I climb the stairs to the bedroom Cassius showed me with a cup of herbal tea and the book. Each room in Cassius’s home is outfitted with blackout curtains, but I leave mine open so I can watch the moon and stars as I fall asleep. There’s something comforting about believing that Damien is under the same sky, perhaps gazing at the same moon I am.
My last thought as I drift away is that I have to get him back.
By the time Cassius is ready to take me to the Star the next night, I’m positively vibrating with nervous energy. This has to work. I have nowhere else to turn.
“Relax, Eloise. I can hear your heart pounding from three feet away, and the scent of adrenaline is coming off you in waves.” He casts me a critical look as he leads me to the back of a crowded bar, down a narrow set of stairs, to a metal door.
“I’m not sure what you want me to do about either of those things,” I whisper.
There’s a metal lock but no key. Just a silver panel. I wonder how we’re supposed to get in. A pattern of knocks? Secret password?
“Have you tried deep breathing?” His eyes shift to the side as he presses his thumb to the pad. I hear a click and he opens it for me. A bead of blood forms on his thumb before he sucks it into his mouth, closing the wound.
“The lock samples your blood?” I ask as the heavy door slams shut behind us.
“No one gets in without the blood of a coven member to break the ward, and the spell remembers if there’s trouble.” His eyes shift to me. “I’m trusting you. Don’t make me regret bringing you here. I’m accountable for your actions.” He grins as if he’s joking, but I sense an element of truth in it.
“I’d never. Just tell me what you want me to do.”
We stroll along a hall that descends into a concrete tunnel. “You must be a smart woman, Eloise. Damien would never mate a fool. I’m going to keep this simple. Remain respectful. Give Sabrina exactly what she asks for. She isn’t like Valeska. She’s a fair master, but she’s no pushover. She can be your greatest advocate or your worst nightmare. Don’t do anything to make her the latter.”
My mouth opens and closes, but no words come out. What does one even say to something like that? My heart lurches and gallops in my chest.
Cassius sighs. “I didn’t mean to make you nervous.”
I take a few deep breaths and steel my spine. “Why would I be nervous? I’m just in a sealed cavern under the earth with hundreds of creatures that want to eat me.”
He chuckles and glances in my direction. “You’re holding up well under the circumstances,” he murmurs.
A long walk later, we arrive in a massive underground gathering place. I see why it’s called the Star now. Tunnels lead from each of the Star’s points to this common gathering place. The central area is as large as a football field and teems with vampires coming and going, doing business, exchanging bags of blood, talking and laughing. They stop when I pass, their nostrils flaring, and I flash back to the night in Bad Witches’ Club when Jimmy said he could smell me from across the room. Everyone here must know I’m human. They scan me, their oversized eyes catching on my pulse, but the second they notice Cassius at my side, they turn away.
Cassius leads me to the front of the room where a woman I assume is the master sits on a throne on a stage about three feet high. My first impression is that she’s gorgeous. Bright red hair falls in loose waves around her creamy complexion and piercing green eyes. Her dress is a darker shade of crimson, silky as a rose petal. It matches exactly the color of her lipstick and the rubies in her tiara. This woman exudes royalty whether or not she uses the title of queen. Like Cassius, one look at her long, muscular arms and legs, the way she moves as gracefully as poured water when she repositions herself in her chair, and my instincts tell me she’s lethal. Deep inside, my muscles tense, ready to run. I am in the presence of killers, and she is possibly the deadliest.
And then I see the man standing behind her and understand a new level of intimidation. The apex predator energy coming from the dais isn’t restricted to Sabrina. He looms like a gathering storm behind the throne, enormous—easily as big as Damien—and physically intimidating. There’s something else. A tiny vibration at the back of my skull tells me he’s not a vampire. The way he moves is slower, more humanlike than the vampires around me. Humanlike but definitely not human. I examine him again, trying to figure out what he is. He’s blond and his smile is friendly enough, but when our eyes meet, an electric zing travels through me. I look away.
“Who is that behind the master?” I whisper to Cassius.
“Tobias, her mate and consort,” he whispers.
“But not a vampire.”
“No.” Cassius gives a quiet laugh. “But I’m curious, how can you tell with your human senses?”
I swallow. “I’m not sure. Gut feeling.”
“Hmm.” A line has formed before the throne. “In Lamia coven, royal audience is held once per month. Any vampire can bring their concerns or pleas for help before the master. You came at the perfect time for us to make your request.”
I can’t hear what the coven master is saying to the vampire at the front of the line, but Sabrina’s face is serious, and her lips move like she’s having a heated discussion. I assume their voices are outside the detection of my human hearing, because I notice the vampire at the front nodding his head.
I try not to stare, but my gaze keeps darting toward the master’s consort. Fuck. All I need is for the master of the Chicago vampire coven to think I’m hot for her mate. I’m not attracted to him. There’s just something about him. A pull. I think he feels it too, because we’re closer now and out of the corner of my eye, I see him staring at me. His nostrils flare, and then he whispers something into the master’s ear.
Only her eyes flick toward me. The rest of her remains focused on the vampire in front of her. It’s so fast I barely register it, but I know she’s seen me. He’s seen me. Her lips thin. Is that a smile? A frown? Annoyance? I can’t read the vampire’s expression. Moreover, I get the sense she likes it that way. We take another step toward the dais. I grow restless, shifting on my feet. I wipe my sweaty palms on the thighs of my jeans.
“Are you all right?” Cassius asks in a whisper. “I can hear your heart racing. Do you need a human break?”
I shake my head, although I haven’t peed since we left the house and the question makes me wonder what kind of facilities are even available down here. “I’m fine. It’s nothing.” But it’s not nothing. It feels like ants are marching on the underside of my skin. “Do you smell that? Like smoked almonds with cinnamon?” I inhale deeply through my nose.
Cassius shakes his head and gives me a strange look. We finally step to the front of the line. I lift my chin, my eyes grazing along the master’s stunning red pumps, her exposed leg, the silky fabric of her dress, to her perfectly proportioned face.
