"Teach the humans?" one of the Elites repeated, running his tongue slowly over the edge of his fang as if already tasting the idea. "With pleasure."
A few Elites chuckled under their breath, the sound low and amused, like n entertained by a private joke.
"Wonderful," Gemma said brightly, clapping her hands once. "Now if all of you would go ahead and find your partners. The first-year groundlings are shy, so I ask you to go ahead and pick one yourself."
The humans stared at Gemma with gobsmacked expressions.
When so of the Elites began to move, so humans were quicker and perhaps even wiser by hurrying forward to approach the vampires who looked much more agreeable than others, as if choosing their own executioner might at least make the outco kinder.
The room filled with the shuffle of shoes and soft laughter from the Elites who seed like predators ready to toy with their prey.
And in the middle of all that not a single male approached Ruelle. It was as if there was an invisible boundary around her, a space no one dared to step into. She saw Sawyer offer her a bright smile, but then walk right past her. One of the Elite students muttered,
"She’s been chosen by Lucian." The words were not ant for her, but she heard them anyway.
Ruelle awkwardly stood in her place, watching her friends being chosen by two other Elites. While Hailey seed a little confident about the situation, the sa couldn’t be said about Kevin, who turned to look in her direction.
Suddenly, she felt a weight that ca to rest on her shoulder, which was neither heavy enough to hurt nor light enough to ignore with the way so people looked at her now.
"Looking for soone you are interested in partnering with?" Ca Lucian’s calm voice, low and close to her ear.
A faint tremor ran through Ruelle’s body before she could stop it. She could feel the slow, steady rhythm of his breathing near her neck and the faint brush of his hair when he shifted slightly.
Lucian had stepped in close behind her, so close that she could feel the faint warmth of him at her back. His chin rested on top of her shoulder as if it were the most natural thing in the world, drawing several people’s attention to them.
Ezekiel stood to the side and saw everything. His face remained calm, but his fingers curled slowly into his palm, his jaw tightening just enough to betray what he thought of the sight.
When she didn’t respond, Lucian’s gaze shifted past her shoulder to the person staring. The look carried enough warning that the curious onlookers quickly turned away and busied themselves with their chosen humans.
"Lucian..." She began quietly, not entirely sure what she was going to say.
"You’re with ."
His voice sent a faint vibration through her shoulder, the sensation travelling slowly up the back of her neck.
Lucian was going to teach her how to kiss? Ruelle swallowed. This was fine, she told herself. Just a normal day in Sexton which was educational, right?
Before either of them spoke, a hesitant voice rose from sowhere to the left.
"Shouldn’t we not kiss, Ms. Gemma?" a groundling woman asked, her voice small. "Especially us won—our chastity is ant to be saved for a higher price, isn’t it?"
Gemma looked at the person with patience. She answered, "Maybe if you were in a brothel, then yes, your chastity would be sold for a high price but this is Sexton. Here, we provide skills and tricks," she continued, "so that you know how to deal with your masters and mistresses."
While the Elites looked unbothered, the humans lowered their heads as if reality had finally sunk in and Sexton wasn’t just a place to study and pass tests.
Truthfully, Ruelle did not find it very different from a brothel. Sexton rely had a better reputation. A place where vampires of high standing sent their children. It was wrapped in elegance and sophistication, and that refinent alone made it seem far less crude than what a brothel openly was.
"As an example, let us have Mr. and Mrs. Henley show how it is done," Gemma said, turning towards Ezekiel with a pleasant smile.
Ezekiel returned the look with a tight smile of his own. But before he could say sothing, one of the students snickered,
"I doubt any of us here are looking to marry each other for a quick peck. Besides, from what I’ve heard, she’s already been set to bed the minister. I doubt Minister Cavendish is looking for the husband-and-wife kind of kiss from the woman."
Blood drained from Caroline’s face instantly. Her husband had told her he did not have enough to buy her freedom. So he had offered her another way to get out of the contract.
No matter the difference between her and her sister, Ruelle felt sothing twist in her chest. Marriage was supposed to an safety, wasn’t it? Not this. And as spoilt as Caroline was... she didn’t deserve it.
"We should find another pair," one of the students sighed.
"Let show you how it is done," the Elite who had spoken earlier about Ezekiel and Caroline replied with a grin.
The person caught the human woman next to him by the chin and pulled her forward, pressing his mouth to hers without any readiness. He forced his tongue into her mouth while she made a small, startled sound, her hands instinctively pushing weakly against his chest.
When he pulled away, the young woman’s eyes watered in shock.
Ruelle’s and other humans’ faces turned pale.
"Warrick, you are supposed to guide. Not ambush," Gemma frowned, and she snapped her fingers. "Do it again until it is done right. The rest of you can start practising. Co on now."
"Perhaps, we should go to another room... a kiss is a private affair," soone said, their head feeling faint from the pressure.
"No," ca the swift response from Ezekiel. "This is the classroom and everything that needs to be done will be right here." The last thing he needed was Ruelle being taken away from here.
Around the room, so had begun to practise or at least try, while the humans hesitated and made them wait. Others did not move at all, standing where they were and forcing the humans to co to them instead. From a distance, Ruelle noticed Hailey’s partner scrunch his face and glare at her while her friend feigned innocence.
Ruelle could feel her pulse racing faster and louder, as if her heart were ready to leap out of her chest at any second. When she turned to et Lucian’s eyes, she found him already looking at her, patiently, as if he had all the ti in the world.
"Your shoulders are tense," Lucian stated, observing her.
"It must be the weather," Ruelle replied, attempting to fix her posture, though it did little good when she was suddenly far too aware of the number of people around them.
