ChapterOne
ROSIE
“Take me.” My words rang out in the council chamber, echoing harsh and strident off the stone walls.
My father took a step forward, protest etched in every line of his body, but before he could utter a word, the High Chancellor held up a hand. “Do you know what you’re volunteering for, lass?”
I knew any hint of weakness would be my undoing. Though my knees were practically knocking together, I held my chin high, my voice shockingly steady. It was my life or one of my brothers. I couldn’t let them stand in harm’s way. If one of us had to die, it may as well be the weak link in our family tree. “I do.”
“We don’t want her head. We want Noah Blackthorne’s,” Felicity Donoghue, Duchess of Canterbury, stared down her nose at me as though I was nothing more than a speck of dirt on her frock.
The High Chancellor raised a brow. “One child is much like any other. Why does it matter which Blackthorne pays the blood price, so long as it is paid?”
Gavin Donoghue’s gaze found mine from across the room. His expression, intense and brooding, had haunted my dreams more often than I cared to admit. Handsome devil that he was, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn those eyes of his could burn through every stitch I was wearing if he wanted them to. I hadn’t been this close to him since Noah and Callista signed their betrothal agreement several years ago, but my reaction to his presence was every bit as intense now as it had been then. A flutter took up residence in my belly as arousal built between my thighs and heat burned in my cheeks.
Gavin’s eyes widened just a touch, nostrils flaring, and I knew...heknew what he did to me. The slight quirk of his lips told me he liked it.
And just like that, a dark and tempting thought sparked to life. I couldn’t be so bold... could I?
It’s that or your life, Roslyn. If ever there was a time to be brave.
I wet my lips, clearing my throat before I spoke again. “Lord High Chancellor, might I make a suggestion?”
Once again, every eye in the room landed on me.
“Speak, child. We’re listening.”
“It was an alliance between the Donoghues and the Blackthornes that was originally sought. It’s not too late for such ties to be made.”
“Our daughter is dead,” Lady Canterbury snarled.
“But I’m not.” It took everything in me not to look back at Gavin.
“Rosie, what are you doing? Have you gone mad?” my brother Westley asked in a low voice, shock giving it a panicked quality.
“You?” The Duchess laughed, a high-pitched trill that sent skitters down my spine. “You think you’re remotely fit to become a duchess? To wed our son?”
I couldn’t respond. She’d hit the target in one well-aimed shot. For all intents and purposes, I was human, like my mother. Although I was the daughter of a vampire king, I’d never turn. That made me weaker than all the rest. Sullied by her blood. Dirty, according to some in the vampire world. If I’d turned before reaching adulthood, things would’ve been different. They could’ve overlooked my mother’s humanity as they did for both Noah and West. Once the vampire took over, all traces of human DNA were replaced by the dominant genes. It happened from time to time that a child born of a human and vampire union didn’t turn. I was one such creature.
My father’s hand was a steady weight on my shoulder, reminding me I had their support no matter what. Say what you will about vampires—the Blackthornes took care of their own.
“Mother,” Gavin said, his voice rich and mesmerizing. “Hear her out.”
“What? You’re actually entertaining this ridiculous notion?”
“She has the blood of the sun.”
The way her eyes sparkled at his reminder of exactly what I could offer them made my skin crawl. But I knew this was my main bargaining chip. The same blood that damned me to a human life was their saving grace. Pure and unspoiled by being turned, it was magic. Literally. One taste would allow any vampire to walk in the sunlight for an entire day. A deep feeding might provide a week or more of immunity to the light. It was exactly the reason my father had taken my mother all those years ago.
Lady Canterbury’s lips turned up in a wicked smile. “So she does.” She strode across the room and reached for me. I clung to my will and forced myself not to flinch away as her icy finger trailed my jaw and down the column of my throat. “Perhaps you’re not so useless after all, child.”
West vibrated with fury at my side. “Don’t you dare speak of my sister that way. She holds more value in her little finger than you do in your entire body.”
“Exactly my point, West. Thank you for backing me up. A marriage between Roslyn and I is perhaps more beneficial than one between Noah and Callista. Any child she bears me would prove a stronger bloodline because of her humanity.” Gavin’s irises were trained on me, hunger banked in their depths. “What you see as weakness, Mother, I see as opportunity.”
I shouldn’t be so turned on by his casual talk about using me as a broodmare, but dash it all, I was. No one had ever looked at me with the searing intensity I found in Gavin’s dark gaze. I felt alive in a way I never had before. It was heady. Addictive. I wanted every unspoken promise reflected in his eyes. Even if I didn’t know exactly what I was asking for.
Bloody hell, my knickers were going to be ruined at this rate.