Page 25 of Ravenous

Nadje leapt up as the shadows in her room shifted.

Inkletter.

She’d expected his retribution sooner or later. Just not now, when her fingers had been delving into the treasure chest she kept beneath the floor.

She eliminated any threat to herself—and her gold—ruthlessly. She leapt for her sword, then vaulted forward with a high arc for his throat. But he half traced, becoming intangible. The blade whistled through him, embedding in the wall behind him.

“Bloodthirsty leech!” he said with surprise.

Lips drawn back from her fangs, she yanked her weapon free and swung again. Metal bit nothing but wall.

“Cease that.” His voice was silk and command, the same voice that once had ordered her not to orgasm. Despite Nadje’s fury, her body betrayed her, a violin craving the bow.

She would never get the drop on him; he was too old and too powerful, and his teleporting was an advantage few could defeat. Raising her chin, she dislodged her sword from the wall but kept it close.

“I’m not here to harm you, though you deserve nothing less.” He stepped into the lantern light of her tiny room, then stood like a glorious statue with those unblinking, dark-brown eyes.

He wore a white, sleeveless tunic that displayed muscled arms and a gold band above his bicep. That expensive-looking piece glinted. Habit took over, and her brain started an appraisal—

“We have much to discuss, little flame.”

Deciding that Inkletter was more of a lover than a fighter, she stowed the sword. “Nothing to talk about, incubus. So be off with you.” She returned to fasten the lock on her hiding place. She smoothed the tattered rug over the cubby and made a promise to create another hideaway the moment she got rid of this spy.

When she rose before him once more, adjusting her apron and dress, his gaze remained on her hiding place like a hawk finding a mouse. “Explain this treasure you possess, vampire,” Inkletter said in his formal way of speaking.

Footsteps sounded outside her room, a slow patrol cadence. The sentries were few, but they made regular rounds on this level, especially now. She lowered her voice to say, “Explain? What business is it of yours?”

“Your games have indelibly tarnished my lofty reputation. As you’ve ruined my career, I feel entitled to a portion.”

She would figure out how to gut him before she allowed him to take even a coin. She had no sympathy for him. None left at least. He’d been using her, and his indifference to her had sliced deeply. She’d been weak, nearly surrendering, even knowing he was a spy.

Her pleading with him in the throes? Had only beenhalffaked.

She told him, “If one lowly vampire servant could ruin your reputation so easily, maybe it wasn’t soloftyto begin with.”

“You’re clever,” he said, sounding surprised and pleased.

You have no idea, incubus.

“Vastly more so than I thought. You must be educated.”

“School of experience,” she shot back. “Graduation every sunrise if I learned my lessons.” The foremost one:Live by my wits or die by the fang.“Unlike you.”

Her sources had reported that Inkletter was one of the oldest and most learned immortals alive and that he resided in the demonarchy of Grimrock with his own extensive library.

Princess Emilia, herself an amateur scholar, had despaired of their plan to trick such a male. Nadje had inwardly laughed and said, “I can handle him.”Arrogant males are the most easily fooled.

He said, “Then you must have had many opportunities for lessons in the Badlands, a land rife with peril.”

Over time, something about that place made immortals turn into the most monstrous versions of themselves. Vampires feeding on other vampires, shifters never resuming their humanoid forms…

After she’d clawed her way free of the Badlands—and the strigoi and giant crocodile shifters and godsdamned upright hyenas—she’d set her sights on this castle. One night with a connected nobleman had earned Nadje a coveted position here. Now that she’d finally gained a measure of security, she would do murder to protect it.

So why had she risked everything to help a princess?

As if he’d read her thoughts, Inkletter said, “And now more perils await you. The vampires will kill you if they discover your part in the abduction of a day-walking royal.”

“I can handle them.” The castle was on full alert, and earlier, a court inquisitor had interrogated Nadje. But he’d impatiently waved her away after her first blank-eyed hair twirl. He would never believe a female servant could be a coconspirator in the greatest crime this kingdom had ever sustained.