6. Isidoro #2
I turn to face her, my blood protesting her interruption. She’s tall like a model, with intriguing pink eyes and long dark hair that falls in heavy curls down her shoulders. She’s wearing a cream pantsuit that complements her dark skin, platform heels and a set of four golden bracelets.
“I would like to discuss something,” she insists.
“As you can see, I am in the middle of celebrating right now.” I cross my arms and give her another once-over.
“It’s urgent.”
I don’t think I know this woman. Was she on the list of guests? Who let her in? I hold her stern gaze. It’s unwavering, like she doesn’t care who I am or that this is my event. Interesting.
Julian’s presence stiffens. I snap my attention back to him without my brain’s input, a reflex I can’t stop.
He’s wound even tighter, glaring at the woman like she’s a ghost. Why does he look uncomfortable, almost spooked?
My stomach flips upside down. Who is she?
Why does she seem to know Julian? I force down a snarl.
“Isidoro, just do as she says,” he says quietly, looking anywhere but at me.
I have an inkling I won’t like this. What did he do?
“Ria!” Tommy throws himself at the woman, panting as if he’d sprinted over. “You made it! I wasn’t sure you would!”
I observe the two, my mind spiraling. Does Tommy know this woman, too? What is she to him? To Julian?
“You know each other…” I start, not sure how to continue. “What’s going on here?”
Tommy grins. “This is Ria! The person I was just telling you about.”
“Wait, you know Ria?” Julian frowns, jaw clenched tight.
“Julian, what is this about? Who is this person?” I grab him by the shoulder and pull him closer to me, letting authority command my voice.
But he still won’t look at me. “Just…” He cranes his head left and right, surveying the hall. “Let’s go outside where there’re fewer guests.”
Something is off. The feeling from when we said the vows and drank each other’s blood returns, more vicious this time.
I don’t like this. My fight-or-flight reflex flares as well, but I force it down and follow my friends, Julian and Ria outside.
We circle the cathedral until we find a more private spot out back, where the conversations and music from inside can’t be heard.
“What’s going on?” I demand, buzzing with suppressed annoyance. I hate having to repeat myself. Who is this woman and why has she come to crash my coronation and wedding? “Talk.”
Her eyebrow twitches, like she doesn’t appreciate my tone. Good. “I’m Ria Vance,” she says vaguely.
I frown. Is that supposed to mean something to me? Her name doesn’t ring a bell.
Glancing at Julian gives me nothing other than the fact that he still won’t meet my eyes. He knows this Ria, he has to, or he wouldn’t be acting so strange.
I whack my memory, searching for a clue who Ria Vance might be. Nothing comes up.
“I’ve been calling your office for the last couple weeks,” she says when we just continue glaring at each other in silence.
“A lot of people call my office.”
“I left multiple messages and explained to your PA that it was imperative I get hold of you.”
This is the first I hear of this. “My employees are trained not to bother me with nonsense calls.”
She scoffs and rolls her eyes. “I’ve been trying to find Julian and get in touch with him.” She tosses him a hard look and folds her arms. “But no matter what I tried or who I called, it’s like he’d disappeared.”
I cross my own arms in turn. “As you can see, he hasn’t. He was on holiday. Off grid.”
The man in question snorts. I aim a warning scowl his way, which erases the smile off his face and makes him press his lips into a line.
“It took me a lot of money and favors to find out you two knew each other.” She jabs a finger at my chest. I simply sidestep it. “And even then, I kept running into brick walls because you wouldn’t pick up the phone.” She sighs, clicking her tongue. “Fortunately, Tommy told me about your wedding.”
Ah. I cut my gaze to the blond, who nods and smiles. That must be what he was trying to tell me before I rushed off to Julian. “Well, here I am. Say what it is you need to say and leave.”
The noise she makes bleeds displeasure. Who is she, really?
She’s standing before the vampire king, yet I sense no fear coming off her.
She must know what I am, what Julian is too if Tommy brought her here, yet there is not a hint of apprehension.
No weak knees, no elevated heartbeat. She’s calm as if she’s just hanging out with friends and not deadly predators.
Brushing past me, she plants herself in front of Julian.
“My father has disappeared,” she says as if it should mean something to the brat.
“I’ve been trying to find him for a month, but I can’t.
He left no note or message. I faked an announcement to the Board, so they wouldn’t ask questions.
I thought he’d show up, but he never did.
” She paces a few steps to the wisteria gracing the cathedral’s wall, then back to where Julian is standing.
“I think something might have happened to him,” her voice wavers, worry worming its way into it.
“And I think it might have to do with Andras’ death. ”
The air around me freezes. Crackling in my ears drowns out the world, dulls its colors. My blood vibrates, my heart trying to rip open a hole out of my chest.
What did she just say?
I home in on Julian, searching his face for an explanation. His eyes are wide, his pulse just as frantic as mine. Our gazes clash. He takes a step back, his whole body trembling.
No, this can’t be.
“Julian…” I growl, taking a step toward him.
He takes another step back, then another, his full mouth shivering as if he’s suppressing a laugh.
“Oops… I swear, I was about to tell you when she interrupted us!” He pins those red eyes on the ground as his back hits the thick trunk of an old pine.
“Shit. You really weren’t supposed to find out like this. ”
The world comes back, crashing down on me in blinding color and deafening thunder. No, this can’t be happening. Andras can’t be dead. This must be a joke.
“Julian.” I catch up to him in a blur of movement and wrap my hand around his neck. “Is this true? Is Andras Corvath dead?”
He claws at my arm, the chokehold too unexpected. “Sorry… I really was about to tell you…”
I hear gasps behind me. Tommy and Niko are gawking at the two of us from a distance, speechless. Ria seems less shocked and more disapproving, like I might be overreacting, but she dares not intervene.
“When? For how long?” I lean in, baring my teeth at him. “Did you lie to me?”
“Technically, I didn’t. I simply omitted the truth,” that brat says, wheezing as he fights for air. “But, I mean, can you blame me? It was the only way to come out of this alive!”
His confession stabs me through the chest. I open my hand and drop him, his tensed body crumpling to the pine’s roots.
No. This—Andras can’t be—
I stare at my palm, taking a step back, my mind a mess as I try to come to terms with this revelation. When I focus back on Julian, my head is throbbing and my body feels on fire, like I haven’t fed for an entire month.
He grins. “Genius move, I know. Even I’m impressed at myself for pulling this off.”
I drop my head back and stare at the sky. Millions of stars twinkle across it, bright and far away. The moon hangs heavy and silver above the pine’s branches like a sentinel, looking down at me with a smirk.
I close my eyes and clench my hands. A gust of wind caresses my face, cool and gentle. My mouth stretches and a manic sound erupts from me, loud and unhinged and so very unlike me.
I can’t believe this. Andras is dead. Not alive, not scheming, not waiting in the shadows to strike at any time. He’s dead.
My eyes snap open. Julian, who’s just clambered up to his feet with the help of the tree, freezes still, his breath hitching. Moonlight illuminates his face, enunciating his sharp features and gorgeous eyes.
I lick my lips, shivering. My cock jolts. That brat tricked me. The need to strangle him, to push him down and squeeze his neck until it separates from his body rises in me, but with it something else makes an appearance, something hot and humming, something I’ve been trying to suppress.
I’m impressed. He got me so well. The way he pulled this off, the ruthlessness, the lack of fear, the sheer audacity. I suck in air through my nose. My lungs expand on the greedy inhale, but even so I’m buzzing. A storm is brewing inside me, wild and unstoppable.
Andras is dead. My biggest enemy is no more. And his son, my prisoner and hostage, tricked me into marrying him.