act, knowing what he was.
I had spent my entire life training to murder his kind. He was the monster we hunted, striking them down without fear. Killing mindless enemies was simple when they didn’t contain intelligent life.
Torrin was a man, a virile, living, breathing man with needs. He held conversations and indulged as any other man would. Cautiously, I followed him until we reached the stairs. I watched his body while we climbed them, noting no stiffness or deadening movement that led to the change of the mindless monster he should be.
At the top of the stairs, Torrin opened the door and led me down the hallway. My eyes flicked to the guards, noting their eyes studied me before bitter smiles spread over their mouths. Sharp fangs became exposed while they took me in, silently.
I tried to slip past Torrin to enter my room alone, but he didn’t allow it. Instead, he pushed the door open and followed me inside, much to the guard’s amusement. I backed away from him, staring around the room for something to use, but came up empty. Someone had left a dress on the bed, with a pair of soft shoes, presumably for the party tonight.
“Drink. It will calm the rate of your heartbeat,” Torrin ordered, settling into a chair while he watched me staring him down.
“I learned that lesson when you allowed me to drink drugged whiskey,” I stated, noting the way his mouth curved into a knowing smile.
“You’re afraid of me,” he grunted angrily, sitting forward to steeple his hands in front of him. “Do you fear I will drain you, Alexandria?”
“Shouldn’t I? You’re a nightwalker, Torrin.”
“You can call me Tor. Women I plan to fuck get to call me such.” His eyes studied my face as I shook my head.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re a whore, Tor. I wouldn’t fuck you now, even if I hadn’t learned the truth of what you are. Does the king know what you are? Is everyone here, nightwalkers?” I word-vomited my questions one after another without taking a breath.
“Yes, the king is aware, and no, they are not all nightwalkers,” he stated, lifting the whiskey to fill two silver chalices. “If I hadn’t told you or shown you what I was, you’d never have known. I have not harmed you, not out of anger. I didn’t force you to do anything you didn’t want to do with me. I protected you, and I ensured you made it here in one piece.”
“You do understand that kidnapping isn’t the same as escorting someone. Right?” He smirked, shaking his head while those pretty blue eyes noted my every movement.
I compartmentalized his words, pushing them through my mind while I crept closer to him. Sitting in the furthest chair, I stared at Torrin with curiosity. He’d fucked me. Not physically, but he’d ensured I could never go home. Our people wouldn’t welcome me. It was treason to consort with the enemy, and he was so much the freaking enemy.
There would be no returning to our people. My team and I were now outcasts who had no home, no people, and nowhere to go that would accept us. My eyes flicked to his face, sliding down his body before they rolled back up to hold his gaze.
“Did you die to become a nightwalker?” I asked, uncertain if I should ask him questions.
“No,” he said, sipping his whiskey while he watched me above the rim.
“How then?”
“You think it’s a sickness, which isn’t true. You and your people were awarded the light of the moon while we were bathed in eternal darkness. Do you think we weren’t blessed as well?”
“Being a nightwalker is a curse, Torrin. You feed on the living. You murder us.”
“And you fucking murder us!” he snapped, losing the thread he’d held on his composure. I jumped back, and he ran his hand over his mouth, glaring at me. “You hunt our people down, slaughtering them because, to you, they’re wrong, they’re an abomination. They don’t glow in the fucking dark, and therefore they’re lesser beings.”
“Nightwalkers don’t have coherent thought! They suck the fucking marrow out of us! What would you have us do to protect ourselves?”
“Do you think I have no coherent thought? Have I sucked the marrow out of you? Hell, Alexandria. I tasted your delicious pussy, but you’re still alive, aren’t you?”
“That was in a dreamscape.”
“Was it?” he asked, and the room changed around us. I stared at the familiar bedroom, with the silk