Chapter 10: Feed your Soul
The quiet of the study was shattered by the force of Lucian’s arrival. He didn’t burst in; the door simply opened and he was there, his presence displacing the air, filling the space with a sudden, focused intensity. His golden eyes swept over them, taking in Sebastian’s protective stance, Charlotte’s slightly dazed expression, the empty crystal glass on the side table.
“Sebastian said you had a fitting,” Lucian began, his voice a calm, deep river.Then his gaze sharpened, honing in on Charlotte. He could always see more than others.“What happened?”
Sebastian didn’t wait for her to speak. “The tailor.Valence. She measured her.” His words were clipped, anger simmering beneath each one. “She said Charlotte’s frame showed ‘prolonged scarcity.’ That maids eat when they can.That blood wasn’t accessible.”
A profound silence followed. Lucian went very, very still. It wasn’t the stillness of peace, but of a great pressure building deep within a mountain.The easy grace he usually carried hardened into something ancient and lethal. His eyes, fixed on Charlotte, seemed to see straight through her skin to the story written on her bones.
“Is this true?” he asked, his voice dangerously soft.
She straightened her spine, the old instinct to deflect, to minimize, rising up.“It wasn’t a policy.It was just… how it was. We got by. I got by.”
“‘Got by,’” Lucian repeated, the words tasting like ash.He crossed the room in two silent strides. He didn’t grab her, but his hands came up to cradle her face, his thumbs stroking over her cheekbones as if trying to imprint fullness where he now saw lack.“You lived in my house.Under my protection. And you were starving.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Charlotte insisted, her voice trembling under the weight of his touch, his sorrow.
“The fuck it wasn’t,” Sebastian growled from behind her.Lucian ignored him, his entire world narrowed to the woman before him. “What did you drink? Just now.”
“Sebastian gave me… from the decanter.”
A slight nod.He released her face, but the heat of his hands lingered. He turned and walked to the bell-pull by the fireplace, a simple silk cord she’d never seen anyone use. He gave it one sharp, definitive tug.Within minutes, a soft knock announced a servant. Lucian didn’t raise his voice.“Fetch Chef Moreau.Now.”
The air thickened as they waited. Lucian paced a slow, predatory circle around the perimeter of the room, while Sebastian leaned against the desk, arms crossed, a muscle ticking in his jaw. Charlotte stood between them, feeling the twin forces of their fury—one a cold, building glacier, the other a live wire—and understood, with a piercing clarity, that it was all for her.
Chef Moreau, a stout vampire with flour dusting his forearms, arrived bowing. “Your Majesty?”
“From this morning forward,” Lucian said, his tone leaving no room for question or delay, “a full breakfast spread is to be delivered to this wing.Every morning.Without exception. It is to include human-grade food and fresh, potent blood. The finest.”
The chef’s eyes flickered to Charlotte, understanding dawning.“Of course, Sire. For… how many?”
“For her,” Lucian said, the word final.“It is for her sustenance. If she does not eat, you will inform me directly.”
Charlotte’s cheeks burned. “Lucian, that’s… it’s too much.The waste—”
“Is irrelevant,” he stated, cutting her off. His gaze swung back to her, the gold molten. “Your nourishment is the only pertinent fact.”
Sebastian pushed off the desk. “And if we’re here,” he added, a wicked, determined glint returning to his eyes, “we’ll feed her ourselves. By hand, if we have the time.”
The image that conjured—of her sitting between them, of their fingers bringing food to her lips—sent a shock of heat through her that had nothing to do with embarrassment. She stared at the floor, unable to form a retort.
“See that it begins tomorrow,” Lucian dismissed the chef, who bowed again and scurried out.
When the door closed, the silence returned, heavier now.Lucian approached her once more. The anger had not left him, but it had transformed, molten rock cooling into something unshakeable and solid. “You will never know scarcity again,” he vowed, his voice a low rumble that vibrated in her chest. “Not of food, not of blood, not of care. Do you understand the depth of my failure?”
She shook her head, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. “You didn’t know.”
