Page 156 of Vampires of Eden

“Gravvis, Papän.” I turn to Eve. She’s silent and reading herbook on the couch, but I know for a fact that she’s absorbed every word of our conversation. Any decision Father makes is filtered through her. First and foremost. “Gravvis, Evie.”

She flickers her blue eyes up from her book and smiles. The sunlight makes her white blonde hair shine like platinum. “Doivetska, michin.”

You’re welcome, sweetheart.

I wonder how I would have turned out had I been the product of these two. More bookish and quietly intense? Definitely introverted. Winter-sun-and-ice blonde instead of summer and golden honey.

We’ll never know.

“Have you begun drafting the requested proposal?” Father asks.

“Sort of… Actually, Daniel and Leoni gave me some great ideas to start with. I just need to formalize the details.”

“Shall we draft the formal proposal together this week? Before your mother returns and all hell breaks loose. Let’s give Daniel space to consider my offer. How does this sound?”

A flash of heat registers underneath my clothes and in my groin from the briefest thought of Daniel and me last night and this morning. The intensity of our actions and his words. But then, the uncertainty of his behavior when we were no longer behind closed doors.

We’ve had this electric frisson and tension flowing between us for almost two months, and yesterday it all just… detonated.

Space would be good for us. To breathe and think.

“Agreed. Thanks, Father. Ah—Oliver came yesterday.”

“Did he?”

“Yes. He intends to pay me back,” I explain. “He gave me a check and will send regular installments. That should help legitimize my standing on the board, yes?”

Father huffs as if he’s amused. “Your rightful place on the Governing Board has never once been challenged, but yes, it is good that Oliver will pay you back. He should do so.”

I tilt my head, confused. “Isn’t that why Mother is pushing me to form an arrangement with Lord Cherrington? So that I can be properly mated when I take my seat?” If not, then what the hell has all this terror with that gross bastard been for?

Father sighs heavily and glances away. “Victoria cares more about appearances and status quo than anything else. For her, the dissolution of your arrangement, coupled with your being autonomous despite being of bonding age simplylooksuntoward. Thus, she wishes to remedy this as quickly as possible. It seems that any wealthy and… marginally respected vampire will do.”

I sit back hard against the tufted chair with my mouth agape. “I thought I was in danger of losing my seat.”

“There is no circumstance in which I would ever let that happen. Further, as far as I have discerned, unanimously, everyone wants you in this position on the board. We all recognize that Eden is in peril as a society. It needs someone bright and young to infuse new life into its veins. Perhaps, multiple someones.”

I shake my head at my mother. Disgusted.

Areperceptionsand other vampires’ opinions so important? That I should be subjected to an arrogant predator—potentially for the rest of my life? Have we lost our fucking minds?

Does my happiness, safety and well-being not matter to her at all?

CHAPTER 37

Daniel

It’s dusk when I arrive at the vineyard cottage. The lights are on, which tells me that Leoni is home. Someone from the village picked her up yesterday morning, so I haven’t seen her in over twenty-four hours.

After stepping inside, I slip off my shoes and drop my duffle bag onto the floor before calling out. “Leoni?”

“Kitchen,” she responds.

I stalk across the living room and through the open arch of the kitchen. “Hey—I’m so sorry for keeping the van overnight,” I say by way of an intro.

Leoni sits at the table with her laptop and a mug. She stares at me and I tense. The low sunlight outside radiates softly as it fills the room.

Without warning, her expression shifts and brightens with some fantastic revelation.