Crimson Queen

four.

Matthieu's P.O.V

I honestly don't know what I expected upon giving Victoria a tour of Castle Vampyre. 

I supposed, based on her attitude thus far, she would have been disinterested. 

Not in the slightest.

For a woman who had grown up surrounded by crystal towers her whole life, she looked at the manor grounds as if they were hand-crafted by the gods. 

I had every intention of giving her a quick set of directions, but as soon as I saw that curious gleam in her eye, I was sold. I used to get lost in the never-ending halls and stairwells of Castle Vampyre growing up. Fuck, I used to make the staff come and fetch me and bring me back to my parents scared out of my wits back when I was small enough.

But the way she would strut through every corridor with her shoulders back and her head held high? The confident sway of her hips and that tight little ass of hers? 

If I had it my way, I'd give her the tour by ravaging her in every single room of the castle.

But I feel safe hungering for her in the way that I do, because I know I'm probably the last person she'd ever want to shag.

Then again, I'm sure if it was a choice between myself and a lycan, I'd at least have the one-up in that scenario.

The way she carried herself was nothing less than I'd expect for a future queen. And yet, she had such a childlike and bewildered look on her face as she took in every inch of the castle.

Mind you, all while I took in every inch of her.

Gods, I'd have killed for her to take in every inch of me.

I'd spare my unholy thoughts just long enough to continue enjoying the glimmer of wonder in her eyes as I paraded her around the manor grounds. 

First and foremost, the gardens were just as expansive as the manor itself. Even if you got rid of the always-iconic hedge maze, you still could have managed to get lost among the dense foliage, especially if you didn't make note of each distinct statue that marked the way. There were more bedrooms than there probably were staff. In case you got bored of one sitting room, well that was okay because there would be at least four others to tickle your fancy. Much to her liking, the library scaled multiple floors and I even employed a librarian and curator ahead of our arrival to keep it maintained.

I may be a vampire, but I am certainly no monster. If books were the one thing that brought her joy as she adjusted to her unwanted life with me, then the least I could do was supply her with every last book she could ever want to keep her occupied. 

The kitchen itself was probably bigger than anything she'd ever seen. At least, not as big as one thing, but that was for me to know and her to daydream about. As much as I tried to keep up the act of being a pretentious dick of a king, all the sweet old ladies working in the kitchen absolutely adored me. They filled Victoria's ears with stories about how I'd come into the kitchen to sneak sweets in the middle of the night, and that even now as an adult it was still hard to curb my sweet tooth. 

"At least he's not waking up in the middle of the night trying to sneak a blood bag or a witch's flesh," she whispered to them half-jokingly.

Silly woman, I thought to myself, the only way I'd ever claim your flesh was if you gave it up to me willingly.

Now her blood, on the contrary, would be a different story. 

The power that radiated from within her veins was intoxicating. It sang an alluring tune that only my hunger could seem to hear. It left my body confused as to whether I would hold out the longest on feeding her or fucking her.