“I should have.” He bent his head, his lips brushing her forehead with a reverence that shattered her. “I will now.”
Sebastian was there then, his body warm against her back, his arms sliding around her waist.“She drank it all. Like she was dying of thirst.Because she was.” He nuzzled her hair, his voice softening. “Stubborn, beautiful fool.”
She leaned back into him, feeling the solid beat of his heart against her spine, and forward into Lucian’s space, where his scent of rosewood and night enveloped her. The dual embrace, one fiercely protective, the other fiercely devoted, melted the last of her resistance. A sob escaped her, not of sadness, but of a terrifying, wonderful relief.
Lucian wiped the tear away with his thumb.“No more,” he whispered.
Then Sebastian’s mouth was on her neck, not to feed, but to kiss, open-mouthed and hot, his tongue tracing the line of her pulse. “Let us take care of you,” he murmured against her skin, his hands sliding up her ribs, and for once, she didn’t tense. “Properly.”
Lucian watched, his golden eyes darkening with a possessive heat. He leaned in and captured her mouth in a deep, claiming kiss.It was not gentle. It was full of pent-up fury and a desperate, aching need. She kissed him back, her hands tangling in his black hair, pulling him closer.
Sebastian’s hands found the buttons of her plain dress.He made quick, impatient work of them, the fabric parting under his clever fingers. Cool air touched her skin, followed immediately by the heat of their bodies. The dress pooled at her feet, leaving her in only her thin shift.
“Look at you,” Sebastian breathed, turning her in his arms to face him.His emerald eyes burned. He kissed her, messy and hungry, his tongue plunging into her mouth while his hands cupped her breasts through the linen, his thumbs rubbing over her nipples until they peaked into hard points.
Lucian’s hands settled on her bare shoulders from behind, his touch grounding her as Sebastian’s mouth trailed down her throat, over her collarbone.He pulled the shift down, baring her to the waist. Sebastian groaned, lowering his head to take one taut nipple into his mouth. He suckled deeply, his tongue flicking, his teeth grazing with just enough pressure to make her gasp and arch into him.
Lucian’s lips were on her shoulder, his own hands sliding around to cover Sebastian’s on her breasts, his long fingers pinching and rolling her other nipple. She was held between them, supported and assaulted by sensation. Her head fell back against Lucian’s chest as Sebastian lavished attention on her breasts, switching from one to the other, leaving them wet and aching.
“I need to feel you,” Sebastian growled, releasing her breasts and dropping to his knees before her. He hooked his fingers in the waist of her shift and drawers, dragging them down in one swift motion. She stepped out, naked now, exposed in the grey daylight.Sebastian didn’t hesitate. He parted her legs, his hands gripping her thighs, and buried his face between them.
The sound she made was raw, torn from her throat. His tongue was a hot, relentless stripe against her core, licking into her with shameless hunger. He fucked her with his tongue, deep and rhythmic, before zeroing in on the sensitive bud of her clit.He sucked it, hard, and her knees buckled. Lucian held her up, his arms like iron bands around her torso, as Sebastian ate her with a fervor that bordered on devotion.
“That’s it, love,” Lucian murmured into her ear, his voice thick with desire.“Let him taste you. Let him feel how much you need this.”
She was panting, her fingers threading through Sebastian’s fiery hair, holding him to her as his tongue lashed and probed.The coil of pleasure tightened, relentless, in her belly. She was babbling, pleading words she didn’t recognize, her hips rocking against his mouth.
“Come for him,” Lucian commanded softly, one hand sliding down her stomach to join Sebastian’s torment, his fingers finding her clit, rubbing tight circles as Sebastian’s tongue pushed inside her.“Now, Charlotte.”
The orgasm ripped through her, violent and consuming. She cried out, her body seizing as waves of pure, shocking pleasure crashed over her. Sebastian drank her release, his moans vibrating against her sensitive flesh until she was sobbing, oversensitive and spent.
Before the tremors had fully subsided, Lucian was turning her in his arms. His kiss was possessive, demanding her awareness.She could taste herself on his lips. He walked her backwards, through the connecting door, into the shadow-draped cavern of their bedroom. The massive Alaskan king bed loomed, a landscape of rumpled silk and velvet.
