The room matched his station. It was a sprawling space, with a hearth on the far side where a small fire blazed, and two distinct seating areas: one in front, and one by me. I was lying on a low couch made of purple velvet. My fingers traced the texture, trying to ground myself in the surroundings.

“Tell me it’s a misunderstanding,” I croaked.

Raphael said nothing.

The fog cleared and an incessant need pressed against my chest. “Tell me.”

Raphael shook his head. “I cannot.”

“The vampire… he called you his king.”

“He did,” Raphael agreed. “Because I’m the Vampire King of the West.”

Gods, I’d been such a fool. His strength, his arrogance. I’d spent enough time with royalty. I should’ve recognized it. Yet Raphael was also worlds apart from the king I’d known. He hadn’t ordered me about. He’d treated me, at times, like a partner. If not an equal, then a close enough approximation.

I swallowed down the thought, the events that had transpired between Greymere and Damerel bouncing around my throbbing head. “You licked me.”

Raphael’s posture was stiff. “My apologies. I pride myself on keeping my word, and while I did in letter, I did not in spirit. I needed to seal the wound, and I wanted to show them.”

“Show them what? That I’m yours?”

Mine, he’d called me. I hadn’t belonged to anyone in so, so long. Even though it was for show, I’d come closer to belonging in that instance than I had in the past decade.

“Vampires respect claims like that. Your blood… certain blood is more attractive to vampires. You should take care not to bleed, but by daybreak, all will know what I’ve said and heed my words.”

I shuddered and forced myself up onto my elbows. “Why is my blood so enticing? Is there a way I could change it?” I anxiously ran my fingers over the edge of the settee.

“You can’t change what you are,” he said softly. “You don’t need to.”

“I’m human, Raphael. I’m going to bleed. I’ll be dead in a minute if one of them attacks.” Them. Not you. Somehow Raphael was different from other vampires to my mind. Or maybe that was how I’d reconciled it. “You said I’d be safe here. I was a fool to believe you.”

It was less a rebuke of him and more one of me. How had I been so desperate that I’d trust a vampire—the vampire king, no less—to protect me? “I need to leave. Now.”

Had I really thought I could be safer here than with my own kind? Even for a few days?

“You are safe here,” Raphael insisted. With vampire speed, he moved from his perch across the room to my side. He dropped to his knees, sinking to meet me at eye level. “Anyone who makes you feel any other way dies. I vow this, Samara. The only reason Lucas’s head is on his shoulders is because I want him to spread the message.”

It was impossible to hold his gaze at this distance. Half-lying down in an unfamiliar room, I felt vulnerable.

No, I felt vulnerable because when he said words like that, I wanted to believe him.

“You don’t need to send a message. I’m not staying.”

“You need rest,” he countered. “Supplies. A few days of real food, not whatever small mammal I drain for you. Sturdy clothing. Maps. Remember your plan?”

Valid points. But that didn’t change the fact he was the king of vampires. “What I need is the truth. You lied to me,” I accused.

Raphael arched a brow. “How, dove? I cannot tell untruths.”

“You deceived me, then,” I corrected. “I never would have let you out of that cell if I’d known you were their godsdamned king.”

Raphael’s voice dropped low. “You would have done anything to leave that prison, and we both know it.”

I looked away, not able to meet the truth in his eyes. “Just show me how to get out of this place. If it’ll take too long to get maps, I can go without, or I’ll just hide out in the Witch Kingdom.” Anxiety caged my heart and constricted it into shallow, shallow beats that left me dizzy.

“Nothing has changed, Samara. You would be found and executed for escaping your sentence.”

There was sense in Raphael’s words, but I couldn’t get the sight of all those vampires out of my mind. I’d thought one was terrifying. Dozens—hundreds—maybe thousands. Just the thought made it hard to breathe again. “Your vampires won’t just tolerate a human walking around.”

Raphael snorted, dismissing the argument. “They’ll tolerate anything I tell them to or suffer the consequences of their treason. Besides, you are hardly the only mortal here.”

Yes, me and the other humans they kept for food. It was well known the vampires stole humans from the bordering towns to keep themselves fed. And that was to make me feel better? “I’d rather take my chances against the king’s witches.”

“You can’t go back there,” he said with infuriating patience.

I frowned. “Am I to be your captive, then? Not allowed to leave?”

Did I imagine his hesitation? “You would die, Samara. I gave my word I would protect you—that means not letting you go off to your death.”

I looked away, scanning the room. “Then I’ll stay here. Give me whatever supplies the vampire king is willing to part with in exchange for helping you retrieve the grimoire, and I’ll be on my way.” At the thought of the grimoire, my fingers twitched. “Where is the grimoire anyway?”

His head cocked at the sudden question. “Safe.” Raphael regarded me for a moment. No doubt he saw I was unsatisfied by the answer. Taking pity on me, he moved and pointed to a table his body had blocked across the room.

Something in me unclenched, just slightly, when I laid eyes on it.

“There’s another option,” Raphael said slowly, like he didn’t want to startle me.

My shoulders tensed. “What?”

“Before I tell you, I want you to answer a question for me. Do you trust me to keep you safe?”

The word no was on the tip of my tongue before I even considered the question. Safe wasn’t a word that had applied to me in a long, long time. But as Raphael stared at me, red eyes warm and utterly still while he waited for my answer, it wasn’t so easy to spit the word out.

“I don’t know if I believe there’s such a thing as safety,” I admitted.

To my surprise, he didn’t tell me I was wrong. “That’s a fair answer, so let me change the question. Do you think anyone will do a better job keeping you safe than I would?”

“No,” I conceded.

Raphael nodded. “That’s right. As long as you’re here with me, dove, you’re mine. And I protect what’s mine. Ruthlessly.”

Ruthlessly. With dismembered hands and decapitated bodies. The thought should be chilling, especially given my aversion to violence. But… violence done to protect me felt altogether different than violence done against me. Hypocrite.

“Then let me place another card in your hand. Instead of scurrying off in a few days, you could stay longer and do one more task for me.”

I should say he was insane. Say there was no possible reason I’d stay. “What task?”

Raphael flashed a grin, just for a moment. “You could translate the grimoire for me.”

I blinked. Of all the things I’d expected… my gaze immediately landed on the enchanted book once more. I wanted to know its secrets, even if they were useless to a void like me.

“I told you I barely remember Old Runyk.” I’d had a knack for languages as a girl, something my mother had hoped would impress my father, but most of what I’d learned was forgotten.

“I have a library that would be at your disposal. I’m confident with enough time, you could decipher the text.”

“Why would I do that?” I demanded. What use did a vampire have for a witch-less grimoire?

“Because, if you do that, I’ll pay you five hundred gold pieces. Enough to not just start a new life as a beggar in the west, but to live like a queen.”

The offer was tantalizing. Too good to be true. “If you have hundreds of gold pieces lying around, you should give them to me anyway for getting you the grimoire. If not for me, you wouldn’t have been able to take it from the temple,” I reminded him.