Page 181 of Anathema

“Nothing slips past my brother. Believe me.”

“Then, by that logic, you knew he’d find us here, and this was all a game of resentment?”

She chuckled. “You give me too much credit, but you’re not entirely wrong. He did insist that my name be removed from the guestlist,” she grumbled.

“Well, it was just a look. Harmless.”

“That was not a harmless look, Maeve. That was an I-want-to-rip-that-dress-off-and-fuck-you-silly expression. If I noticed it, you can be sure Zevander noticed.”

“I should hope he wouldn’t kill someone just for looking at me.”

Rykaia snorted and turned back toward the crowd. “Be grateful he didn’t inherit our mother’s gift for reading minds. I suspect half the guests here would be lying in a pool of blood.”

“What makes you so certain your brother thinks of me that way?”

“I’ve known him my whole life, and while plenty of women have taken to him, I’ve never seen him behave the way he does around you. Zevander is known for being abrasive and cold and positively heartless. Yet, since you’ve arrived, I’ve seen a side to him that I didn’t know existed.”

“I believe that’s aversion. Disgust. Loathing.”

She sighed and hooked her arm into mine. “I believe it’s called lust and a severely besetting attraction, but what do I know? I’m just his annoying little sister who’s lived with him for nearly two centuries.”

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

ZEVANDER

Usually determined to keep his senses sharp, it was rare that Zevander drank while guarding the prince, but turmoil consumed both his mind and body. Between seeing Maevyth in that dangerously tempting dress, to his appetite quickly souring when he ran into General Loyce, he needed something to relax the fiery clash of tension blazing through him.

He tipped back the first goblet, finishing it off entirely, then filled it with wine from the elaborate fountain--the sculpture of a white rose--and swallowed back another. Dancing with Maevyth might’ve been foolish, given the eyes that watched him, but fortunately, everyone had seen the prince urge him onto the dance floor. Declining would’ve looked suspicious, and watching Maevyth dance with another would’ve had him gnawing off his own fist to keep from burying it in someone’s face.

“Was that any way to greet an old friend?” Even the sound of the woman’s voice stirred a dark violence inside of him.

“Who said we were friends?” Zevander didn’t bother to look at her as he filled a third goblet.

General Loyce chuckled, the sound of it twisting his lips with disgust. “You were just a scrawny boy when I saw you last. Look at you now. A beast of a man.”

Zevander had been young, only just having stepped into adulthood, when she’d made him her toy. He hadn’t had a clue about his power then, nor did he have the training to fight. When she’d seen him last, he truly was a pathetic and scrawny boy, starving and afraid. Plagued by an unbridled rage that General Loyce had sought to smother and control.

“You clean up nicely, too. Are those the fine silks of a highblood?” When he didn’t answer, she leaned in. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were attempting to blend in. Unfortunately for you, love, I could find you with a blindfold.”

“If you value your spine and internal organs, I suggest you keep your distance tonight, General.”

She threw her head back on a laugh. “I wish I could say that your threats enrage me, but they merely turn me on.” With a lazy saunter, she closed the space, holding her goblet up, as if to assure she was only intending to fill it. “Would you believe me, if I told you that I think about you nearly every hour of every day?”

“You’ll be disappointed to know I haven’t thought about you, at all.”

“Oh, I doubt that.” Tipping back a sip, she stepped closer, her proximity sending alarms through him.

His palm itched to yank his blade and silence her.

Doing so would’ve started a war right then.

Instead, he ground his teeth and finished off another goblet.

“I think you hear my voice every time you take hold of your cock. I think you smell my cunt every time you come. And I think, somewhere deep down inside, you enjoy the torment I put you through.”

A spasm of pain struck his skull as he gnashed his molars, wanting nothing more than to strangle the life right out of her. To set her aflame and watch her scream as her insides burned to liquid. He quietly set his goblet down on the nearby table to curb the temptation of using it as a weapon.

“I’m certain your little beauty over there finds pleasure in those delicious piercings. She has the most exquisite little body I’ve seen in a while. Perhaps I’ll ask her back to my room for a bit of play tonight. It would be fun to watch her delicate little body ravaged by a pack of hungry Solassion men.”

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