Sebastian followed, shedding his clothes in a series of impatient movements.His arousal was evident, thick and erect. He looked at Lucian, a silent question passing between them.
Lucian laid her down on the cool sheets, coming over her.His weight was a delicious pressure. “My turn,” he said, his voice a dark promise.He kissed her again, deeply, as he positioned himself at her entrance. He was large, the blunt head of his cock pressing against her, stretching her. He paused, his golden eyes searching hers.“Look at me.”
She did. He pushed inside, a slow, inexorable invasion that filled her utterly.She gasped, her body stretching to accommodate him. He bottomed out with a groan, his forehead touching hers. “Mine,” he whispered, the word a vow.Then he began to move. His thrusts were deliberate, deep, each one brushing a spot inside her that made her see stars. He fucked her with a controlled, devastating intensity, his hips driving into hers, his pace steady and unforgiving. She wrapped her legs around his waist, meeting him thrust for thrust, the friction building another desperate heat.
Sebastian climbed onto the bed beside them, his hand slipping between their joined bodies to find her clit again. “Fuck, look at her take you,” he hissed, his fingers working in time with Lucian’s strokes. “So fucking perfect.”
The dual sensation was overwhelming. Lucian’s thick cock filling her, stretching her, Sebastian’s clever fingers rubbing her sensitive nub. The sounds were filthy—skin slapping against skin, their ragged breaths, her own choked moans.
“I can’t… I’m going to…” she choked out.
“Do it,” Lucian grunted, his control fraying, his thrusts becoming harder, faster. “Come on my cock.”
Sebastian pinched her clit, and she shattered again. This orgasm was deeper, a convulsing wave of pleasure that clenched around Lucian, milking him. He shouted, a raw, unfiltered sound, and drove into her one last, brutal time, spilling himself deep inside her with a hot, pulsing rush.
He collapsed atop her, breathing heavily, before rolling to the side, taking her with him, keeping her close.Sebastian wasn’t finished. He moved behind her, his body slotting against her back. Lucian kissed her languidly, sharing the taste of their joining, as Sebastian’s cock, slick with her arousal and Lucian’s release, nudged at her entrance from behind.“Okay?” Sebastian murmured, his voice rough with need.
She nodded, unable to speak. Lucian held her gaze, his hand stroking her hair, as Sebastian pushed inside her. The feeling of being filled again, so soon, by a second lover, was staggering.A full, aching stretch that bordered on too much, yet perfect.
Sebastian set a different pace—less controlled, more frantic. He fucked her with deep, pounding strokes, his body slamming against hers, his fingers digging into her hip. Lucian continued to kiss her, to touch her face, anchoring her as Sebastian took his pleasure. The bed rocked, the posts creaking a faint protest.“So fucking tight,” Sebastian gasped, his rhythm faltering. “Gonna come, gonna fill you up…”
He slammed into her, burying himself to the hilt with a guttural cry, his release hot and sudden inside her. He slumped over her, his breath hot on her neck, as they all lay tangled, spent, and breathing as one.
In the heavy silence, broken only by their slowing breaths, Lucian’s fingers traced the line of her jaw.“You are ours,” he said, the words simple and absolute. “And we are yours.In every way.From now on.”
Sebastian nuzzled her shoulder. “Breakfast in bed tomorrow,” he mumbled, already sounding half-asleep. “I’m feeding you the fucking strawberries myself.”
Charlotte lay between them, their bodies a warm, heavy shelter. The hollow ache was gone, replaced by a deep, sated fullness. Not just in her body, but in some hidden, guarded chamber of her heart. They had seen her lack, her deprivation, and their response had been not pity, but a ferocious, sensual vow to eradicate it.
As sleep began to pull at her, a final, practical thought surfaced through the haze of pleasure and belonging. They could feed her, clothe her, fuck her senseless in the privacy of their chambers. But tomorrow, the castle would still be outside.And the world still had eyes. What would happen when they stepped into the light?