Blood Debt (Kingdom of Blood #1) - Callie Rose Page 0,27

and my heart couldn’t seem to find a rhythm. Kind of like my feet.”

There’s that self-deprecating grin again. How can he joke about this?

“After the initial burst of pain, I couldn’t feel anything,” he continues. “Couldn’t hear anything. Darkness was creeping in around my vision. Just as the world shrank down to two little pinpoint dots, I tasted blood in my mouth. I thought it was mine, at first. But the more I tasted, the stronger I felt.”

He twirls me around, out of sync with the rest of the dancers, but doesn’t drop me or step on my toes. He beams, thrilled at his success. I smile at him encouragingly and tell myself it’s just the part I’m playing. I have to be nice to him, because that’s what blood tributes are supposed to do. They’re here to serve the vampires.

“It was really freaking weird too.” Connor shakes his head, his nose scrunching up a little. “You ever popped a rib out of place? I never had, not until then. Even then, it was less of a pop and more of a crush. But when the bones grew back—or came back together, I guess. Grew again? I don’t know exactly how it works. Anyway, it hurt like hell but in a satisfying kind of way, like popping a joint into place.”

I don’t try to fight the shudder that creeps down my spine. It seems like an appropriate reaction for the role I’m supposed to be playing anyway. I have to imagine an average human would be a bit grossed out by his story, so there’s no reason to hide that I am too.

He smiles at me apologetically. “Sorry. Not the nicest thing to imagine, right? I won’t even mention the nastier stuff. Anyway, the point is, I drank a bunch of Bastian’s blood and re-inflated like a cartoon character. I had to spit out a few teeth afterward, but somehow I wasn’t missing any. See?”

He grins wide, proving to me that his mouth is, in fact, intact.

“I see.”

He chuckles, and the sound washes over me like warm waves on a beach. “So obviously I can’t just go home or back to work after that. Bastian took me to a little coffee house on the corner and explained everything to me. Since I worked outside in a nursery—and since the place I was living was full of windows and roommates—it was safer for me to come here and live in the palace.”

“So… he kidnapped you?” I ask. It’s not the most polite question, but I don’t care. Honestly, I’m partially trying to goad him into telling me how he really feels about all this. He’s too damn cheerful.

Connor’s eyes widen, and he looks truly shocked. “What? No! Bastian would never do something like that. He gave me a choice, but let’s be honest—I’ve never been good at lying or skulking around keeping secrets. I would have gotten myself killed, either by telling the wrong person about all this or by forgetting about the whole can’t-go-out-in-sunlight problem and stepping outside for coffee or something. This is way better for me. Bastian really, truly saved my life.”

I give him a skeptical look. “You really think you’d forget about the sun problem?”

He nods earnestly. “Oh, yeah. I’ve forgotten things you wouldn’t believe. You know those nightmares people have about going to school without their pants on?”

I wince. Vampires I can deal with, but public humiliation nightmares are next-level torture. “Yup.”

“I’ve done that.”

My mouth falls open a little on a choked laugh. “Really?”

He grins, his eyes sparkling. “Yeah. Twice, unfortunately. Once in middle school, and once in high school. Hell, I almost did it again before heading to work one day a year ago, but my roommate caught me before I left the house. I don’t know, it’s like my brain is always a couple steps ahead and slightly to the left of my body. Living in this palace is the only reason I don’t wander into traffic in the middle of the day.”

Chewing my lip, I consider his words as we glide around the dance floor. We’re still not exactly moving with the beat of the music, but we’ve found a sort of rhythm that seems to work for us.

I don’t know whether to believe him or not. He seems smart enough, and I’ve already seen his sense of humor—but I’ve also witnessed his sense of direction, so his assertion isn’t entirely unbelievable.

“And… are you okay with it?” I ask slowly, looking up to