The worst part was I wasn’t mad. Yes, I was full of rage but toward her not him. I’d begged him that night, crouched between his legs in the blood-soaked sand to do whatever he had to to survive. I’d given him verbal permission to lay with anyone he wanted. And I’d meant it. Eight hundred years was too long to expect a person to remain celibate. I’d wanted him to use every tool he had in his arsenal to survive, and I wanted him to find slivers of happiness where he could.

But I was mad that we were parted.

Mad that this female was the reason.

I wanted to march over there and stake my claim. He was mine. Somehow knowing that he was my husband for three centuries made me downright territorial. It wasn’t jealousy. He was mine. I wanted to peel her skin off with my teeth. I just prayed I got the chance in the future to kill her and when I did, I wanted her to know it was Celina. I wanted her to know she’d been played by him from the start. I wanted to watch that realization hit her.

The dance floor clapped.

I cursed and pulled at the compartment door. It popped.

“María—”

I gasped and sat up straight, causing the edge of my little purse to catch on the slightly ajar compartment door. “Lo siento, lo siento⁠—”

“Never you mind, it has been a big day for you.” Katelin sat on the step beside me with two glasses of wine. She held one out to me. “Fear not, it is wine.”

My cheeks flushed. “Gracias.”

“It takes most newly turned vampires some time to be able to drink blood from a glass.” She winked. “Luckily the wine is delicious.”

I smiled and lifted the glass to my lips. The flavor was rich and potent, much stronger than any wine I’d ever tasted—-not that I was super experienced in that. Katelin chatted along and it was a shame I was here to deceive because I liked her. She was nice. She was explaining the differences in the dances they liked to do—-because some were much older than Katelin assumed I was—-when the song ended.

Katelin cursed and slid down one step.

I grabbed my purse and followed, then glanced over my shoulder to make sure the compartment door was mostly closed. It was. I turned back a split second before Sweyn’s gaze caught mine. She opened her mouth to speak when three males stepped in between us, breaking her attention. They spoke in the vampire language then bowed and held their bow.

Sweyn giggled. “What kind of Queen denies her court?”