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“Don’t know that I’d be able to say the same if I’d been in your shoes. Do you understand what happened? Cat said you’re still learning.” He shakes his head. “Nan’s so fucking pissed at her for dropping you in the shit like this without proper instruction.”

The urge to leap to Cat’s defence is sudden and surprising. “I needed the money,” I explain. “I don’t think she planned for things to go exactly the way they did.”

Adrian’s mouth twitches into a smile. “You didn’t even grow up with us and you still keep cousins’ law.”

“Cousins’ law?”

“We stick together. We can beat the shit out of each other—and we did—but it’s us against the adults and everyone else.”

Oh. That sounds… fucked-up. But nice? I spend a second wistfully imagining what my childhood might have been like with a bunch of cousins to get into trouble with. I understand why my parents made the decision they did—especially after tonight’s drama—but maybe I’m not ready yet to forgive them for denying me the rest of my family.

“Do you think anyone else would want to meet up while I’m here?” I try not to sound like his answer matters.

“Nan will kill me if I don’t set it up,” he replies instantly. “She called me earlier—she knew you’d be here before I did. Dinner tomorrow night, if Tristan doesn’t need you. Or anytime that works for you.”

It’s probably dumb for me to be this excited about dinner with an old lady, but I’ve never had a grandmother before. “I’ll check, but tomorrow should be okay. Can I text you when I know for sure?”

He pulls out his phone, and we exchange numbers. “Text me anytime,” he says. “Do you want to wait until you’ve met everyone before you join the group chats?”

“There are group chats?”

“Yeah. Cat wanted to add you to them before, but you didn’t know about…” He gestures to encapsulate the room full of vampires and the massive fucking secret of their existence.

I nod. “Fair call.” Considering how I felt about Cat when we first met and my general ambivalence at the time toward my extended family, I probably wouldn’t have even wanted to join. “Let’s wait until I’ve met people,” I say. “I’d rather have faces to put names to.”

“Works for me.” His eyes flick over my shoulder. “Tristan’s back.”

I half turn and scan the room. My vampire’s looking right at me, and I give him a half smile, hoping he won’t want me to rejoin him right away. I need a tiny bit of distance after seeing the hand that holds my arm for feeding twice a day covered in gore from digging his fingers into another living being’s throat.

Tristan nods, then turns to speak to a small cluster of vampires beside him. Guess I’m free to keep talking to Adrian.

“Do you have any questions I can answer for you?” Adrian asks.

“So many,” I say honestly. “Like, what was the deal with Misha tonight? That was a setup, right? He wasn’t even fighting back.”

My cousin flinches and glances around. “Quietly,” he reminds me.

I pull an apologetic face. “Sorry.”

He grabs my arm and leads me along the wall to a door. We go through, then down a short corridor and through another door that leads outside to a lit-up pool area. “You’re right,” he says, “but here isn’t the place for a conversation about that. Tristan handled it.”

“I don’t understand why Misha would show his hand to set up something as trivial as what Geoffrey did tonight.” I mean, he achieved nothing. Even if Tristan hadn’t been on his game, would winning the support of the few vampires who were in the room really have mattered that much?

“Did he show his hand, though? It’s pretty obvious to us that it was a setup, but if you look at the facts of what happened, it could be argued that Geoffrey’s arrival at exactly that moment was just a coincidence.”

“Nah, fuck that.”

“Mate, I agree with you, but everyone knows there’s bad blood between Misha and Tristan. The people who want to maintain neutrality are going to say that what happened tonight was just Misha being his usual self. When this story makes the rounds, most of them won’t even mention that Geoffrey was here.” He shakes his head. “Until Misha himself declares his allegiance, it doesn’t matter that everyone knows where his sympathies lie. He’s always been anti-human and anti-feeder, but he’s strong enough that, as long as he doesn’t cross the line to open, provable insurrection, the Council won’t go after him. Why do you think they recruited Tristan so young?”

The truth slams into me. “They wanted to weaken Misha.”

“And to gain insight into how he thinks and operates. Stay away from Misha, Adam. Tristan can protect you, but he’s got enough on his plate right now without having to worry about you too.”

“I have zero plans to ever be near Misha voluntarily.”

“Good.” He sighs. “Don’t get me wrong, the prestige of you being the regent’s feeder is great for you and the family rep, but I wish you’d ended up with someone else. Someone who has no interest in politics.”

“That would have been easier,” I agree, but the thought is distinctly unappealing. I’ve always been a drama llama. “So,” I change the subject, “what’s with the tension between you and Helen?”