Page 20

LUCIAN

R onan dropped me off first, as I lived at the end of Kings’ Avenue, his horses merrily galloping away to take him back to his townhouse, closer to the gate.

The imposing mansion where I’d resided my entire life wasn’t mine as such, and I was not the sole inhabitant there.

That said, it had three wings, a total of seventy-two bedrooms, several parlors, drawing rooms, ballrooms, dungeons, four gardens, a great hall, the undercroft, the buttery, and five kitchens—to name only a few of the features—so I didn’t tend to encounter my housemate.

He liked to brood like a ghost, only appearing once in a blue moon for dinner.

My grandfather was welcome at my mother’s house—as she often reminded me—but he never left the manor. As I brought enough leftovers to feed an army, I decided to head to his wing first to drop some of the food off.

I was halfway to my front gate when I noticed the girl seated on the top step leading up to the entrance. It surprised me at first—I usually felt people before I saw them—but the why became clear as I stared at her.

I hadn’t bothered to register her presence because she felt completely, utterly human.

Like a regular mortal without a single power.

And yet the pure silver running into her eyes told another story.

People—myself included until today—had called my eyes silver, but in truth they were gray.

Hers were actual silver: metallic, like they were covered in shining foil. It was startling.

Some of the strands of her hair had the same tone, though the rest was pink.

She wore dark, form-fitting clothes, other than her pink tanktop. The way she held herself, as well as the getup, screamed warrior, despite her diminutive height and the total lack of magic emanating from her.

Well, that wasn’t quite right. There was a pendant around her throat, pulsing with familiar energy.

I’d seen her around, but I couldn’t place her immediately.

“You’re a hard man to find, Regis.”

The voice did the trick, triggering a memory. She’d sat next to Kleos at the bar last week, laughing with her. The sort-of-pretty, short woman who I should have noticed, had my attention not been otherwise engaged.

That also explained the pendant: Kleos had charmed it.

Curious, I tilted my head. “Really? Everyone knows where I live.”

“Maybe down here,” she replied.

She was likely right. I wondered how long it took her to find the information if she stuck to her records from the vale. None of my information was filed with the new blood system. They handled their vale, and we kept our underside method.

She could have saved herself the trouble and asked the first unders to cross her path.

I focused on the important bit. “And you were looking for me why, exactly?”

“Kleos,” she almost spat.

I lifted an eyebrow. Was she going to warn me away from her friend?

If so, that was rather entertaining. First, because I hadn’t made any kind of move, but also because I knew better.

Despite Gideon, Ronan, my mother’s imagination, I realized that I, Lucian Regis, would never be considered as a potential partner for the likes of Kleos Valesco.

Oh, she’d fuck me. Tipsy, horny, or high from the simple air of the Dionysia, or other fertility festivals, we all fucked each other indiscriminately.

But I knew better than to fall into that trap with a woman I found so… interesting.

When she picked a nice boy to settle down with, I wouldn’t handle it well.

I knew as much. I was a Regis and a Saltzin.

Both sides of the family were known for their possessive, obsessive, and tragically single-minded attention.

Hell, my grandfather had murdered almost a thousand people based on those instincts.

I didn’t do casual with anyone I actually liked. That would have been a recipe for a lot of dead bodies.

“Kleos,” I repeated, entertained.

She narrowed her eyes. “You’re going to pay for what you did to her, necromancer.”

And before my baffled eyes, the crazy chick launched herself at me. I was so shocked I didn’t think to move for several seconds, and the next thing I knew, she’d punched me right in the stomach.

That should have been, well, laughable. She was five feet tall, tiny, and magicless—other than the pendant, but Kleos’s magic wasn’t aggressive.

Instead, it felt like a fucking bus had hit me.

Propelled several feet backward, I screamed, folded in two.

To my horror, the many boxes of food in my hands were falling down the bridge leading to the lower gardens.

Desperate, I reached for them, levitating about half of it back up.

The rest, tragically, would feed the wild beasts who roamed the underside—if my cat didn’t get to it first.

“My food,” I moaned.

