Chapter Six
Ama
I shouldn’t have been surprised— by this point it really should have been a natural assumption—but I had come to the realization that my tutor really didn’t like me.
Which was, of course, inconvenient and frustrating, since it was all too clear that he did love Drayven.
Because of course he did—everyone fucking did.
As I leaned back in the comfortable armchair I sat cross-legged in, Drayven briefly offered me a frustrated look because I had refused to sit next to him on the couch before going back to listening attentively to our tutor.
Who knew why he wanted me to sit next to him? Maybe he was attempting to kill me before the Summit so I wouldn’t embarrass the house. That seemed like a likely option. Otto probably would have let him get away with it as well.
For the past three and a half years, the skeletal man had droned on and on, nearly every day of the week, about topics that frankly didn’t interest me.
Mind you, sometimes he covered interesting stuff—like how the devil had gone willingly into an eternal slumber, leaving us with our life as we knew it—but usually, it was about the House of Death’s history and our ‘proud’ and ‘pure’ heritage as Reapers.
Most of the time, I ended up drawing in my notebook when he started on one of his tangents about how much he disliked the other houses, especially the House of Sin.
Shocking, right?
I missed Maria. She had been my tutor before Otto, from the time I’d been very small.
She was the one who’d taught me everything from writing to math, so we’d had a fairly close bond.
Honestly, despite her being fairly young in comparison to Otto, she had been the closest thing I’d had to a maternal figure.
Then the council had voted her out of her position and removed her from the castle.
They’d said it was because she was unqualified to teach me as I grew older, but I think it was really because she’d defended me in front of other Reapers.
It had only been once or twice, but it had been a kindness I’d never forgotten.
When I had tried to search for Maria in town, I hadn’t been able to find her. The entire situation left a bad taste in my mouth, and I wondered what had happened to her.
“Amare!” Otto snapped, “Did you hear what I said?”
I felt my jaw tighten and exhaled slowly, trying to keep calm so I wouldn’t kill the jerk, “You were talking about the House of Hellfire.”
One of the more interesting houses, I would give them that.
“Exactly.” He nodded sharply, and Drayven examined my expression before going back to looking over the large text Otto had dragged from his crypt, the pages opened to a series of stunning crests representing the six houses.
Wanting a closer look, I moved forward onto the floor, kneeling and leaning over the coffee table. My head tilted slightly as I examined the black and burnt orange crest of the House of Hellfire.
All of the crests were gorgeous, but theirs just really appealed to me.
Maybe it was because the ferocious Hellhounds on either side of the crest were representative of the badass creatures that the house’s members could shift into.
Or maybe it was because I wished that had been the other half of me instead of my succubus side.
The thought of shifting and running away sounded wonderfully freeing.
"Unsurprisingly, each of the houses will want their representative to be voted into the Supreme position, but the House of Death has held the position for several cycles now—something that we do not want to change, as we are protected with your father holding that power.
" Otto offered me a serious look, as if he somehow thought I wanted to get rid of that security for the Reapers.
My father had held the position for so long, so I didn't understand why he’d suddenly decided to send me when the vote would have pretty much been in the bag.
In fact, he probably had more of a chance of winning if he sent no one at all, rather than send me.
Unless...he knew I would fail and was sending me to make sure he didn't get selected because he was tired of it.
No. No, he would never do that. I shook myself from the insecure thoughts and asked a different question.
"So, if they all want the position, why do we keep getting it?"
"Because we have more allies than most of the other houses.
Our territory is known for being rather unbiased when it comes to making decisions," he explained.
"Because of that, there are some houses you can count on as almost certain votes.
Others, you may need to work on—and then there are some that aren't even worth trying to convince. "
"The Hellhounds from the House of Hellfire are almost a sure vote; they have yet to vote against us with your father in charge.
Now that he is sending you two, though, that may change.
So if there is anyone you need to focus on, it's them.
You need to prove to them that you have the level of dominance they require from a leader," Otto explained.
He shifted his gaze towards me, "That is why Drayven and you need to work together: they will probably respect him more than you, Amare. "
I narrowed my eyes, knowingly, "Why is that?"
Otto's nose turned up, "They value purity of bloodline in their leaders, like the other houses, of course."
Could I kill him? I could kill him, right? He was practically dead as it was, given his old age. I’d just give him the final kick into his grave.
Part of me wondered if Otto was exaggerating how the other rulers felt, just to make me feel worse about myself.
"Ama's magic is extremely powerful," Drayven hesitated before meeting my gaze. "They will view that as valuable, so it's probably best that we work together to convince them."
I blinked and frowned...had the man just defended me? I mean, that's what it had sounded like, right? Weird. He was just getting weirder.
"Of course," Otto conceded. "Then you have the House of Fallen."
My eyes traced over the gorgeous gold and black crest that featured a massive set of wings surrounding a military-esque crest. I'd never met a Fallen before, but I'd heard that their angelic set of wings were absolutely gorgeous in person.
If they were anything like the ones depicted on the crest, I would probably end up gawking at them like an idiot.
"There is no chance of you convincing them." Otto waved his hand dismissively, and I suddenly had the urge to prove him wrong. Not because I cared, but because I wanted to rub it in the smug bastard's face.
"Why?" Drayven demanded.
"They have never been particularly friendly with the House of Death," Otto mused. "So I wouldn't even waste your breath on them. In fact, they have been the one house that has always voted against us."
Challenge accepted—win over House of Fallen's vote. At least the mental challenges would provide me with some level of entertainment.
"House of Runes is another one—"
"I think we will be fine with the House of Runes.
" I hummed pleasantly thinking about seeing Finias again.
Handsome, deadly Finias, who was apparently a trained assassin with a wicked sense of humor.
I could practically feel my cheeks heating at the idea of him wanting to kiss me.
It was intoxicating being wanted by someone like him.
I couldn't guarantee that they would vote for us, but I knew I at least had an ally when it came to him.
"I think that we shouldn't consider them an ally just yet. The heirs aren’t the ones who get to vote," Drayven grumbled as my eyes moved to the amethyst and black crest of the House of Runes.
It featured a dagger in the center, surrounded by thick branches that seemed to wrap around it almost completely.
It was a stunning crest that was far different from the others.
Sort of like how different Finias was.
Did I have a crush? I totally had a crush.
"Ama," Drayven's voice was a low growl.
I offered him an innocent look, my eyes moving up to his dark gaze, "What?"
"He's dangerous," he hissed. "How many times do I have to tell you that he is a killer before you understand?"
"Oh," Otto seemed to pick up on our conversation, "I take it you have somehow met the Prince of Runes."
"Yes," I responded primly.
"He harassed her," Drayven bit out, as an actual laugh tumbled from my lips.
"If anyone was harassing someone, it was you."
"The Prince of Runes does hold considerable power, but as usual when dealing with the House of Runes, tread carefully. They aren’t considered a major ally, and their heir isn’t exactly considered trustworthy because of his tainted reputation.
" Otto appeared thoughtful for a moment before looking at me, "Maybe using your Succubus allure on him would be just the thing to secure another vote. "
The metaphorical bucket of cold water crashed over me as I sat back on my knees and offered Otto a blank look. I wouldn't argue with him about this, but I would never do that to Finias.
Drayven was still watching me, and an awkward tension filled the space. Fascinating how Otto was cool with the other side of my heritage when it served his purposes of getting us more votes. Ass.
"What about this one?" Drayven broke the tension and pointed towards a sapphire and black crest.