“Yup.” Cecilia took extra care to pop thep.“Not all of us get to skip off to the land of hot vampire men desperate to shower a woman in jewelry.”
“How’s the vibe been? You know, what with…” Dahlia trailed off, not wanting to say the words“Devon’s mysterious disappearance into a barrel of lye”if she didn’t have to. She’d given enough hints to Cecilia about what had happened for her to get the drift.
“Better, for the most part. But I heard from Beau that Duke is coming back into town tonight to look for his brother. Can’t imagine that’s going to be pretty.” Cecilia paused. The sound of something — setting spray, probably — being spritzed came through the line before she spoke again. “Other than that, it’s the same old stuff. A lot less fun with you gone, though.”
Dahlia turned away from the mirror, her senses sharpening with concern. “You’re gonna steer clear of Duke, right?”
“Well, I’dplannedon climbing him like a cat tree, but if you’re worried…” Cecilia blew a raspberry into the phone. “Of course I’m not going anywhere near him! I mean, it’s not like I had anything to do with Devon taking an unplanned hiatus from life as a scumbag, but I’m not a buffoon. Head down, tray up — just like always.”
Letting out a relieved breath, Dahlia replied, “Just be careful, okay? If he starts asking you questions or bothers you or—whatever.Tell me. Felix and I will handle it.”
“You and Felix, huh?” Her friend sounded a little too smug. “Look who’s gottenrealcomfortable!”
Dahlia rolled her eyes. “If I was there, I’d throw something at you. Please react appropriately.”
“Ohno,you just chucked a blush palette at my head! How dare you? It’sshatteredon thefloorand I’mbleeding?—”
“I’m hanging up!”
Cecilia blew another raspberry. Somehow, Dahlia was almost certain she could hear a smile in it. “Love you! Knock ‘em dead, tiger.”
Rolling her shoulders to loosen her tense muscles, she replied, “They won’t know what hit ‘em.”
Marietta was the one to fetch her from her room. Dahlia had been assured several times that she could wander the house at will now that they’d come to an understanding, but she still found the place too confusing to confidently navigate on her own.
And it wasn’t like she’d had much incentive to leave. For the past three nights, they’d been holed up in their bedroom, making up for lost time. And of course, she’d been practicing the surprisingly difficult art of the bite.
With their little honeymoon period drawing to a close, Felix had been busy for most of the night, so it was up to Marietta to be her guide.
Dressed in a white skirt and bustier top, Marietta could’ve been mistaken for a vampiric pin-up model. She looked like the kind of woman who could drop a glove on railroad tracks and still have a man rush to retrieve it for her.
Linking their arms together with a large, red-lipped smile, she led Dahlia down the hallway.
“Nervous to meet the in-laws?”
Dahlia shook her head. “Not really. It feels more like I’m going to a job interview.”
“That’s not a bad way to look at it,” Marietta replied. “I mean, you’ve met almost everyone whose opinion really matters to him, so it’s more of a formality at this point. Meet the elders, kiss some baby cheeks, let them see what a badass you are. Easy-peasy.”
Looking sidelong at her guide, she probed, “Felix is really close to the cousins, huh?”
“Very close. I mean, he’s never been the warmest guy around, but we’re all pretty fucked up, so who are we to judge?”
Dahlia tipped her head in a nod. It was hard to argue with that. “I’m curious about why you threw your lot in with him over Yvanna. I know that his grandmother named him the heir, but didn’t Yvanna have more experience and the approval of the older generation?”
“There was never a question that we’d stand behind Felix,” Marietta answered, a little bit of her normal levity hardening into something fierce. “Yvanna and Julius — they saw people as tools. The family was just a means to an end for them, and everyone else could be stepped on. Felix and Grandma Dora decided there was a better way. We would’ve been out of our minds to go against him.”
Dahlia mulled her words over as they made their way downstairs. Getting to know this side of Felix had been enlightening, to say the least. It wasn’t that she hadn’t known him before, but since being strong-armed into his family life, her understanding of him had expanded in ways she didn’t expect.
He was never going to be touchy-feely. Felix had been forged by the syndicate, and it made him sharp in ways that the average person would probably never be able to handle.
But he wasn’t heartless.
She got a peek at that heart when she stepped into what she could only describe as a lounge. In another mansion, it probably would’ve been the main dining room. Seeing as vampires didn’t sit down to eat together in the same way, the space was dedicated to sprawling couches, coffee tables, loveseats, and break-off areas where people could play chess or read.
Dozens of people were scattered around — young families with children playing on the floor, elders with their white heads bent together, and what could only be described as a battalion of young men standing in loose clumps around the perimeter of the room. Not all of them had a visible white stripe in their hair, but many did.
Before she drew too much attention, Dahlia leaned toward Marietta to whisper, “Are all of those guys Amauris?”