My father’s delicious roast potatoes were gone.

Straightening, I assessed the slip of a girl in a brand-new light. She punched a hell of a lot harder than my brother. I made a mental note of mentioning that to him at the earliest occasion. In the meantime…

“I should warn you, the fact that you have tits will not keep you safe from me.”

She snorted. “Do your worst, asshole.”

I was too tired for this, but apparently, it couldn’t be helped.

No longer underestimating her, I deflected the next blow, and the quick swipe meant to trip me up that came right after.

The damn chick flipped right back up in the space of a blink.

She was good. Fast, and visibly well trained.

That said, her moves seemed predictable, obvious. She lacked subtlety.

Subtlety was ninety percent of my personality.

Instead of evading the punch aimed at my face, I grabbed her wrist, focusing all my energy on increasing my own strength. I’d need a nap after that.

Silver’s eyes widened. I didn’t think she was used to people actually stopping her.

For all I said about not pulling punches on a girl, I did restrain myself.

She was Kleos’s friend, and I didn’t want to have to explain why she had to replace all her teeth.

So instead of taking the opening I saw to grab her face and shove it straight against the blue stone bridge, I twisted her arm around her torso and locked her in a firm grip.

When she tried to kick my balls like the dirty cheat she was, I pushed her down to the pavement and lowered my knee to her back for good measure.

“Stay,” I demanded, because I’d rather not hurt her.

She did her best to wriggle out of my hold, using a humongous amount of brute strength. “I’m not your damn dog, you murderer .”

“I’d apologize, but it can’t be the first time someone took you for a bitch.”

Opening the clasp of her pendant, I removed it from her neck and pocketed it. To my surprise, the lack of magic did not affect her strength in the slightest. She was doing her best to push me back, and if I’d been using any less power holding her down, she might have succeeded.

What was it with those strange valers?

“Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to loosen my grip. If your next move is attacking me again, I will suck up your energy until you’re on the brink of death. Or until you actually die. I can’t say I’m great at spotting the limit. Understood?”

I was bluffing. I’d drained almost all of my power. She didn’t know that, though.

I retreated slowly, and the attack dog had the sense to only get to her feet, hatred strong in those strange eyes. “Just undo what you did,” she demanded. “Or I will tell the council.”

What I did?

I refused to indulge the madwoman, opting to mock her instead. “Oh, no. Not the council. They’ll make me do lines again.”

If looks could kill, well, I would have died ten minutes ago.

“Just because Kleos and Gideon are blinded by what you are doesn’t mean the rest of us are. What do you think will happen after they learn you’ve attacked the most beloved girl in this entire city?”

I was getting tired. “Listen, lady. You’re loyal.

I respect that. You’re also an idiot—a prejudiced idiot, by the sound of it.

Let me guess. Whatever you’re talking about, you told your suspicions to your friends, and promptly ignored their assurance that I had nothing to do with it because I’m a big bad sorcerer? ”

By the way she bared her teeth like a wild dog, I’d nailed it.

I shook my head. Honestly? I was dying to know what this was all about. But in all likelihood, I’d hear about it after a good night’s sleep. Gideon had already asked to see me.

“Go. Lick your wounds. And if you’re lucky , I’ll wake up in a good mood. That way, I won’t get your ass fired for greatly overstepping.”

She gaped, completely shocked, like the possibility hadn’t even crossed her mind.

I could only grin. “I am Lucian Regis, darling.”

A lot of valers truly didn’t grasp what that meant, so I spelled it out for her.

“The ruling council is formed of the council of elders—your elected lot—and the council of founders . If I call a meeting and demand your head on a platter for attacking me without cause, they’ll simply ask me what seasoning I’d like on the side. ”

I left her to her visible despair and hostility. Without a doubt, she’d check what I just claimed. Too bad I wouldn’t see her face once she realized I hadn’t lied.

Levitating what was left of my food, I made my way to the doors, which turned from red to blue as I approached.

That girl was lucky Cassius hadn’t witness the blatant waste of roast potatoes. He’d killed for less.