Seeing that Lazarus was sitting with Maeve, his younger brother Magnus shifted to sit next to her.
Lazarus seethed. Maeve had placed her palm on his thighs and she was smoothly stroking him, but his attention was on Emma and Magnus. He wanted to go and rip Magnus off her.
"I am Magnus," he introduced himself to Emma with a charming smile. "The youngest of my siblings."
Starved of soft words and warm behavior, Emma immediately cozied up to him. "I am Emmalyn, but you can call me Emma."
Magnus chuckled. He lifted a glass of wine that was mixed with blood and said, "To Emma."
She gave him a broad smile and was about to lift her glass, when Lazarus growled, "You can't drink that wine! It is fae wine and not meant for mortals." He was loathing how Magnus was cozying up with her.
Emma glared at him and ignoring his words, took a sip. The taste of wine burst on the tip of her tongue in fruity flavors. She loved it. "Magnus," she said, leaning towards him. "Could you show me the palace grounds?"
"Of course," he replied with enthusiasm.
"You must see the palace," Maeve interjected rudely. "You don't have other places to go. You don't have much time left anyway. After the soul casting ceremony, you will belong to me, and I will marry Lord Lazarus." She squeezed his thighs gently.
Emma couldn't believe how insolent Maeve was. "Yes, till then you can watch me greedily!"
"You—!"
Emma disregarded Maeve and turned to Magnus. "I smelled apple orchards in the palace grounds. Do you have orchards here?" From the corner of her eyes she saw a male vampire staring at her intently. Familiar fear skittered down her spine all over again.
Magnus laughed softly. "No, we don't have apple orchards. But sometimes the humans of the palace grow plants that they like. Perhaps you must have smelled that. I will take you to the small garden that they maintain inside the palace."
"Oh, that would be wonderful!" she said.
Lazarus was staring at her, loathing every minute of his brother sitting next to her. She was his unclaimed mate and if the circumstances were normal, he would have killed Magnus for talking to her. He snarled "She won't be going anywhere!". Not without him. "You are going to stay in your room!"
"Why Lazarus?" Anton intervened. "Are you afraid that she will be killed? You ended up killing two of our brothers for her."
Emma was stunned. Lazarus killed his brothers for her?
"And I won't hesitate killing more!" Lazarus shot back.
"Enough!" King Viktor snarled. "Tomorrow I will be holding a trial in the court for Lazarus. If he is found guilty, he will be punished!"
Anton scoffed at Lazarus. He lifted his wine and said, "To Emmalyn."
Emma saw that Lazarus was least concerned about what his father just said about his trial. He was only staring at her as if she was the most valued possession of his life. She just couldn't understand anything that was going on. Why wasn't he bothered? The king could punish him if he was found guilty. Even Maeve didn't seem concerned about it. Panic dug its claws in her soul. She hated the idea of Lazarus being punished and she couldn't understand why. What kind of punishment would the king give to his eldest?
Silence fell upon the table. King Viktor got up after eating his dinner. "Anton," he said. "I want to speak with you." Then he looked at Maeve who gave him a slight nod that didn't go unnoticed by Emma. Everyone except Lazarus and Magnus were now left at the table.
"I would love to visit the lower level of the kingdom where the vassals live." Magnus's voice pulled her back. "Will you take me for a visit?"
"Sure!" she said and sipped more wine. It was very good. "I will take you to all my favorite places!"
Lazarus got up with a jerk as jealousy flared. The chair behind him screeched and toppled on the floor. He strode to her and grabbed her arm. He pulled her up and leaned over her, their bodies pressing hard against each other. "Did you forget that you can't leave the palace?"
She placed her hands on his chest as she watched his face. "Ask that fae betrothed of yours to remove the magic. I will go," she responded mulishly.
"You are my captive. If you leave the palace, I will chain you to the bed. This body belongs to me and I will not let you harm it. You won't move without my permission!"
"Maybe this body, but not my soul."
Giving him a haughty look, she picked up her glass of wine and was sipping it when Lazarus grasped her wrist and drank the wine off her glass. "You won't drink without my permission!" He was expecting her to growl at him, but—
Suddenly, her hand reached out to his bottom lip and she wiped the wine from there. Her touch was electrifying. She put that finger in her mouth, between her lips and sucked it. His body tensed as he stared at her sucking her finger, thinking of her lips wrapped around his member.
"Brother," Magnus called him.
Lazarus dragged his gaze away from her reluctantly but didn't step back.
Magnus continued, "You are unnecessarily getting worried. You should ask Maeve to remove the magic. It's not like Emma can run away anywhere. Besides, how are your plans for the ritual coming up?"
Lazarus smirked, looking at Emma. "Maeve is managing the whole thing and I know that she will succeed."
Emma clenched her teeth as her face turned red. She snapped, "Sounds like your betrothed has covered up for you. I wish you both never after."
There was a stunned silence in the room as Magnus pressed his lips hard. Lazarus stared at her. The gall of this girl! He slammed his fist on the chair behind her. It splintered under the impact and the splinters flew in all directions, some landing in her hair and dress.
Emma calmly removed a splinter from her hair, brushed her dress, and squeezing her body away from him, she picked up her wine glass and drank the last drops of fae wine from it.
She had never tasted wine before and this was fae wine.
She felt… drunk. Heavily.