A woman can dream.
His inner circle of vampires, which he had brought with him and was now down to three, General Lee, and I were standing in the front row. Behind us, family members started to line up to watch, knowing how annoyed he got when they missed one of these.
My brother laughed when the vampire that once protected him fell to his knees, blood gushing from the wound on his neck. But it wasn’t enough. Adrian grabbed his head and tore it off with the ease of plucking a petal from a flower.
He showed it off like a trophy, stopping when I met his gaze, and I made a show of giving him a polite clap.
“Where’s yourhusband?” General Lee asked, coming to stand by me.
“In his palace, where I should be, and yet here I am. Watching a bloodbath.”
General Lee let out a huff.
“Where you should be is with Solei,” he said, a low growl lacing his words. “But somehow you managed to get out of that.”
“And now I am stuck in the Castle palace until I’m deemed trustworthy enough to go out on my own.” I turned to him with a saccharine smile. “But who knows if that will take a month or an eternity?”
General Lee gave me a venomous smile back.
“That didn’t stop you. One of my men told me you were supposed to meet your husband yesterday, but you showed up an hour past the agreed time. Care to share where you went?”
I tried not to let the panic show on my face as images of Cedar’s pleasure-filled face flashed across my mind.
“Should I warn my husband that you have spies in his ranks, or is this just some type of far-away-with-binoculars, creepy-stalking shit? Either way, that’s a little embarrassing for ageneral, no?”
“Deflecting doesn’t look good on you,” he hissed, keeping his voice low, but there was an obvious spike in tension between us. Something brushed across my skin. It felt dark and caused a chill to go up my spine. “You won’t get away with this insolence.”
I made a show of looking at my nails with a frown.
“On the other hand, failing your kind and being knocked down a peg looksreallygood on you.”
Threading my hands behind my back, I gave him a mock bow, not bothering to say goodbye to Adrian as he was already claws-deep in another vampire. Leaving the courtyard, I entered the palace, only to catch the same feeder I bribed to fuck the general lingering in the shadows.
Taking my chance, I went after him, letting him lead me further into the house. It wasn’t until we reached the covered outdoor corridor that looked over the garden that he turned around to speak to me.
“First off, that man fucks like he hasexperience, and I mean, like,goodexperience?—”
“Get to the point. What did you find out?” I asked with an annoyed sigh.
He gave me a smile.
“If you must know, he has a nasty scar on his chest.”
“A scar?” I scoffed. “If that’s all, you can get out of my sight?—”
“Not a random scar. Like a drawing. It was disgusting, if I’m being honest, but I could ignore it since I wasn’t facing him most of the ti?—”
“Can you draw it?”
I didn't want to get caught talking to him. I had given him specific instructions to stay out of sight, especially where the general was concerned. But something about the way that he was describing this scar made me instantly suspicious.
He nodded. “Well, most of it. It looked a little weird. I’d never seen anything like it, but I can try?—”
He was cut off, a claw coming straight out of his chest. The vampire's eyes widened, and his mouth stayed open in a frozen scream. I jerked back as blood sprayed my face, a scream about to be unleashed from my own throat when I saw the general's face peeking from behind.
He looked more murderous than ever. His eyes red, his face twisted in a snarl. But that wasn't all. Black veins were coming from his eyes and going down his neck.
He pulled his hand from the vampire’s chest and pushed his body to the floor, his life gone in seconds.
