Page 86 of The Reign of Blood

He sighs heavily. “For this,” he breathes before stepping up to her side and entering the grand hall with her.

I stare after them, a mixture of disbelief, horror, and jealousy coursing through my veins.

“What just happened?”

“Vampires are… complicated,” Brody states, stepping to my left as Kryll appears to my right.

“Oh, I thought you were going to say assholes,” I joke, but the laughter doesn’t come.

“That too,” Cassian grunts, walking around us.

A soft hand strokes down my arm from behind and I turn to see Flora staring at me with concern etched into her eyes. “Are you okay?”

“I’ll be okay,” I answer, unsure what I’ll actually be okay with, but I attempt to compartmentalize it all for now. I need to survive this shit. I can worry about everything in more depth later.

Moving into the grand hall, where music plays softly in the background, I try to take a deep breath and ease the weight on my shoulders.

“Name, please?”

I look at the attendant, startled, but quickly realize they’re here to guide us to our seats. Thankfully, Flora answers for me and Arlo, collecting our table number before we saunter through the room.

Gold tables, gold chairs, gold drapes. Everything is so luxurious and over the top, but the white tablecloths, chair covers, and floral centerpieces manage to mellow it all out a little. Chatter is high as we walk through the room, the excitement and buzz back in the air.

As we make our way to the table, I focus again, no longer distracted by all the pretty gold things; I realize that even without our origin cloaks, we’re still segregated.

Shifters with shifters.

Mages with mages.

Wolves with wolves.

Humans with humans.

Fae with fae.

Vampires sit with vampires, like Raiden, right beside Vallie, which makes my nostrils flare and anger rush to the surface, but I push it back.

“Here we are,” Flora murmurs, pointing toward the table in front of us. A woman’s face lights up at the sight of her, and she rushes to her feet.

“Flora!” She wraps her in her arms tightly as Arlo embraces the man beside her.

These must be their parents.

Even I have the fun of watching them now. Great.

“Princess Adrianna, it’s an honor to meet you,” Arlo’s father says, tilting his head in a show of respect. I quickly wave my hand for him to stop.

“Just Addi is perfectly fine. It’s lovely to meet you too,” I reply, and he smiles at me as Flora’s mother steps forward to stroke a hand down my arm.

“I’ve heard such wonderful things about you. It’s lovely to meet you,” she gushes, her smile so genuine it warms my soul. “Come, sit. Food will be served soon and then we get to dance,” she exclaims excitedly.

Flora rolls her eyes at her mother, but I find it endearing. Taking my seat, I glance around the room, and I hate the fact that I instinctively pinpoint where Brody, Kryll, Cassian, and Raiden are.

What’s even worse is when I locate each of them, their gazes are already set on me.

33

ADRIANNA

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