Page 146 of Filthy Rich Vampires: For Eternity

Her hand clutched mine so tightly I knew she understood the stakes.

“Here we are,” I announced as we neared a small valet stand set up a few hundred feet from the club.

Thea leaned forward, her eyes scanning the nightclub and the line of people huddled behind velvet ropes to get in. “Brimstone,” she read the sign over the door before glancing at me. “I think we’re overdressed.”

“We’ll be using the private entrance,” I said as the parking attendant opened my door.

“Sir, this is—”

“We’re guests of the family,” I cut him off.

His eyes rounded as he nodded and took my keys. “Anthony can show you the way,” he offered, gesturing to the burly man helping Thea out of the Range Rover.

I loosed a small growl that made Anthony take a step back. “I know the way.”

Thea rolled her eyes at me as I took her hand. “He was doing his job.”

“He’s Fae,” I said under my breath.

Her head whipped around to stare at him. “He looks human!”

“Glamour.”

“Are they all...Fae?” She looked toward the line of people waiting to get inside.

“Them? No. But the family wouldn’t let a human guard their private entrance, even ones enslaved to them,” I explained, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and leading her toward an unmarked black door.

“Enslaved?” She took off my jacket and passed it to me. I put it on, frowning as she shivered in the night air.

“Never bargain with a Fae,” I reminded her, “and Thea? Hold on.”

She pressed close to my side as I opened the door, her head craning to peer into the inky blackness. I pulled her closer as we stepped through it—fell through it. At least, that’s what it felt like. I expected the plunging sensation as the Otherworld swallowed us. Thea’s scream cut through the dark, her fingers clutching my shoulder.

It’s okay. I repeated it to her over and over. At least our thoughts could be heard over the roaring absent void. I ran my hands down her back in long, soothing strokes until the world reknit around us in a tapestry of gold and crimson. When the last strands settled in place, Thea lurched forward and retched on a finely woven rug.

Right in front of Bain and his retinue. He stared, his mouth twisting with distaste, but I ignored him, leaning down to help my mate.

“It will pass,” I whispered to her. “I should have warned you better.”

She wiped at her mouth, shooting me a glare. “You think?”

Thea rose up and froze as she took in Bain—his sloped, pointed ears beneath the carefully combed silver hair, the tattoos peeking out from beneath his shirt collar down to the ones covering his hands—their brutality at odds with his polished, formal appearance—and gulped.

I stepped closer to her, but she didn’t shrink from his curious gaze.

As soon as she was steady on her feet an attendant rushed forward, silver platter in hand. She held it out, displaying several small cups of red liquid. “This will help,” she said shyly.

Thea glanced at me, a question in her eyes.

“It’s safe,” Bain interjected before I could tell her the same. “We have no interest in poisoning a Queen.”

But Thea regarded him with wariness. “What about trapping one?”

Bain stared for a moment, his silver-blue gaze unreadable, before he threw his head back and laughed. “At least, you warned her about that,” he said to me, waving a hand at the platter. “No price. No bargain. Simply something to soothe your nerves. We would not wish you to be uncomfortable.”

I nodded once to Thea, keeping my hand on the small of her back. She picked up a cup and took a small sip, her eyebrows shot up when she tasted it. Her hand pressed to her stomach. “I feel...fine.”

Bain inclined his head. “And now allow us to welcome you to the Infernal Court, Your Majesty.”

---