Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder novel Chapter 596

Chapter 96 : Submitting to the King

*Lena*

Black double doors made of iron opened wide as the vampire guard pushed me into the dining hall.

My toes curled as the smell of blood hit me, and I closed my eyes, hanging my head to stop myself from gazing upon whatever bloody sight lay before me.

I heard the doors close behind me, locking shut. Heat rippled over my skin, and the roaring of a massive fire thundered in my ears.

“Open your eyes," came a rich male voice that echoed through the hall.

My lashes fluttered as I opened my eyes and stared down at my feet, trying to get a sense of the room and the ageless vampire who was seated yards away, commanding me.

When I finally had the courage to look forward, I wasn't overcome with shock like I had been when I first gazed upon Narcissa. There was no metallic taste and feel of ancient magic, and no intense, unearthly pull like the one that made it hard for me to tear my eyes away from her translucent skin and silver hair.

Like Narcissa, Nikolas was incredibly tall and lean, graceful in every moment he made. But his hair was an icy platinum, similar to my own, and his skin had a creaminess to it that hers hadn't possessed.

He looked shockingly human, compared to his sister.

Violet eyes flaked with crimson looked me up and down, but I didn't flinch or cower beneath his gaze.

He wasn't what I'd been expecting. He didn't ooze power. He didn't scare me.

I straightened my back, squaring my shoulders as I took a shallow breath and looked around the room. Long, narrow, endless stone–there wasn't a single decoration save for the dozens of thick, tallow candles that burned along the center of the table and along the mantel over the hearth that stretched the entire width of the room.

He was seated directly in front of the hearth, and some of the peachy color of his skin could probably be attributed to the red and amber flames that danced behind him. He didn't rise to his feet as I took a single step in his direction.

“Beautiful," he cooed, his eyes flashing with an emotion I couldn't quite read. Hunger was there, obviously, for more reasons than one. But he looked… impressed.

I fought the urge to bow, to kneel before him as I tucked my hand behind my back and held his gaze. A man was slumped in a chair next to him, his neck bloodied and oozing. King Nikolas followed my gaze and chuckled low in his throat.

“He's still alive," he said in an almost seductive whisper as he ran a long, pale finger across the man's cheek. “Just asleep."

“I want a fire lit in my room," I said through gritted teeth, “and food… water that doesn't freeze solid within a few minutes of being delivered."

“So many demands and yet you haven't even bowed before your king?"

He was not my king, and I wanted to say as much, but I bit down on my tongue. I wondered if he could read my mind like Narcissa had been able to, and possibly Kiern as well. But as I watched him settle back against a high-backed chair, his eyes taking in every line and curve of my face before settling on my neck, I had the suspicion that he could not.

I wondered what his powers were if he didn't share the same ones as his sister. He was immortal, yes, but not a seer.

“You have demands of me as well," I spat, realizing my life and plan for his death involved playing his game. “And I can't do anything unless my basic needs are taken care of."

He narrowed his eyes at me, studying the color flaming across my cheeks. I made myself look as angry and confident as possible, but on the inside I was crumbling. The warmth of the room was seeping into my bones, replacing the icy chill that had numbed the pangs of hunger, dehydration, and the distress I felt about Xander and the whole portal situation.

He snapped his fingers and two gray, molted vampires stepped forward. I studied them, wondering what the difference was between them and the man who the king had been feeding on moments before I was brought to the dining hall. They carried him away, and within seconds the blood was mopped from the table, and the king summoned me to sit on the opposite side of the table from him.

There was a great distance between us as I sat down. The table was at least twelve feet long. I had to squint over the candles to see a clear glimpse of his face.

He was handsome in the same way Narcissa had been beautiful, more captivatingly strange than anything. He looked no older than myself, but his eyes gave away his true age. They were deep wells of vivid color, and full of secrets lost to time.

A large bowl of chopped fruit was laid in front of me. I looked down at it, then up at Nikolas, letting my face twist with disappointment.

“I need more than fruit," I said sharply. I hadn't been given a fork or spoon to eat with, either.

“All of my feeders eat only fruit," he said casually, leaning back in his chair with a goblet of blood, or maybe even wine, in one of his hands. “You all taste better that way."

“I wasn't aware I was here as your feeder," I said, plucking a piece of what could have been an apple and popping it into my mouth. I did everything I could to stop myself from moaning with relief as the taste of it hit my tongue, and I stopped myself from scooping fistfuls of the fruit and stuffing it in my mouth like my body wanted.

“You can be more to me once you prove to me what you can do. That is the rule." He snapped his fingers, and a door opened along the side of the room. The same man he'd been feeding on earlier was dragged into the room again as though they'd just stored him in some back hallway until this very moment. “Heal him."