Desecrated Beauty (Twisted Fairy Tales #1) by Kyleigh Castronaro

you with my being here.”
    “Your presence is all I want.”
    “You told me last night that you wanted me.”
    Nero left the room and Quill reluctantly followed him. She felt a lot better in an unassigned room that she had chosen instead of a room he had had the opportunity to prepare for her with God only knew what.
    “This is true.”
    “And I said you won’t have me. Blood, body or mind.”
    “I could take those things.” He reminded her.
    “Yes, but my rule is no more of that compelling thing.”
    “It doesn’t work on you half the time. You have to be rather emotionally distressed for your guard to be down enough for it to work I find.”
    “Yeah, well, stop trying to use it.”
    “I prefer that anyway.” She didn’t know if that was any better, she almost felt like she was playing into some unknown will he hadn’t warned her of yet.
    “Why does this room have to be for me?” she said with a distrustful tone as he led her into a bedroom that felt far more girly than was appropriate for Quill’s tastes.
    “I presumed you would like sunshine in your room every once in a while.” She turned to look at the window and realized it was half-way open. She looked back at Nero who had positioned himself carefully to avoid being touched by the light before nodding her head.
    “Yes, thank you.” The words left a bitter taste on her tongue as she shrugged the jacket she wore off and laid it at the foot of the bed.
    “You’re not going to tell me your motivation are you?”
    “I am a simple man despite my reputation, I purely wish for your presence. And you will obey me by sitting with me for dinner.”
    “I’m not going to watch you feed off a human.”
    “No, I don’t expect you to either. It isn’t sexy and it’s not appealing. But I will watch you eat.”
    “Sexy,” she retorted, tugging her sweater down more as she turned to look at him again.
    “You didn’t bring clothes,” he noted with interest. “I’ll have someone go and find you a wardrobe in the evening when everyone is awake again.”
    “Do you sleep during the day then?”
    “Most do, yes. The younger vampires are compelled to by their necrosis, but someone as old as I am can resist the urges. I can go for weeks without sleep if necessary. But it can be taxing on my body after some time.”
    “Good to know.”
    “I’d be happy to tell you more about my kind at a later date, but you have had a trying evening: rescuing your sister, fighting me, cutting yourself open…” He nodded at her collarbone where the underlying cuts from earlier peeked out from under the fraying neckline. She covered her skin self-consciously making him laugh.
    “Dried blood is as appealing to me as fresh blood is to you. You have nothing to worry about. If those injuries do start to bother you, however, let me know and I can arrange that you’re healed.”
    “And how would you do that?”
    “My blood has regenerative properties, you would find yourself back to full health with only a few mouthfuls.” Her expression showed her distaste at the idea and Nero laughed in amusement.
    “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t make you do it unless you asked. But like I said if it begins to bother you I can arrange for it to be healed.”
    Quill’s nose remained curled, “even if it was bothering me I think I’d leave it.”
    “Understandable.” Nero nodded his head and backed away to the door once more. “Well, I will see you in the evening then. I hope you rest well, I look forward to seeing you later.”
    The way he looked at her as he left the room kept her stomach in tight knots for several long minutes after he was gone. Finally able to shake him from her system she went to the door and thanked him softly for giving her a lock on her door. Turning it tight and pushing a chair up against the door knob for good measure, she went to the window and pulled the curtains shut.
    He was right about one thing, the last 12 hours had been exhausting and she was ready