House of Royals(59)

“That is an improvement,” I offer. “That was a pretty nasty attack.”

“I should have been on guard,” she says, angry with herself. “I know full well what’s going on.”

“What were you doing here, Lillian?” I ask, my brows furrowing. I take her hand in mine once again.

She looks up at me, her dark eyes serious and deep. “I came to warn you,” she says. “I know you and Mr. Ward are involved. I saw you one night in town. You were trying to be careful, but sometimes a woman just knows.”

I swear under my breath. “Does anyone else know about us?”

Lillian manages to shake her head. “I don’t think so. But I thought you should know. Jasmine has given Micah permission to kill Ian.”

All the blood in my body pools down to my feet. My fingers grow cold and stiff. My eyes freeze, wide and open.

Micah threatened Ian. He meant it. And Jasmine was just angry enough to let him do it. That was Ian’s last straw that broke the House’s back.

“You have to tell that boy to leave town,” Lillian says. Her voice sounds far away. “It isn’t safe for him in Silent Bend any more. Micah won’t give this up until Ian’s dead.”





LILLIAN SLEEPS. WHEN SHE’S SLEEPING, it’s easy to forget that she’s a vampire. An immortal Born. She just looks like a beautiful woman. Eyes closed, long lashes extending out over her beautiful brown cheeks. Hair a mess, but somehow still stylish. I wonder what she was like before she resurrected.

I watch over her as she sleeps for over an hour before the front door opens without a knock.

I don’t respond when Ian calls out for me. I’ve sat and been terrified for him all night, let him worry over me for a few minutes. His booted steps sound up the stairs. Down to my bedroom. Around the upper floors. He comes back down. Checks the kitchen, the ballroom.

And finally he comes down the hall and sees me sitting on Lillian’s bed through the open door.

He leans in the doorframe for a long time, arms crossed over his chest, not saying a word. I glare at him from under my lashes. Angry. Relieved. I’m a mixed bag of emotions right now.

“Nice work with the vamp outside,” he finally says. His tone is trying to be light and joking, but there’s knowledge of the reality behind it. He knows full well how unhappy I am. “Looks like it got you. You okay?”

He indicates my arm where Lillian fed on me. There’s still dried blood smeared all over it.

“I’m fine,” I say tersely. I don’t want to tell him the truth about what I did, just to spite him.

“She’ll be fine by evening, probably,” Ian says awkwardly, indicating Lillian. He shifts his weight to both feet, pushing his hands into his pockets. “The toxin usually only lasts twelve hours.”

“Yeah, I know that, Ian,” I hiss. Carefully, I tuck the sheet up on Lillian’s chest. I look her over one more time. Her eyes are narrowed, though they’re shut. She still looks like she’s in pain, even in sleep. Turning, I walk out behind Ian and close the door behind me.

We wander out and end up in the middle of the ballroom, standing on the family crest in the middle of the floor.

“What was she doing here?” Ian asks. He won’t quite look me in the eye. He looks uncomfortable, nervous. He knows what he’s done has pissed me off. And he has no idea how much worse it’s gotten.

“She came here to warn me that Jasmine has given Micah permission to hunt you down and kill you.” My words fall flat in the expanse of the marble ballroom.

Ian’s eyes finally jump to mine. He bites the inside of his cheek.

He should look scared. He should be worried, at the very least. But his expression is just blank. And I hate him for not having a better sense of self-preservation.

“Did you hear me?” I hiss at him. “Micah, a vampire with a seriously bad attitude and muscles like you wouldn’t believe is pissed at you and plans to kill you. The minute the sun goes down, he is going to be looking for you, and he will probably find you. And you are well trained and a bad ass, but there is a very good chance that he will kill you before you kill him. And even if you do kill him, then you’ll have the entire House after you, wanting revenge. You will not survive this. Do you not understand, Ian? Don’t you even care?”

There are tears in my eyes again and my throat is tight. I sound desperate, exactly how I feel inside.

“Of course I care, Liv,” he says. He closes the distance between us and places his hands on my upper arms.

“Then why…” my voice is too emotional to continue.

“Because if I fight against them, maybe I can keep other kids from becoming orphans, too.”