Page 20

Thea

T he night howled with wind and crackled with lightning, but as dinnertime approached, Hector was left with no choice but to go hunting again while I was burdened with the daunting responsibility of entertaining our guests.

The Castle didn’t seem to be in a particularly attentive mood, either. Some corridors had gone completely dark, others cold and creaky. Combined with the raging storm outside that pelted the windowpanes like some kind of portent of doom, the entire place appeared haunted. I could not escape the sense that under the layers of the Castle’s magic, something was breaking.

Dahlia must have also noticed the Castle’s inexplicable unraveling, because she was practically shaking when she suggested we girls have some tea in the drawing room, which was the cheeriest and warmest chamber at the moment. A suggestion that got disrupted by Arawn’s determination to remain glued at my side—Hector’s instruction, no doubt.

So here we were, with him sitting beside me on the small pink couch, while Collette, Alexandria, and Dahlia were huddled together in the one opposite to ours.

They were all dressed in springtime shades of yellow, the layers of sparkly chiffon looking more like buttercream frosting than actual fabric. Indeed, they looked as sweet as the array of cakes, scones, and marmalades that the Castle had set out to accompany our rose tea and milk.

Camilla had settled at the bay window, reading some ominous-looking book that had the word torture in the title, which I shouldn’t complain too much about considering it had kept her quiet and distracted for the past thirty minutes.

Perhaps a little too quiet.

So, so quiet.

In fact, the occasional swish of Camilla turning the pages and the startling peals of thunder were the only reoccurring noises in the room. You could drop a pin in here, and it would sound like glass shattering. You could have also passed them all for statues had they not bent so often over the little table to add sugar to their cups. Enough sugar to rot a normal person’s teeth, but I supposed vampires didn’t have these kinds of issues.

Turning of page. Stirring of sugar. Thunder charging the air. Over and over.

I stole a desperate glance at Arawn, who looked as uncomfortable as I felt, nervously stirring a spoon inside his teacup. My own cup was left untouched on the tea tray, for my stomach was twisted into so many knots I could hardly breathe, much less consume anything.

Finally, Arawn let out a dramatic sigh and set his cup down on the armrest. “I’ve always wondered what ladies discuss during these clandestine tea parties of theirs. If I’d known it would be so mind-numbingly dull, I would have stayed curious.”

“Arawn,” I growled under my breath, elbowing him in the ribs.

He looked at me with huge blue eyes, the portrait of innocence. “What did I do?”

Collette’s cup clattered loudly against its saucer, making us all stop cold for a moment. “Perhaps, Arawn,” she ventured sharply, her voice like a sheet of frost, “the fact that Thea needs a bodyguard to have a cup of tea with us is what has caused this party to become so mind-numbingly dull .”

Arawn tensed, ready to rush to my defense, but this was my battle to win. “Hector is just—”

“Very protective of you. Yes, we know,” she interrupted me, folding her hands over her glittering skirt. “But I don’t believe it is Hector’s heart that is trembling like a newborn hummingbird at the moment.”

How I had managed to offend nearly every single Ravenor in the span of two nights just by existing was beyond me. There was no winning with these people, and gods knew I was on my best behavior. If I bit my tongue anymore, I would start to bleed.

“Forgive me,” I gritted out. “I’m just very new to this—”

“Didn’t you and Hector grow up together?”

“We did, but—”

“And yet you’re new to vampire society?”

“Mama,” groaned Dahlia.

“No, please, let her,” Camilla interjected from the bay window, unleashing the full scope of her attention upon us. Her blood-red dress had a scandalous slit going up the left leg, and as she shifted, the silken skin of her thigh was revealed, as well as the leather holster that was strapped around it, holding a mysterious silver flask. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen Collette’s claws.”

