fucking blood bags, what’s the point of even having them?”
Before Rome can answer, James slouches away, grumbling something about fast food and convenience stores.
I stop listening as soon as he passes through the doorway. I can barely hear a thing with my heart thundering in my ears, and I can’t seem to find my equilibrium with Rome still gazing down at me.
I don’t understand what just happened between us, but I know that on some level, it was much more dangerous than getting gnawed on by a vicious vamp.
Chapter Fourteen
As the buzz in my body slowly dies down, my rational brain switches frantically back on. I’m still turned on, terribly turned on, but at least I’m thinking semi-clearly again.
Rome wipes a few drops of blood off my shoulder, a few that he missed when cleaning up the other guy’s mess, and frowns sternly at the stain on his thumb.
“Not all vampires are… civilized,” he says, his mouth twisting in disgust. He turns those dark eyes back to mine, pinning me in place with the intensity of his gaze. “If any of them ever hurt you again, come tell me. I’ll handle it.”
I nod. I’m not planning on doing that at all, but I’ll agree with him for now. He is, after all, the apex predator in the room. I really want to know what he did to get on everybody’s bad side. How many brutal feedings did he have to interrupt to get himself banished from the palace? How long was he gone before he was allowed to return, and who still holds a grudge?
These questions and more are pressing against my throat, but I swallow them. I can’t afford to be curious about this man. I’m already in too deep, and this place is fucking with my emotions way more than I was prepared for. My feelings used to be my compass, but now they’re spinning like a top, and I feel like I couldn’t find north if my life depended on it.
Which it does, I remind myself firmly.
The only way to get out of this alive is to get out quickly. The longer I stay here, the worse all of this is going to get.
“Thank you,” I say to Rome, shifting awkwardly. The fire inside me is down to its last embers now. If I can just get out of this room without touching him again, I should be able to put it out entirely. He nods his head to me in an almost gentlemanly sort of way and holds out an elbow.
“Let me take you back to the dining hall.” Another look of irritation and anger darkens his features. “James never has let a tribute finish their meal.”
I thank him again, wishing I had invested some of my education into learning how to make small talk. All I want to do is slip away from him, but I’m starting to understand the way things work around here. From the dining hall to the female tribute quarters, I’m free to move around. Anywhere else, I should have an escort.
So I let Rome take me back to the great hall. Once we’re there, I wait until his back is turned to slip away. I don’t really feel like going back to sit down with the other girls and facing a bombardment of questions. Given how unsettled my emotions are right now, I’m sure I’d end up saying something I couldn’t take back. Knowing me, it would be something way out of the character I’m supposed to be playing, something snarky and harsh—an overcompensation for the conflict brewing inside me.
There’s really only one way to handle this.
The vampire palace and everyone in it is throwing me off balance, fucking with me, unraveling me. And the only way to stop that is to get out.
I have to make headway on the next part of my rescue plan. I have to find a way out, and I have to do it now.
As I creep away from the dining hall, I see other tributes wandering around unattended. They all have the same glossed-over look on their faces, and it sends a shudder down my spine. Some of them grant me a dreamy smile as they pass, but their eyes don’t quite focus when they look at me. It occurs to me that I’ve been doing this all wrong, trying to creep around when the vampires are sleeping—because when they’re awake, they’re busy feeding on tributes and apparently just dumping them wherever and letting