Trust No One #2
“I’m fine. Go,” I said, not meaning a word.
Partially because the blood demanded I stay as close to him as possible, but also because I couldn’t believe it was all happening again.
So soon. It was like being cursed to live the same day over and over.
He was needed and he would leave. He would choose his duty over me every time.
I was destined to be his. And being his meant being abandoned.
Rhazien set his lips into a firm line. Without peeling his stare from mine, he ordered his steward, “Do whatever needs to be done. Changes to the schedule. Increase in the guards and wards. All of it is at your discretion. Your orders are as good as my own, Gorvin.”
“Majesty,” Gorvin said in an unsure whisper.
The steward appeared stunned. Not Dommik. His eyes had fallen back to his regent’s hands cradling my curves.
I wished I hadn’t noticed.
“Let’s retire to my chambers,” Rhazien said.
“No.” My hands met his chest. He flinched beneath my touch before laying his palms onto mine, accepting the contact. “I mean—please—I’d like to see my family first.”
I would have sprinted if running wouldn’t have caused further alarm. The breach in the wards had everyone, especially Rhazien at my side, on edge. My chest tightened. Cova and Lydia were here. Here. In the fucking Hive.
The halls were a blur of hurried faces and the soft edges of portraits. Onlooking nobles I didn’t care about. My heart was being pulled.
Rhazien’s hand intertwined with mine and he matched my unnaturally stretched pace.
Nothing was happening quickly enough for me. Our gait wasn’t urgent enough. The keys turned the lock to their room at a painful speed. I rushed to them, but I couldn’t squeeze Cova and Lydia as much as I needed to.
Feeling their skin beneath my hands made them real. Like I hadn’t been sure if I’d imagined them standing in the ballroom amongst the vampire court.
They weren’t ghosts. Not apparitions. They were real.
The fact rooted me. And scared me to death.
When I gave them space, Cova’s gaze assessed my ensemble. “You look—” I looked down as well, suddenly feeling more insecure than I ever had since coming to the Hive “—well adjusted.”
I cocked my head to the side. Maybe it was the deep-seated tension in our relationship stampeding to the surface, maybe it was the blood. Whatever it was, I retorted, “Do you mean alive?”
“She means stunning.” Lydia beamed at Cova’s side. “You look amazing, Aunt Reyva!”
I turned to her—my daughter. Dressed in finery I could tell came from the seamstresses of the Hive, she looked as though she’d blossomed into a woman since I’d last seen her. Everything about her had more angles. Her cheeks, her hips. She looked like…me.
And while my sister wore her signature condescending scowl, it wasn’t her discerning gaze that concerned me most. It was Lydia. The way she looked at me and her surroundings like this world wasn’t filled with death and despair. She wasn’t afraid. She was intrigued.
“That fills my whole heart. Thank you,” I said before Rhazien cleared his throat. I’d completely forgotten he’d remained in the doorway. Cova moved herself in front of Lydia.
“Reyva the Unbitten?” Cova cocked a sharp brow at the question and insinuation.
“Unbitten,” I repeated, taking her hands in mine.
A subtle assurance. But what could she have expected?
She’d encouraged me to come here. To save our family’s name.
The axe or the Hive. She’d told me to consider my options.
And now…now she would judge if I’d succumb to what we knew to be true about the Hive?
My teeth ground together at the familiar frustration only Cova could inspire.
Wintery eyes narrowed as Cova whispered, “Don’t tell me you’ve whored yourself for this station.”
Rhazien was at my side in an instant. “Lady Reyva is my prospect. I don’t expect a common mortal to understand the importance and responsibility of the position.” The vampire regent loomed over us all and I stood a bit taller at the sight of Cova shrinking in his shadow.
My sister lived in a state of perpetual disappointment when it came to me.
But Rhazien wouldn’t let my title in his court be an addition to the list of events that had earned downcast sneers.
I basked in the echo of his attentiveness, of his protection.
It was a glimmer of the feelings from before.
The blood purred beneath my skin and I remembered I wasn’t entirely myself.
“Apologies, Majesty,” Cova murmured reluctantly, her small comments matching her mousy, pointed features.
