Page 54 of Hot Vampire Next Door: Season Five

His frown deepens. He sets the wine glass down without drinking. Smart. Smarter than I am, apparently. “What do you want to say to me? Say it so we can be done.”

“Do you want to be fighting this war?”

“Why?”

“Just answer the question.”

“You’re not going to make me?” The last part, bitten out.

“No.”

He huffs out a breath. “I didn’t want any of this.”

“And by this, you mean, kill our mother?”

His nostrils flare. “You know nothing about our mother. Careful what you speak of her.”

“You’re right.” My anger flares up to match his. “I know nothing about her because she’s dead. And I will never have a chance to know her unless you tell me.”

“What is this about, Jessie? What do you want from me?”

I pull my cell phone from my pocket, tap at the screen. His confusion doubles. I bring up the recording and hit play.

It’s clear the voice is Kelly’s, but the tenor is off and there’s a slight echo as if she’s speaking through a microphone.

I watch Arion’s face for his reaction as Kelly—the summer queen—makes her plan known.

She’ll kill Arion. She’ll install her illegitimate son on both thrones.

Arion staggers back. His eyes are wide, but his focus far away.

“Is this some kind of trick?” he asks. There’s pain in his voice, an almost desperate plea. He wants it to be a trick. If it’s a trick, then it’s a lie, and if it’s a lie, he can continue on with his life.

I shake my head. “I don’t want to fight you, Arion. I want to fight with you.”

He turns away, shoulders a rigid line.

“She’s using you,” I go on. “She’s been using you to get what she wants.”

He whirls on me. “And what are you doing right now? Are you not also using me to get what you want?”

“How dare you!” I surge forward, pointing a finger at him. “I didn’t ask for any of this. I didn’t ask to be born into this family. I didn’t ask to be switched out a birth. Smuggled away. I just want to be left alone! I barely know what it is to be fae?—”

“Jessie.”

“—I want to stay in Midnight Harbor with my vampire boyfriend and live my fucking life!”

“Jessie!”

I find Bran’s hands on me, frost turning his pale skin a paler blue. Ice grows from the pendant light hanging over the dining table and snow falls from the ceiling.

When I breathe out, it’s a puff of white air.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “I didn’t…I don’t know how to control it yet.”

Arion swallows, nods. “It’s all right.”

“I just want?—”

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