I Belong To My Three Forbidden Masters

Chapter 82: Chapter 82

Lysander’s pov

My mouth was dry, the skin of my inner lips sticking to my teeth. My stomach felt like a leather pouch pulled tight against my spine. Every breath I took burned, it had my ribs aching from the brittle pressure.

On the stone pedestal at the foot of the bed, the ice in the silver basin had melted into dead, gray water.

I turned my head on the dark silk pillow. Through the gap in the heavy velvet drapes, the mountain light shifted from gray to black, marking the end of the second day. No bread. No water. Nothing to coat my throat except the cold air of the room.

The door clicked open and my pulse slammed against my ribs. Saliva flooded my mouth so fast I choked on it, my hands scrambling at the sheets as the scent wafted to my nose.

Drake stepped past the carved bedposts. He pulled the silver letter opener from his jacket, and dragged the sharp tip across his inner wrist.

A single, thick bead of blood welled up over his pale skin.

My frail limbs dragged my weight across the mattress until I collapsed against his knees. I caught his forearm with both hands, my trembling fingers digging into his sleeve, and buried my mouth against the cut.

The warm liquid coated my tongue with its rich nature and my tongue snapped straight.

The blood lit up every nerve ending in my chest until my skin flushed and started to burn hot. I swallowed in frantic gulps, my fingers clutching his wrist.

Drake’s long fingers threaded through my hair, holding me pinned to his arm while I drank.

"Slower, little bird," he purred, his low voice vibrating through his forearm into my teeth. "You have one more night of the fast before the Council gathers."

Yeah, the mating ritual says I have to starve myself for three whole days, only taking what my intended mate gives me.

Drake has been generous with feeding me but it wasn’t enough. There was a hungry monster inside of me, no amount of blood was enough to sate it.

I lapped at the cut until the flow slowed to a trickle, my tongue tracing the pale skin of his wrist. My mind floated in a heavy haze as the warmth pooled in my stomach.

When he pulled his arm back, my chin dropped to his knee, my body anchored to the bed by his cold weight.

By the morning of the third day, the liquid heat of Drake’s blood had settled into my limbs, leaving my head clear even if my legs still felt light and hollow.

I pulled on a simple, dark silk shirt and trousers, leaving the top button undone over the dark violet mark on my collarbone. Drake had left the suite hours ago to oversee the arrival of the other vampires.

The heavy silence of the bedroom pressed against my ears, driving me out into the corridor to walk.

It was boring there and I wanted to meet other humans before tomorrow.

The upper gallery was deserted, but as I descended the winding slate stairs toward the courtyard gardens, I could hear voices.

I rounded the stone archway into the glass atrium.

A small group of humans stood near the central fountain, four men and women dressed in elaborate, fitted tunics bearing different silver crests on their collars.

They were huddled close together, speaking in hushed, urgent tones, their eyes animated. The moment my shoes clicked against the gravel path, the conversation died.

All four of them turned at once.

The silence in the atrium stretched till it got uncomfortable. Their eyes locked onto the fresh, dark bite marks on my neck, then dropped to the heavy signet ring hanging from the chain at my throat.

A blonde guy carrying a silver collar in his hands took a slow step backward, his lips parting as he assessed me.

Beside him, a young woman crossed her arms, her dark eyes narrowing as she looked at my bare throat and pale skin.

"Hi?" I said unsure,

They didn’t look friendly but they didn’t look like they were going to jump on me.

"It’s true, then," the woman said softly, her voice carrying across the gravel. "Lord Balthazar really brought him out of hiding."

I stopped ten feet away, my hands resting in my pockets, refusing to shrink back into the shadows of the archway.

"You’re Lysander," the blonde guy said, stepping forward.

"Yeah, who are you?" I confirmed, my voice raspy from two days of fasting.

Clara walked a slow circle around the edge of the fountain, her gaze fixed on the violet bruising over my pulse point. "He’s running you thin," she sneered at me, "The purification fast is brutal. Balthazar’s venom is ancient. Look at him, Corey. He’s barely holding his weight."

"He’s a hybrid, Clara," Corey replied quietly, looking back at me. "The fast affects him differently." He turned to face me fully, his blue eyes serious.

"You shouldn’t be wandering the lower atrium alone today, Lysander. The compound is crawling with vampires. They are here to see Balthazar’s pet so you might want to be careful roaming around."

"I am not a pet," I snapped.

My tone rustled some of them, their eyes widened and they stood.

Clara let out a low, dry laugh that sounded like she was wheezing.

"Not yet. But you will be after tonight. Do you even know what the Mating Rite does to a human body?"

I didn’t answer. I kept my posture straight, my chin lifted."Of course I don’t. Say what you want to say." My voice rose in the last note.

They were looking down on me like this wasn’t their situation. Was it just different because my master was bigger than theirs?

"It’s not just a mark on your neck," Clara continued, taking a step closer, her fingers tracing the silver embroidery on her own sleeve. "Once the blood exchange is completed in front of the assembled lords, the bond locks. Your body won’t age and your wounds would heal itself. But Balthazar’s venom will replace your will. If he leaves the valley for a week, your pulse will drag until you can barely lift your head from the pillows. You will exist only as an extension of his house."

Corey nodded slowly. "She isn’t exaggerating. It is a beautiful life, safe, opulent, and protected by the strongest pureblood in the territory. But it is a cage. There is no stepping back from it once the glass is broken."

I looked at the four of them standing by the stone fountain, thinking they could judge me from their pedestal when they had it worse than I did.

They were pets and I was moving up to a higher title, they were jealous. That’s the only conclusion I could come up with.

The cage that they are talking about was way better than the glitter ones that Darius put me in, so yes I would take being a pet to a vampire than being a ridicule and plaything.

In that world, standing alone had meant waiting for the next cage to close around my neck. I lifted my head,

"All you do is remind me about my situation but what about yours? Are you that jealous of me that you can’t spend a second to be friendly?"

I rolled my eyes when she hissed at me, "And for your information, I don’t want to step back," I informed her. "I spent my whole life looking for an anchor. Drake is my anchor."

Clara stared at me, her dark eyes widening slightly when she heard how serious I was. She didn’t laugh this time. She simply stood by the water, her mouth parting, before she slowly bowed her head in silence.

Corey let out a low breath, looking at me with a newfound respect. "That’s good for you. But you had better return to your room, Lysander. The sun is setting and Balthazar will be looking for his mate."

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