Page 65 of House of Lilith

The first thing I spot is his smile, my heart instantly breaking into a gallop, then his eyes, then his arms, bare despite the cold. Howe. He’s being dragged to one of the center tables by a gaggle of drunk vampire girls.

“Just what the party needed,” Max snaps. “A Fiain asshole.”

I quickly look away, fixing my eyes on my book. He didn’t spot me, thank gods.

But all of a sudden, I really don’t want to be here anymore.

I snap my book shut and I lean a little closer to Max. “Doesn’t this party suck? I’m sure there are more interesting ones in Bloodholm.”

“Lilith’s wrath strike me dead,” my brother exclaims with a burst of slightly off laughter.

I turn to throw daggers at him.

“One minute, you have your nose in your book, the other, you’re looking to go party,” he says with a squint. “You know, if you keep acting this strange, sis, I’ll have to conclude you’re planning another one of your little coups on our family. Who is it this time? Is it me?”

“Nikolay,” I hear Max cut him off in an icy cold voice.

My brother lets out a nervous laugh and gets back to his drink. “So serious,” he mutters under his breath.

I throw my fiance an appreciative look. “Max, you can do better than this,” I ask as I throw a quick glance over my shoulder, “can’t you?”

It’s never been a mystery to me, the way Max’s mind works.

He smiles and leans to give me a peck on the cheek. “In case you’ve forgotten, cupcake, I’m a fucking prince. I canalwaysdo better.”

I smile and shake my head. Then I pull away to get my stuff.

“Where are you going?” Hilde asks, a touch of hopefulness in her voice.

But she doesn’t get invited this time. “Wouldn’tyoulike to know,” Max replies with a smug smile.

It’s distant, but I hear Howe’s laughter boom from somewhere behind me.

“Let’s go,” I urge my fiance, tugging at his sleeve.

He waves to both my brother and my cousin, saying, “See you tomorrow at the meeting, Nikolay.”

“I won’t be able to make it, Max,” Nikolay rushes to say.

Max stops, frowning.

“I’ll have to walk Howe to Graf Field,” my brother explains.

“Well, walk him after the meeting,” Max says flatly.

Nikolay shrugs. “It’s far. If I were alone, I could just run there. This way, we’ll be late to the Game. So I think you should just do it without me.”

That little fucker, I think as I stand there with my bag in my hand, ready to go. So dutiful about the whole buddy thing, but only when the alternative is a boring meeting.

“We need a family representative,” Max tells him in a lower, more pissed-off voice.

“What?” I ask, my ears pricking up. “What’s it about?”

They both ignore me.

“Nyx could do it,” Nikolay finally says, a sour look on his face.

“Go to the meeting?” I rush to ask, excited at the prospect. “I don’t know which, but sure.”

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