Blood Trial Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers #1) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,125

tower to rent somewhere. Escape would be that much easier.

He closed the space between us and towered over me. “I believe this is the answer to our issue or I wouldn’t be here.”

That didn’t cut it. “What happens if a second blood swap doesn’t work?”

He fidgeted. “We’ll be the same, just more intense.”

I glared at him. “That’s the secretive shit I’m talking about! How intense?”

“Around 10 percent more.”

How the fuck could he know that but not know if this would get rid of the mating call? My chest rose as questions flooded my mind.

Eyes wide, I glanced up at Kyros.

“Basilia,” he said, stepping closer. “It will be okay. This is the best course of action. I swear it.”

That was just it though. I didn’t know him. Him swearing anything meant jack shit.

“I only have your word for that,” I whispered. “I have none of the facts. You’re either purposefully obtuse with the exact details, or it doesn’t occur to you what I am ignorant of. And I suspect the former.”

“We need to do something.” His jaw clenched. “The situation is too volatile. It’s affecting the game.”

The game. “What about my life, Kyros? What about yours? Is the game everything to you?” I asked, ripping my arms free of his grip.

“Yes.”

“That’s so fucking sad,” I told him.

His eyes flashed and he crowded me. “You know nothing of why I play the game.”

Angelica had filled me in on Level 66. “Your clan would become part Clan Fyrlia if your family loses.”

He regarded me and said, “The working Vissimo in our clan, yes. But not the royal family.”

I stared at him. “What happens to your family?”

“Execution.” He turned away, shoulders and back rigid.

Execution.

Fuck. “All of you?”

He didn’t turn back. “All of them. My sisters. My brothers. Everyone with a blood connection to my father will die. Only my mother and I will live—to join their clan also. If we win, the same will happen to Clan Fyrlia.”

My throat worked.

That put a different spin on his addiction to the game. “I see.”

“Do you?”

I didn’t let his sarcastic tone rile me. “My parents died when I was nine, Kyros. So yes, this orphan understands loss—traumatic loss.”

“How did they die?” Kyros faced me.

Craning to look at him hurt my neck, so I studied the bottom of his waistcoat.

I pursed my lips. “Crash.”

I had a feeling mentioning it was in their private helicopter and over the Maldives could raise uncomfortable questions.

He opened his mouth, and I shot in, not eager to answer more personal questions or hear his apology for something he hadn’t caused. My parents’ deaths weren’t anyone’s fault. Shit things just happened.

“Is it fair to say that everything you do is for the game to protect your family?”

I would attempt to move the fucking sky if in the same position. Especially if I had to live on.

His answer startled me. “It is.”

I’d known the game was everything to him, just not exactly why. “Then the answer is no. I won’t agree to a second blood swap. I don’t know what it will do to me. Or you. I do know that I’ll have to survive the thrall again.”

“There will be proper precautions in place this time. There won’t be a repeat of what happened last time.”

My muscles coiled with the unchecked nerves and energy coursing through my body. I stood again. “Why are you talking as though it’s happening? It’s not.”

Kyros stepped closer, eliminating the space between us.

I stared at his waistcoat, pressed my hand against his stomach to stop him. “What are you doing?”

He didn’t answer, pushing me gently. I bounced flat onto the bed. He blurred down on top of me, hovering above.

“Kyros—”

“Do you feel that, Basilia?” he murmured, drawing his nose up to my temple.

Did I ever. Pure heat coursed through me.

I breathed hard underneath him, hands poised to shove him away. Or to pull him closer.

His furious gaze met mine. “Do you feel it?”

The crackling between us was akin to anxiety. Desperation itched in my fingertips. In my toes. It wanted to get out. It wanted Kyros. I’d battled this since first sipping his blood.

“Yes.” I choked.

His meadow gaze flared as his control slipped. “Can you live like this?”

“I want it to go away,” I said, squeezing my eyes shut against his bright gaze. Against his nearness. A pointless endeavour.

“That’s what I thought.” The bed dipped down as Kyros moved off me to sit on the edge.

Opening my eyes, I studied his back. “I can’t take 10 percent more of whatever