** Malakor's POV**
Sweet. High-frequency. Addictive.
There was no specific word to describe how good it tasted
I watched her struggle to act like she wasn't lightheaded.Till she fell to the floor.
She couldn't even handle half of it, Pathetic.
I was ready to send her back to her Little coven.Afterall they sent a weak witch that couldn't even cast a single spell or warm her own milk.
But I can't just give up that addictive blood that coursed through her veins.
The humans were starting to taste like metallic liquid mixed with ash.
This blood is what I need.
So I have to handle the stupid girl and her constant rambling.
Having to look at that stupid face as she parades my personal space in that ridiculous dress like I hadn't seen her in that silk robe.
A clear image in my head
And that damn sound she made.
I had to make her that pin since she loves flowers so much,and she keeps adjusting her hair from her face with annoyance.
Besides it's going to help me when I need to feed. The freak speaks to a flower. And called it Clarette.
A psychopath
I even had them embroid flowers to the dresses arranged for her.
I let out a sharp, jagged breath of annoyance.
I had barely taken enough to sustain a fledgling, yet here she was, fainting like a Victorian cliché.
She couldn't even manage to collapse on the furniture.
Typical
If she wasn't unconscious, she'd be using that shrill voice of hers to complain about the "chill in the air" or the "lack of proper seasoning" in the meals my servants prepared.
She was a spoiled princess playing at being a martyr, and her constant ranting was a sensory assault.
I started rethinking my choice of letting her stay here.I should simply send her back to her coven in a crate. I don't need the headache of a girl who treats my castle like a disappointing hotel.
And I certainly do not need a little girl parading my castle with half her tits out.
Fucking Mallory,she chose those dresses for her.
But then, the lingering taste of her hit the back of my throat.
I felt a familiar, unwanted heat stir in my chest,a friction that had nothing to do with hunger and everything to do with the way she had looked right before she passed out: defiant, flushed, and entirely too close.
"Damn you," I hissed at the empty room.
I leaned down, hooking my arms under her knees and back to hoist her up.
She was infuriatingly light. As I carried her toward the bed, her head slumped against my shoulder, her hair smelling of Citrus and damp earth.
As much as I'd love to leave her here to wake up herself, I need her up and healthy as soon as possible.
I'd have the kitchens bring up the iron-rich broths and the heavy creams. To renew her strength.
My eyes lingering a second too long on the pulse point in her neck.
"Try to be less annoying when you wake. Though I won't hold my breath."
"Coral!" I called for the maid
"Yes My Lord"
"Get someone to change her clothes to something comfortable,treat her wound and don't you dare wake her or cause her discomfort"
"Yes sir"her voice shaking in fear.
As it should,I drained a maid dry for messing with my sister's clothes.
They know better than to mess with what's mine.
I left the room and headed back to the study where I saw her waiting for me.
"She seems to be keeping you busy"
"Don't start"
"You directed her right into the council meeting"I continued.
But the menace just laughed,she fucking laughed like I was telling some kind of joke.
"You know, the baker's son tried to run when I was 'sampling' his sister this morning. I had to snap his Achilles just to finish my conversation. People are so rude these days."
Haven't I had enough trouble for one night.
I hummed so she doesn't go about throwing psychotic tantrums because I wouldn't listen to her.
She's a menace like that.
I walked to the washbasin to rinse my hands.
"You're messy. You leave trails. I have to spend half my nights cleaning up your 'conversations' so the local hunters don't start getting ideas about torches and pitchforks again."
"Oh, please," she scoffed, pulling a small, ornate dagger from her corset and absentmindedly cleaning her nails with it.
"Hunters are just snacks that bring their own toothpicks. Besides," she added, flicking a stray bit of something,blood or dirt, I didn't care to check,off her blade and onto my rug,
"I'm bored."
She suddenly lunged, the dagger whistling past my ear to thud into the wooden doorframe behind me. I didn't even flinch.
"Missed," I said dryly.
"Well it's good I have a job for you then"i continued
"Olenna" she grinned, her eyes wide and glassy with that familiar, manic light.
"Why did she willingly send her precious daughter to you?and more importantly I think the girl is different"
I pulled the dagger from the wood and tossed it back at her. She caught it by the blade, her palm blooming with a thin line of red that she immediately licked clean.
"There's something she's hiding" I said taking a seat.
She's definitely hiding something and nothing goes unnoticed under my gaze.
But one thing is for sure,she wants Adele dead.
"Sounds fun."
"Yeah it is"
She walked away giggling.
Of course my sister would find whatever the sly witch is hiding within the walls of her cranky coven.
Now I have to go deal with another menace.
I groaned as I walked in on the scared servants.
"What is it Coral?"
"We can't feed her the broth without waking her my Lord"
"Get out"
In a flash of a second they were all out.
Sighing,I sat beside her, looking at the pale girl,I raised her gently and tried to get a spoon of the broth in her mouth.
All my efforts going down the drain, thinking of how slow the effect will be.
I groaned and bit my thumb as I forced the bloody thumb in her mouth.
Her face scrunched at the foreign intrusion but she adjusted herself, trying to get more as she grabbed my hand and held tightly in a death grip.
I smirked, who's the monster now.
I pulled my hand away from her mouth when she seemed healthy enough.
She whimpered and slowly opened her eyes.
"Why did you…wh..what was that…how—"
I hushed her by putting a finger on her lips.
I can't bear her rambling when the I was already feeling weak.
I need blood
This is a rare occurrence, because I hardly lose blood it was the other way round.
"I can help you"her annoying voice cut through my thoughts.
She was looking at me with teary eyes.
"Get my sister"
"You have a sister?...ohh it must've been the scarily attractive lady I saw on the stairs.shes—"
"Shut up"
Enough of her rambling,I was holding myself from grabbing her neck and feasting on that addictive drug of hers.
Suddenly she's in front of me with her neck tilted to the side.
"You know what you're asking for, right?"
Something flashed her eyes but she masked it quickly.
"I can handle it"
I chuckled as I lifted her chin, forcing her gaze to meet mine.
"You can handle it?" I murmured,my voice dropping to a low, suggestive purr.
"That's a bold claim, little witch."
I peeled off the bandage from the bite from earlier,nipped at the sensitive cord of her neck,not breaking the skin, just testing the pressure and heard her breath hitch into a shallow moan.
"You think you can handle the way your bones are about to turn to liquid? You think you can handle the heat that's going to start in your chest and settle... much lower?"
I pulled back just enough to catch her gaze,my eyes hooded and dark as I smirked.
"By the third swallow, you won't be thinking about sacrifice. You'll be thinking about how much you want me to never stop. You'll be begging for things that have nothing to do with 'helping' me."
I slid a hand around the back of her neck, my thumb tilting her chin up to force her to look at me.
"You can handle feeling that desperate? To be under a monster, shaking and wanting more?" I leaned in,my lips a hair's breadth from hers.
"Tell me again. Tell me you can handle the way I'm going to make you ache"
This is going to be fun