Lydia’s oval face was alight with curiosity. “Majesty, what is a prospect? Is that like a fiancée?”
Cova’s eyes darted to my fingers, searching for an engagement ring. I folded my hands together. Her shrewdness illuminated how backwards and ridiculous it felt to agree to become bound to Rhazien, which was more like a soul contract rather than a clerical one.
“Not quite. Why don’t we sit?” Rhazien gestured to the sitting area, a plush circle of loveseats and chairs not unlike the furniture in my chambers.
Rhazien’s charm had even softened a piece of the glacier around my sister’s heart.
Lydia, on the other hand, was all too happy to glean every morsel of information from the regent.
Cova would nudge her when she overstepped and overshared.
But what could she expect? The maiden’s wide, curious eyes had become heavy as the morning approached.
We conversed, reminisced, asked and answered questions for nearly an hour when Lydia raised her hand to hide a yawn.
“We should take our leave and let the ladies rest,” Rhazien announced, readying himself to stand. The blood curled me beneath his arm and I gripped at the crook of his elbow, stuck between not wanting to let go of him and not wanting to leave my family.
I’d wanted to speak to them alone, not have a chaperoned visit. But I suppose given my recent betrayal, trust shouldn’t be expected.
Rhazien’s blood curdled at the thought. Like his pain rode through my veins and bitterness spread across my tongue.
“We appreciate the visit. We’d expected you sooner,” Cova scolded and I stiffened against Rhazien’s muscled frame.
I cocked a brow. “How much sooner could I have visited?” I was asking both of them.
“A week seems like a long time to wait to see my sister, even if she’s the prospect.”
I hadn’t been offended by the title until now. Cova’s tone distorted it, belittled it. But I moved beyond the slight and focused on what she’d said just before.
A week. They’d been here a week. They’d been here when I’d snuck out to the tavern. When Dommik saved me from those thugs and admitted he loved me in the cellar of his estate. They’d been here when I was in Dommik’s bed. Why had they been here?
“A week?” I breathed, the information heavy on my chest. Rhazien was still at my side. I looked up to him, leveling him with a withering glare.
He’d planned this. To use my family to coerce me into agreeing to the bond, even before I’d given myself to Dommik.
“Well…” I fixed my face into one filled with false confidence. “Solstice is a very busy time. So much to do. You have our apologies.”
“What we’ve lacked in hospitality will be made up for in the coming days,” Rhazien assured them as he placed a hand over mine. His blood slid to the place where our skin connected and hummed happily at the contact.
Lydia was practically bouncing on her heels. “I’m so excited for your ceremony, Aunt Reyva!”
Cova’s gaze flicked from my forced smile back to my eyes. “Yes. We’re honored to be invited.”
My sister knew the game. She’d been to court and seen the political chess. And, of course, she knew me. It wouldn’t help anything to tell her the extent of my circumstances. I just wanted the two of them to make it through the next few days unharmed and seen safely back to their lives.
“We’re delighted you could join us.” Rhazien patted my arm and turned me away from the familiar faces of my kin.
Gorvin was waiting in the hall. His jaw worked at the sight of me nestled against Rhazien like it was me and not the blood coercing me to be there. The two men began to exchange words about the state of the Hive after the breach. Seeing an opening, I pulled away from the regent.
“I’ll be just a moment,” I said before rushing back to my sister. She was stone beneath the embrace I threw around her.
“Trust no one,” I said in the lowest whisper I could muster. “If there’s trouble, find a chambermaid named Alba or Commander Thorne.”
I stepped back and hoped to find appreciation and understanding in Cova’s expression but instead, she wore one of confusion.
“Thorne?” She mouthed and I nodded, squeezing our still clasped hands. I stole a glance at Rhazien who was intently watching the exchange.
“Do you mean Dommik?” Lydia chirped and the entire room stiffened.
I could feel Rhazien’s glare from the doorway but didn’t turn. Instead, I asked innocently as any host to a guest might. “Oh, you’ve met the Commander?”
“Of course!” Lydia laughed. “He’s the one who brought us here.”