“There are no claws,” claimed Collette, but her smile was a scythe, a perfect deadly arch. “But we are about to appoint Hector our sovereign. Do you know what this title means in our world, Lady Aventine? Your dear Hector will be no king. He will have no throne and no crown. His only loyalty would lie with the society. His only duty would be to protect and defend us. And yet his own wife, the Lady of the Castle ,” she said mockingly, a sneer cracking the stone of her face, “seems to harbor nothing but fear and disdain for the creatures of the night.”

Arawn drew forward, his eyes sparking with fury, and the last thing we needed right now was a fire. Yet I found myself burning too. My anger was quick, blazing. I was so sick of being nice, of being unassuming and diplomatic. For once, I wanted to hear my own voice, not just be a part of the conversation but the catalyst. I knew I could not change others’ opinion of me, but I could still change the opinion I had of myself, and meekness, I decided, did not suit me at all.

“Perhaps the problem isn’t that I harbor disdain toward you, Lady Ravenor, only that you are harboring hatred towards my kind. You asked me if I grew up next to Hector. I did. And you know what I saw? A little boy being constantly mocked and degraded for being half-human. How many times have you allowed your children to call him an abomination and a filthy halfling behind Esperida’s back? How many times have you used these words yourself? But of course now that Esperida is gone and he has the Castle under his command, you’re eager to have him marry your daughter, right?” Dahlia flinched as though I’d slapped her across the face, but I had no more courtliness in me to spare. “You came here with your fraudulent smiles and declarations of peace, yet the first thing you did when we welcomed you into the Castle was to threaten us.” I met Camilla’s piercing gaze, and although I had no fangs to bare, my teeth felt just as sharp when I curled my lips away from them. “I know how I seem to you. Ignorant. Weak. Fearful. But I assure you I will exchange my ignorance for knowledge faster than this human heart of mine beats in my chest. And as for my weakness,” I hissed, dragging my eyes back to Collette, “I shall think it is only a matter of perspective, for my flesh may be soft, but my will isn’t. My love for Hector is stronger than all of you put together. And you can deem me unworthy and try to chase me away, but you will not succeed. I will stand by his side, in light and darkness, and I will do so for as long as I have breath in my lungs. So go ahead, Lady Ravenor. Tell me one more time how my disdain is what has made the balance of our worlds so precarious.”

The silence that followed my little soliloquy wasn’t as triumphant as I’d hoped it would be. In fact, no one was even looking at me.

I twisted in my seat, following the path of their gaze only to find Hector standing by the door in his long, rain-peppered coat. His cheeks were flushed and damp, like he’d just come from outside, his eyes hard and fixed on me alone. I could not read his face, but then again, I never could. I just hoped he knew I meant every word he’d just heard me utter.

“Are you satisfied now, Mama?” Dahlia’s indignant huff forced me to face them again.

“Don’t mind her, Thea. She did that to Lance too,” sighed Alexandria, rolling her eyes at the ceiling.

Collette ignored her daughters and gave Hector a subtle but firm nod. “She’s determined. I like that. Humility does not fit a woman. You chose well, Lord Aventine,” she said coolly, her moondust eyes drifting to the table before us. “However, her tea-making skills could improve.”

My blink was slow, bewildered. “What?”

The girls broke out chuckling.

Collette shook her head. “The tea . It’s too bitter, my dear.”

“It’s why we keep reaching for the sugar jar,” explained Dahlia, offering me a small, apologetic smile.

“But I didn’t make the tea,” I whispered, my chest clutching in sudden dread as I raised the teacup to my lips. I took a sip. It was bitter. Inexplicably so. “I don’t understand. The Castle made it.”

Then the vision came—a rapid glimpse into the night that was about to unravel. Lightning struck the sky, and the whole room flashed white. The cup fell from my hand, hot tea spilling across the tulle of my skirt .

“Thea? What is it?” Hector’s voice was an arrow piercing the ringing in my ears. His handsome, worry-stricken face was the last thing I saw before my mind turned dark.

“It’s poisoned.”