean in and let my tongue help remove the crimson sweet particles stuck to her.

Kinley shrugs. "Maybe three times a year. The nosebleeds have been more frequent lately. Usually, I only get them once a month."

"Are you aware that your heart stops right before you pass out?" I mash my teeth together, wishing her heart would stop right now for its beating is driving the beast in me insane with hunger.