If that was true, a dagger might be useless to Raven. He put the blade inside the satchel anyhow. “Exactly when does this cider wear off?”
“He said a day at most. Maybe hours. I don’t know. You should have seen the spectacle he made of himself. Do you really think he wants us to join his army? No. Godfrey wants to subjugate us like a conqueror. The higher authority will fall and chaos will reign. He means to put us back in the Dark Ages.” Lenore looked down at her heels. “Once people see what he’s done, they’ll either follow him or attempt their own uprising. It won’t be long before the Breed world is torn asunder. I didnotcome this far in my life to be ruled by a man.”
Christian hooked the strap over his shoulder. “Fecking hell. You and your fancy balls. I should have learned my lesson years ago.”
“Stop your whining, Chrissy.” She paused in front of a mirror and touched her hair. “This is exactly why you should always look your best. You never know when you might be wearing your clothes forever.”
He strode toward the door. “It looks like a cat spit up tinsel all over you.”
“You’re one to talk. I haven’t seen that much silver on a man since they dipped that butler in a vat of it. Remember? He stole from the most powerful Vampire in town.” She turned, a wistful look in her dark eyes. “Those were the good old days, as they say. It was easier to kill a person without consequences.”
“The night is young.”
Lenore approached and straightened his tie. “You have more venom in your tongue than a snake.”
He reached up and loosened his tie in a fluster. “Viktor’s waiting. And for your information, a snake’s venom is stored in their glands, not their fecking tongue.”
Lenore sighed and walked off. “You were always so literal. And all this is your fault.”
Irritated by the accusation, he caught up with her in the hallway. “Myfault? Are you mental?”
“If you had accepted the temporary assignment as my guard, none of this would have happened.No wonderhe suggested the cider. He insisted the plan would go over better if people weren’t inebriated, but in truth, he wouldn’t have had control over all the bottles opening. You were always good at reading people and paying attention to details that others ignore.”
“And tell me who vetted all those Vampires?”
“I needed enough waitstaff for a party this size, and Godfrey said he would take care of it. My last social gathering was smaller, and I wasn’t impressed with the people I hired. I’m still new here, Christian. It’s taking time to get my bearings.”
“Since when did Lenore Parrish become a trusting fool?”
With lightning speed, she gripped his throat as if to rip out his trachea, but her grasp was as weak as a human’s. It still hurt, to be sure. But not enough to inflict any serious damage. “I will deal with your insinuations and insults no longer, Christian Poe. Viktor is an ideal match, and you’ll hold your tongue in my presence if you know what’s good for you.”
He leaned into her grasp. “Is that a threat?”
She retracted her arm and scoffed. “If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead. But I’m certain the shame of leaving Keystone would be more damaging to your ego than death. Do you think Viktor would tolerate anyone insulting his chosen mate?”
“By the sound of it, he hasn’t chosen anyone yet.”
“You can’t stop what’s already in motion.”
Christian rocked with laughter. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this sensitive before. Your powers are gone, but perhaps all those human hormones have returned. It’s been centuries since you last menstruated. Shall we stop off at the chemist and pick you up a bottle of PMS pills? I hear they’re all the rage.”
The anger on her face withered. Lenore didn’t like losing control of her emotions, so Christian knew his jokes would defuse the situation. “You’re insufferable.”
“I’m not the compliant man you once knew.”
She stepped over a broken vase with white roses spilling out. “That was your best quality.”
“I have half a mind to leave you here and let you lie in the bed you made. But it seems that you’ve dragged other people into it.”
She plucked a white rose from a vase as they entered the foyer. “No hard feelings?”
He gripped her arm and swung her around to face him. “I could lose Raven. And it’s all your doing.”
She yanked her arm free. “Then you better do everything in your power to fix this.”
“So many problems to clean up, but you never did like doing the work, now did ya?”
“My problem is now your problem. If you succeed, you’ll be in my good graces when Viktor and I tie the proverbial knot.”
