Still, Skartovius is a fucking bastard. We’ve dueled numerous times now, and I’ve yet to get the better of him. Which is saying something considering I placed myself as the finest swordsman I knew until I met him.
Perhaps arrogance is shared from our mother’s line, rather than our fathers.
Zefyra leads me, Skartovius, and Palacia out of the “abandoned” tavern in the Commerce Ward. My brother keeps his eyes sharp, hardly talking.
What I do notice is him glancing at me every so often, when he thinks I’m not watching. I have eyes where no one can see them, and I notice the way he looks at me.
It isn’t with the hatred I’m used to, or disgust that his half-brother is now one of Sephania’s mates, whether he likes it or not.
No, it’s an expression I can’t place when Skar glances my way. Almost . . . regret. Guilt. His eerie gold eyes crinkle at the corners, then harden into a rigid mask. Like he wants to say something to me but hasn’t found the right moment.
There’s also tension between him and Sephania, which has been brewing ever since he lost Manor Marquin to the Night Judge. The way she snaps at him, acts short and clipped with her regal mate.
I doubt it’s the dispossession of the manor that has caused the rift and made it so obvious, though I don’t know what it could be. I haven’t been in this company long enough to find my footing, much less gather any in-depth knowledge as to how my little grimmer operates with each of her three mates before me.
But it can’t bethis.The snide attitudes, the rolling eyes, the bratty disposition for seemingly no cause, the off-handed remarks about trust and honor and dignity. These are not the actions of a woman who loves her mate so badly she refused to ever part with him when I begged her to turn on the wicked vampire and join me and Alacine instead.
Just what is Sephania hinting at with all this? Why is Skartovius then turning his judgmental eyemydirection?
All of it seems to stem from Sephania’s anger over something, which Skar has no answer to. That, in itself, must be infuriating for the nobleblood—just as it’s alarming to me—because healwayshas an answer for everything. It’s one of the things I hate about him.
As Zefyra leads us stealthily through the quiet district, I tally what Idoknow about my newfound comrades.
My eyes fall on Palacia’s slender shoulder, the bones of which jut out from her thin tunic. Though I turned the girl to save her life, we have only the thinnest of connections through our bloodbond. Sephania’s Loreblood has stolen that from me,which I’m fine with. I’d rather hear “Mistress” from Palacia’s mouth than “Master,” referring to me.
I only saved her for Sephania’s sake, after all.
Though Palacia and I share another bond from eons ago—the Firehold and Grimsons—she is practically a stranger to me now. Lean, emotionless, disaffected, where she used to be jovial, smiley, and quaint.
When I dig deep enough into her mind to pry through our bloodbond, what I find are perverted, degrading thoughts that, quite frankly, startle me, and have me rushing out of her head just as quickly as I came in.
It seems Palacia’s brash male urges and tendencies have survived her transition into a woman—a fact I saw on more than one occasion in the Firehold when she played out those urges with willing participants, both male and female. Now that foundational lust seems to have been heightened in her newfound evolution.
Somehow, even though Palacia is two heads shorter than me and Skartovius, I think she scares both of us.
Zefyra is a total stranger to me. She seems to have settled into her vampirism much easier than the interfolk girl in front of me. Moreover, SephaniatrustsZefyra, and was elated to see her alive. She seemed to play a heavy hand in Sephania’s rescue from Sutlis Spire, where I lorded over under the alias Overseer Verant.
The silver shackles Seph used to break out and kill my newer bloodthrall, Kleora, were evidently put there by Zefyra. It should anger me that her actions led directly to my thrall’s death, yet I can’t find an ounce of pity for Kleora or rage for Zefyra inside me.
She must be cunning and wily, this one, to effortlessly move through the ten-story tower smack dab in the middle of the Judgment Ward, without anyone being the wiser to her trueintentions.That, and the fact she is willing to help us without knowing our plans, gives me a sense of admiration for this scarred vampiress.
It’s an admiration I share for Vallan Stellos, the hulking protector of the group. It was his explosives that brought down the base-level walls of the prison and led to their breakout of the “Relic,” Jinneth, Sephania’s mother.
I can never trust Skartovius fully because our history stretches back too far. There’s so much baggage between us, and has been for decades. I don’t share the same baggage with Vallan who, by all appearances, will doanythingto protect and serve Sephania.
I can trust a man who will put his entire existence on the line for the woman we both love. There’s shared camaraderie there, even if we’ve only spoken a handful of sentences to each other.
Vallan doesn’t strike me as the type to open his mouth unless he has to.
Which leads me to the final player in this theater . . . Garroway Kuffich. The man who opened his mouth to me in more ways than one. First with wisdom I hadn’t expected from the dashing grayskin, and then to take my cock.
Garroway is something of an enigma. He is my brother’s bloodthrall, yet his bond is more intrinsic with Sephania—for the same reasons her bond is more powerful with Palacia than mine is. Garroway will also go to any lengths to save and preserve my little grimmer.
He’s clearly more jovial than the rest of us. Getting Sephania to smile and laugh definitely counts for something, and my heart swells and hammers every time I see her beautiful face crack into a grin from one of Garroway’s quips.
Even though I fucked him at Sephania’s command, I get the feeling Garroway isn’t afraid to turn the tables on anyoneand everyone. He is Sephania’s pet. Her cub. And he enjoys his position at her feet, preferably kneeling.
The dhampir poses me no threat. After the other night, when things became so scalding and sensual, I have every reason to believe our relationship can grow if Sephania allows it to.