Alexander-Fyn-Sanguinarian

to have me just because you bought me. You locked me up and felt not a moment’s guilt. You failed to see it was wrong.” When he did not respond she demanded, “It is true, isn’t it?”
    Certainly it was true. He did not feel what he had done was wrong, at least not at the time. “I am beginning to see where I might have done better,” he admitted grudgingly. “You liked me this morning.”
    “You were nice this morning. You talked honestly. You did not bully me.”
    “Come here and let us talk again?” He patted his knee, smiling.
    “Oh, no, my lord, you keep your distance. Do you really intend to sleep in here tonight?”
    “I might not sleep. I have never needed a great deal of sleep, a few hours at the most and I usually prefer to take them at noon when the sun is at its brightest. Don’t worry, I won’t do anything you don’t want me to.” She arched an eyebrow at him and finished her wine.
    Raven refilled their glasses. “Talk to me, my dear. Tell me about Sanguinarian 215
    yourself. Tell me all the things I should have asked you from the start.”
    Her eyes met his. “I can’t imagine what there is of interest. I intend to leave in the morning and if you are a gentleman you will provide me with a carriage to the village.”
    He bowed his head. “I will do whatever you wish.”
    “You won’t prevent me from leaving?” she questioned.
    “No, I will assist you if that is what you want. In the meantime you are going nowhere, so tell me all the things I don’t know about you, my dear.” He gazed at her, waiting.
    “Oh, all right, though I don’t see the point in this. I have had a fairly uneventful life until now. It got complicated and difficult when you became involved.”
    Raven rested his cheek on his fist. “Tell me what happened before I ruined everything,” he groaned.
    Evangeline began, “I am almost nineteen years old. I love to read Miss Austen and Miss Eliot.”
    Raven smiled and settled back to listen.

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Chapter Fifteen
    Lady Dominica Ravenscroft had suspected for the last few days that her brother, her dear and most beloved brother, had brought that aggravating, mundane little female back into their castle. Her dear Munk had told her the wedding had not gone ahead and she was very glad. Dominic was her playmate and she did not want to share him.
    Then even before she heard the scream earlier that night she had heard whisperings and strange light footsteps in distant parts of the castle. Outside in her walled garden she had smelled a perfume of lilacs on the air. It was far too early for lilacs. That girl had smelled of lilac the night she had visited her.
    Walking the castle corridors in her black satin nightgown, she was drawn to the only chamber where light could be seen dimly under the door. Her bare feet made no sound on the stones. Not even Dominic, whose hearing was more acute than her own, could hear her. Outside the door she stood in the blackness, listening. She distinctly heard two people breathing. She knew the sound of her brother’s breathing, but the other was light and quick and could only be that fair-haired girl.
    Dominic was in there with her. It was time she got rid of the girl completely.
    First she and Dominic would consume her blood together and then they would kill her.
    It was not often she thirsted for blood, but occasionally she felt a great need for it. She listened again. Dominic was sleeping, she could tell from the rhythm of his breathing.
    With the utmost stealth she opened the door. Oh, very cosy. They were sleeping in opposite chairs beside the dwindling fire, an empty Sanguinarian 217
    wine decanter on the table beside Raven. He wanted that girl for more than just their inheritance. He wanted her physically—he wanted to bind her to him. She could smell his desire in the air.
    The best and quickest method would be to swiftly slit her throat, but she wanted the girl’s blood first. She would pierce the jugular vein and drink as it flowed. Then she would wake Dominic and let him have the rest while Evangeline’s heart was still beating.
    On silent feet she crossed the hearth, raising the slender knife high above the sleeping girl, hypnotized for a moment by the glint of firelight on the blade.

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Chapter Sixteen
    “Gods!” Raven screamed behind her. “Dominica! No!”
    Evangeline awoke to startling green eyes blazing down at her, a blade raised above her neck and an angry scream. Raven caught