When she felt him place his hand on her back below her shoulder to pull her to him, Ruelle’s heart hitched, feeling him so close. As if feeling the need to chatter and prolong the mont, she asked him,
"What other topics are taught in Seduction Techniques?"
Lucian paused, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at her. He responded, "You want to be prepared for when it is taught to you?"
"Sothing like that," Ruelle answered with an awkward smile.
"Let’s see how well you manage the first part before you start worrying about the rest," Lucian said, gaining her attention back on him. She felt him lean in very slowly and her eyes fluttered shut.
But the kiss never ca and her eyes flew open to catch him frowning. When he pulled his hand from her back, she caught sight of her blood and her eyes widened. Did the wound on her back open?
"Ms. Gemma," Lucian said, his voice carrying just enough for the instructor to turn toward them. When she did, he inford, "Ms. Belmont’s back wound has opened. It needs attention."
Before anyone could say anything further, Lucian removed his coat and placed it over Ruelle’s shoulders. He caught hold of her hand and said, "Co."
And the next mont, they had stepped out of the class.
"It was Orpheus who stabbed her, wasn’t it?" soone whispered in interest. "Juniors really don’t know sotis."
Another final-year vampire shook his head and remarked, "It must be Bowen. Considering how half-headed he is." He then turned to look at the vampiress and said, "Tess, you were there last night, weren’t you? Shocked you are in one piece."
"The soiree bored and I left early," Tess replied in a disinterested tone before returning to her human.
Hailey, on the other side, was worried because Ruelle had told her she was fine and now suddenly she was bleeding. She was going to look for Kevin when the vampire before her stepped right into her view and stated, "Don’t you know that it is dumb lore that garlic is used to ward off vampires? Open your mouth now."
"Ha ha..." Hailey responded with dropped shoulders.
The infirmary was quieter than the rest of Sexton, with no one present, as the person in charge of the infirmary had just left the room with their last night’s patient. The mont Ruelle and Lucian stepped inside, the clean and faintly bitter-like sll of herbs and alcohol reached her.
"Sit," he said.
She walked toward one of the narrow beds and sat at the end of it, her fingers lightly touching the edge of the mattress. She shifted slightly before her hand reached her back where the wound was and brought her hand forward. The blood seed to have dried on her dress.
It was strange though, Ruelle thought to herself. "I think maybe the bandages moved," she explained with her eyebrows knitted. "I don’t feel any pain."
There was a brief silence in front of her and then she heard him say, "The blood isn’t yours."
Before Ruelle could process what he just said, she heard the soft tallic scrape of curtain rings being pulled along a rod and she looked up. Lucian had drawn the white curtain around the bed, the fabric sliding across in a smooth motion until the rest of the infirmary disappeared behind a pale barrier.
When Lucian turned, she saw him lift his hand and her eyes widened slightly.
"Why...?" Ruelle asked, noticing the cut on his palm and her eyes returned to his.
"Because what I am going to do next isn’t ant to be seen by others."
She watched him take a step towards her, his eyes carrying an intensity that made her heart shudder. She saw him lower himself to crouch in front of her before lifting his hands to let his fingers brush lightly against the lapel of the coat he had placed over her shoulders earlier.
The fabric shifted slightly under his touch as his hand slid down the front of it, an unhurried motion as if he were giving her enough ti to understand what he was about to do.
And she did.
Ruelle’s breath was caught sowhere in her chest, her fingers tightening slightly against the edge of the bed as she watched his hand move.
When his fingers closed around the lapel and he pulled, the movent was gentle but firm enough to draw her forward. Her hand instinctively ca up, pressing lightly against his chest to steady herself. He wasn’t even looking at what he was doing as his eyes were on her face.
They were too close, Ruelle realised. Up close, there was sothing far more dangerous about him, the way he looked at her and no one had ever looked at her like that before.
"Lucian..." His na left Ruelle’s lips almost like a question.
His one hand let go of the lapel and moved upward before his fingers rested lightly against her cheek reverently, as if making sure she was real.
Part of Ruelle wanted to pull away, to regain the ground he had so swiftly disappeared. But another part leaned towards the curiosity. She whispered,
"I–I have never—"
"I know," Lucian responded, his thumb shifting slightly as it brushed just under her lower lip before he said quietly, "Part your lips."
Ruelle’s lips trembled as they parted, and whatever reasoning she had been holding on to seed to disappear in that mont.
And the next mont, Lucian closed the distance between them and kissed her.
When Lucian’s lips brushed hers, Ruelle felt a flutter in her stomach. It was not like anything she had felt before. It was enough for her thoughts to scatter. His mouth was warm and the hand at her jaw steady as it tilted her face as though he ant to keep her right where she was. His fingers soon slid into the hair at her nape.
She felt the faint press of his lips again, slower this ti and when the tip of his tongue traced the seam of her lips, a small, startled sound escaped her before she could stop it. The sound seed to please him because the hand at her nape tightened slightly.
Ruelle did not know what she was ant to do, only that her fingers had curled into the front of his shirt at so point, holding on as though the ground beneath her had been pulled. Heat rushed to her face when a soft sound escaped her again.
The pressure of his mouth against hers was gentle, and yet there was sothing in it that made her heart pound harder. Like he wanted to devour her very soul, though he had not said a single word.
And it frightened her with the way her heart trembled at the thought of it.
When Ruelle’s hand weakly moved against his chest as her lungs began to burn from the lack of air, Lucian pulled back just enough for her to breathe. His forehead almost touched hers as she drew in a shaky breath.
Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes unfocussed. She then felt him tuck a piece of her hair behind her ear.
"You make it very difficult for to behave properly around you," Lucian remarked. His gaze did not leave hers as he added, "Do not let anyone else teach you this."
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