The following days they spent the time alone in their rooms, reading and making love at regular intervals, mixed in with another bite of the chewy balls that she had grown to crave.
He didn't seem to mind how many of them she ate, paying little attention to just how many she was taking or how many times the little crystal bowl had to be refilled, but the large sack was beginning to dwindle and it made her nervous.
"We're almost out of these things," she said to him, already chewing on her second that hour.
He looked up and grunted gently. "I'll get more," he said, motioning for her to join him.
It had been about a month since their marriage and Alaric hadn't come back, leaving them to their peace that was quickly dubbed their honeymoon, because not a single person bothered them.
Settling into his arms, she looked down at the book he was holding up in a way that allowed them to read at the same time.
His fingers traced slowly up and down her side. It wasn't long before she dozed off in his arms under the gentle attention of his fingers and when she woke, he was gone.
Pushing herself up, a blanket someone had placed on her slid off.
"Princess..." a soft, sad voice spoke up and she jumped, jerking the blanket back up over her chest.
Looking around, she found the two forms of Kai and Jaia sitting on the couch, Kai's face a bright red at the sight he had seen for an instant before she had covered herself.
"What are you doing here? Where's Epharis?" she asked, her head feeling fuzzy and she turned to pick one of the balls only to find the bowl empty.
Immediately her eyes turned to the sack, but it too was gone.
"We're here as your friends," Jaia said slowly, seeing her fear when she couldn't find the treats she had come to crave more than air itself.
"Where?" she whimpered, turning on the twins.
Kai lifted one of the treats before him.
Jumping to her feet, she clutched at the blanket, only half aware of her modesty as her body screamed for the little thing he was holding.
Jaia had moved as she did, standing and approaching her slowly, his hands outstretched in placation as though she were a wild animal.
"Give me that, Kai" She said slowly, doing her very best to remain calm, but her attention was now on Jaia, his defensive posture triggering her need to attack.
"Etani, these aren't what they seem," Kai said sorrowfully. "They're drugged. Epharis has been dosing you with something."
She refused to listen, her attention flicking between the treat and Jaia who was very carefully keeping himself between her and his brother.
"Don't come any closer, Jaia," she warned, taking a slow, calculated step back from him.
"You have to listen to him, Etani. Epharis has been drugging you so you won't fight him. It's to make you desire him, to want to please him."
She shook her head and scowled. "Epharis loves me," she snapped, angry that he would dare to insult the man she loved.
"No, Etani. He's a lich, he can't love you. But he is so incredibly possessive of you. I've never seen control so complete before. He will do anything to ensure you stay with him, because… we don't know why yet," Kai sounded sad as he told her, and she narrowed her eyes in anger at him.
"Shut up, Kai. You don't know what you're talking about," she snapped, her anger and panic growing.
"Then why are your eyes still black?" Jaia asked. "We saw you at the ball, your eyes go black when you feed, but you haven't fed, have you? Have you fed today?"
She glared at him, refusing to answer.
"This drug is tricking your instincts into thinking you are feeding with every one of these. At the same time, it is filling your system with hormones and a mind-altering drug."
"If he cannot love me, then how are we able to be together?" she hissed, inching her way closer to Kai.
"We don't know, it's possible the drugs allow him to…" Kai trailed off, flushing. "To copulate. But he cannot love, Etani. It's not possible."
Inching her way further under the guise of countering Jaia, she made her move when she was in range, but Jaia was prepared.
Her lunge for Kai's hand was met with Jaia's body slamming into hers, knocking her to the floor. She rolled with him, taking him off guard and pinning him to the ground with her knees, her hands going to his throat.
He snarled at her, fangs bared, and she growled back.
Kai had moved as well, tucking the ball away in a pocket and coming up beside her, his foot swinging back and connecting hard with her ribcage.
Something broke and she fell off the vampire, his movements lightning fast.
Rolling, he moved to straddle her stomach, Kai grabbing her ankles before she could knee Jaia in the back.
"What now?" Jaia demanded, grabbing her wrists and holding them away from himself though she had already left four deep gashes in his cheek as she struggled to get him off her.
"Drain her!" Kai cried, barely able to keep her down and so he sat on her legs, pinning her.
"No!" she cried, panicked as she wriggled and squirmed under them.
"Sorry Etani…" Jaia murmured as he gripped her wrists with one hand and held them down, his free hand clenching her jaw and forcing her head to the right, exposing the slender length of her throat to him.
"No Jaia don't! You'll die!" she cried but it was too late.
She screamed as his fangs sank deep into her throat, his body jerking as the taste of her blood hit his tongue.
His saliva that would slow the clotting process in a human burned like acid and her heart pounded, only making it easier for him as he released her wrists and wrapped his arms tightly around her, lifting her up to meet his lips.
After only a few seconds, Kai got off her legs and crawled around to monitor how much his brother was taking.
The blackness in her eyes faded with each pull of his mouth, her head beginning to spin.
"Jaia, I think you've taken enough," Kai said, the tug on his brother's shoulder earning him a solid punch to the face.
Creeping back in a crouch, he kept his arms tight on her, dragging her with him as he drank faster, unable to get enough.
Kai's voice had risen into a panicked yell but she wasn't able to understand anything he said, unable to feel anything in her numb body except a warmth that spread through her from a point at her throat and a grip on her that was too tight.
Something crashed and the arms were suddenly forced to release her, the warmth vanishing. She was left cold, floating in a hazy greyness that felt unbelievably good.
'Hey E? We're not alone.' A little voice said somewhere and they both looked down to see something small and glowing, curled into a ball in the general region of her navel.