Page 150 of Filthy Rich Vampires: For Eternity

I didn’t have time to ask her what she meant.

“This is no time to congratulate her,” Zina stormed. “She left the confines of the city. She could have been killed.”

Does she know?

Next to me, Julian expanded, darkness rippling from him.

“They are to be married.” Mariana whirled around in a blur of chiffon.

I breathed an inward sigh of relief. The wedding was the least of my concerns. It was simply a matter of showing up on the right day in a white dress.

What a lovely picture you paint. Julian’s face was stony, betraying none of the wicked amusement in that one word.

We’re already mates.

How am I the romantic one?

That was a good question. One I didn’t have time to consider as Zina continued.

“That is another matter.” She rose, lifting her regal chin. “There has been no coronation and no agreement that they can be married.”

“The only people who needed to agree have.” I whipped a finger from myself to Julian. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Not a big deal?” Zina’s eyebrows shot up. “The banns were published three days ago!”

My confidence slipped. “Banns?”

Julian grumbled a curse under his breath. “It’s tradition—an archaic tradition,” he added to me. “It just means our intention to marry has been publicly announced.”

I waited for one of them to explain why that was a big deal. When they didn’t, I shrugged. “Everyone knows that we’re engaged—and mates. I don’t see what the problem is—humans announce engagements in newspapers all the time.”

“The problem—” Zina slinked from the dais and made her way toward us, each step as graceful as a panther “—is that the banns are published to allow the marriage to be disputed. As you can imagine, we’ve done nothing but field complaints!”

“About... our marriage? Why?” I blurted out.

“You may have proclaimed him King Consort,” she spit back at me, “but there are few eager to see you upend a thousand years of tradition!”

“They don’t have to come.” I smiled at her. “Problem solved.”

Mariana bit back a smile, but Zina continued in a rage, “And then there is the matter of your mortality. Leaving Venice was reckless. There is a reason why Le Regine accept the gift of immortality.”

“You mean accept being turned into a vampire,” I corrected her.

Julian squeezed my hand. Don’t tell them about the Council.

I knew why he wanted to keep it a secret, knew why he was warning me not to tell them about what the Vampire Council had done. We couldn’t trust them. One of them could have informed the Council about my decision to leave Venice. Until we knew for certain, it was better to keep that information to ourselves.

She stepped closer, a finger flung in my direction. “You—”

Her words died on her lips, her nostrils flaring as she swept surprised eyes down me.

I think she—

“Thea can’t be turned,” Julian drawled, “because she’s pregnant.”

Her eyes bugged out of her head.

Mariana moved to her side. “Then more congratulations are in order,” she said softly. “A blessing.”

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