“Of course he is,” Neli says. “He wants to help you out because he’s an honorable man. It’s a calling for him. Truly.”
Stella’s expression turns hopeful once more.
I am torn. What is more honorable—agreeing to France, which could help Stella immensely, or walking away for Stella’s own good? Both could help her in very different ways.
Likely noting my lack of enthusiasm, Stella looks down, her shoulders slumping. “It’s okay.”
An empty ache deep inside tells me what I must do. I cannot steal her joy or ruin her chance to save her vineyard.
“We will go, and we will win,” I pronounce. “And I will cover all expenses. Of course, I will ask your parents for permission, as is proper.”
Stella puts her hand over her heart, smiling at me. I will do anything for that smile. “Thank you. I owe you big time.”
That is a debt I can never collect, because surely I’d ask for the one thing I cannot have: Her.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Boz
After Neli shows Stella out, I quickly realize from the sweat gathering in my nether region that I have backed myself into a very precarious corner. A trip to France? With Stella? What in the name of the dark gods was I thinking?
This connection between us is growing stronger by the minute, like a force I cannot control. And, as anyone who knows vampires will tell you, an out-of-control vampire is a very bad vampire. Prince Bozhidar might be dangerous and handsome, but he is no rogue. I do not kill haphazardly. I weigh the risks and adhere to my rules. I am not a savage.
Yet, every moment that passes in Stella’s presence leaves me feeling increasingly vulnerable to temptation. I want to be bad. I want to be a bad, dirty vampire with Stella.
“Neli! Come here, you insolent major-dorko!”
It takes several moments until I hear her footsteps approaching the kitchen, where I am currently collecting ice from that rectangular food-cooling box and depositing it into a cloth.
The kitchen door swings open. “It’s majordomo. And what do you want?”
“Yes. Major-dodo. Is this not what I said?” I grunt. “And do not distract me from the subject at hand; I cannot accompany Stella to France.” I place the ice in a cloth and shove it down the front of my trousers. Christ almighty, that’s cold!
“Ummm…what the hell are you doing, Boz?”
“What does it look like? I am cooling my loins.” I yelp as one cube works its way free and slides down the interior of my trouser leg.
“Strange way to deal with your horniness, but oddly, I’m not shocked by anything you do these days.” She exhales and folds her arms over her chest. “Now, what’s this about not going to France?”
I wince, feeling my gonads shrink into tight stones. “It is too risky. My desire for her blood is overwhelmingly powerful, and I fear I will kill her.”
Neli lifts one red brow. “You’re an eight-hundred-year-old vampire, and you’re telling me you can’t control yourself around a girl?”
“Yes. Exactly.” I yank the icy cloth from my breeches and toss the bundle into the sink. “It is no use! The fire in my loins will not extinguish.”
Neli chuckles. “Told you so.”
“Told me what?” I snarl.
“She’s your mate.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, but she is not. I was perfectly able to resist her this evening, as you saw with your very own eyes.”
“Says the man shoving ice down his pants.”
“I admit that my attraction to Stella is extremely strong, but that does not make her my mate.”
Neli shakes her head and whooshes out a frustrated breath. If I agree with Neli, then I will have to accept making Stella mine, and I cannot have that. Stella is meant to be human—beautiful, kind, delicate. “No. Impossible.”
“Ohmygod. Why are you always so stubborn, Boz?”
“It is in my nature. Just as asking ridiculous questions is in yours.”
Neli rolls her eyes. “I’m telling you, she’s the one. Think about it. You get all flustered when she’s around. You think she smells and tastes like a virgin, but I’ve yet to meet a twenty-two-year-old woman who’s that hot and hasn’t managed to get laid.”
The thought of her with another man makes my blood boil.
“See!” Neli points a finger in my face. “You’re getting jealous right now, aren’t you? I said she’s not a virgin, and you jumped to thinking about some other guy boning her.”
“No. No. I thought of another man having sex with her.” Why would Stella require additional bones? She was born perfect. “And this is not proof of her being my mate.”
Neli grips my forearm. “Boz,” she says sternly, “you woke up almost immediately after I spotted Stella arriving home from college with all those boxes piled up in her parents’ car. It’s a sign.”
“And?” I push.
“I’m not stupid.”
“Yes, I am aware you have your moments of male-like intelligence, but I fail to see your point.”
Neli’s face turns a bitter shade of red. “I know about the witch. I know about her curse.”
Oh. That. I vowed never to think of Olga or the curse again. Reliving unpleasant memories are of no use to me. “Then, if you are aware of her curse, you know that it was a farce—a ruse.”
“She cursed you to sleep until ‘a woman came into your life, capable of breaking your heart.’”
“That is not exactly what she said. And, trust me, I was there when the curse was exacted.” Many years had passed since I overcame my forest-hag phobia, but I still felt a lingering unease around witches. And what better way to overcome a fear than to immerse one’s self in it. So I decided to pursue Olga, and we became lovers. Very briefly. Until she began asking me to kill her enemies and I realized her interest in me was a self-serving power grab. Yes, she claimed to love me too, but I believe she was simply enthralled by my massive cock. I could not fault her for that, but I could for her attempts to manipulate me. When I informed her it was over and that I would never do her bidding, she told the town that I had taken all of the virgins, of every age, and eaten them. In truth, she kidnapped them, ate their toes, and boiled their kneecaps into a broth, which she served that very evening to the town’s poor while she spun her lies.
I should have listened to Mother about hags.
The next evening, the village’s peasants came looking to burn my castle—all right, looking to burn everything in it. Stone is very difficult to ignite. I explained the situation to them, holding nothing back. Yes, I did enjoy my virgins, but I would never take the children. The peasants took me at my word, as I had never lied to them in the past, and they turned on the witch. When Olga saw that her plan to ruin me had failed, she stormed my castle and laid a curse:
“Prince Bozhidar, I curse you to sleep until a woman is born who will teach you humility and kindness, whose beauty is so majestic, it will bring you to your knees. She will break your heart, and you will feel the misery, same as I.”
“That is a bit harsh, do you not think?” I said. “We only fucked a few times, and it was quite underwhelming.”