“I’m sure I have no idea where all your money went,” I said. “I am happy to share, however, I was able to recently purchase new properties in FranceandEngland, and I definitely used only my money to buy them.”
Killian rolled his eyes, but his siblings were quiet. Margarida was oblivious to the tension as she was grazing from the prepared dishes of food, but Baldwin, Auberi, and Amée’s expressions all tightened.
Several long moments passed, where the only noise was the clinking of dishes and the rustle of clothes.
“I hear you’ve been playing house with a wizard, Killian?” Auberi’s lip curled before he took a swig of his drink.
Killian didn’t visibly react, but I could feel his anger like a sharpened spear pressing at my jugular.
“Oh, yes!” Margarida beamed. “Is she pretty?”
“Beautiful,” Killian said without hesitation.
“Please,” Baldwin scoffed. “Humans can’t match a fae in beauty, much less a vampire.”
I considered the thought and disregarded it.
Jade didn’t have the waif-like delicate beauty of a typical vampire, but early in my immortal life I’d learned that pretty packaging didn’t matter when you wanted to crush what it covered. Jade’s strength and—as much as it annoyed and amused me—loyalty made her far more alluring. (And, yes, her curly red hair was not only eye-catching, but beautiful.)
“How have you been able to bear the stench, Killian?” Amée asked.
Wizard blood smelled and tasted rotten to vampires—it was a very basic but very useful method of defense. The only wayaround the mechanism was if the wizard trusted the vampire and the vampire trusted the wizard, then the flavor changed.
Needless to say, I hadn’t met a wizard who didn’t positively reek.
But apparently I can stand slayer blood.I smiled into my mug as I thought of naïve Jade.
“There is no stench,” Killian said, boredly.
“No smell?” Amée frowned. “Don’t tell me you actually trust her?”
Killian took a sip of blood from his mug, then set it down, his face flat with boredom. “It’s not just her, it’s her House and all the wizards with it that I trust—a great deal more than I’d ever trust you,” Killian said, his faint British accent thickened with his growing irritation, despite his show of calmness.
Auberi set his mug down with a clack. “You can’t be serious.Wizards? They’re the lowest of supernaturals!”
“They’re not even good for a meal!” Amée added.
Margarida glanced at Killian, worry flashing in her red eyes. “There’s no need for insults,” she said. “I’m sure his wizard is very nice, and Amée, that is a very backwards way at looking at humans. You should be ashamed.”
“Shut up, Margarida,” Amée scoffed. “Not only are you centuries younger, you are also silly and insipid enough that you deeply mourn every human pet you have and don’t stop sniveling until Considine shakes you out of it!”
Some of Margarida’s sweetness wore off and she stiffened, everything about her sharpening. “I mourn my human friends because Ilovethem—something you’d never understand since you are a dried-up hag!”
I settled back in my chair and picked up my glass, interested to see how this would pan out.
Killian will win. He could crush them all. But Margarida getting angry enough to go to war is a rare thing. That might bait the brats into fighting.
Maybe this night would not be such a loss after all. Especially if someone got stabbed.Thatwould be exciting!
“Hag?” Amée’s voice was sharp—like jagged, broken glass.
“Know your place, Margarida.” Auberi narrowed his eyes, offended on behalf of his twin. “Speak so carelessly again, and I will not stay my hand.”
“Careful, brother,” Killian warned, his accent even more pronounced. “I don’t take well to threats uttered in my hall.”
Auberi drew back from the table, then glanced at Amée, doing their bizarro twin thing where they seemed to communicate with expressions.
Baldwin, seated on Auberi’s other side, rolled his eyes. “I don’t get why everyone is so upset by a mere wizard. Give her a few years and she’ll be dead, and this whole conversation will be for naught.”
