Page 56 of House of Mages and Raven

Silas smiled at me, pleased with himself. Maybe I should tell him that he looked ridiculous playing Romeo. He didn’t have an ounce of romance in his bones, but he was sexy as hell. He should just stay in his lane. And not every woman was a fan of old Romeo.

“Did you compose that ballad, Prince Silas?” I asked, my voice deceptively naïve.

“Yeah?” He hesitated for half a beat and then nodded firmly. “Of course. It’s been a while since I picked up poetry. I guess I still have it. Romance and gentleness are in my blood.”

I almost choked on the air I inhaled.

The world was full of liars, but some lies were harmless, so I let it go. One wouldn’t have time to eat if they set out to expose every lie. At the very least, I appreciated the prince making an effort to make me feel welcoming. While everyone else avoided me, he invited me to his table, fed me, and even plagiarized to win my good will—the opposite of what Killian had done by choosing my nemesis over me.

In any of my books, a liar was better than a cheater.

“I can’t believe you can grasp ancient verses,” I said. “I never got Shakespeare, though, and I don’t understand all the hype around him.”

He blinked, yet he didn’t flush. “Is this romantic enough for you, Barbie?”

Suddenly, Killian’s roar of laughter rolled across the hall from upstairs. He’d been listening to our conversation with his superior hearing. I pulled my lips back in a half snarl as white-hot anger shot through me at the asshole laughing at the shifter prince for showing me that I was desirable.

“It’s so romantic, Prince Silas.” I put on a bright smile for him and gazed up at him through my thick eyelashes. My golden curls bounced with glee. “Perhaps you can recite more of your poems on a date, if you’re up for it? I don’t know if you know that I’m a romance lover like you. We have a lot in common, and I bet we’re going to have a fabulous time.”

While the chaos prince’s laughter died, the shifter prince’s face lit up. He was a bit surprised though, since I’d never been that sweet to him. A grin stretched his lips, and my heart stuttered at his wolfish beauty. But then he overdid it by flexing his biceps to further impress me. It must’ve worked well on other women.

As I glanced at the nearby tables, my speculation was verified. The other bride candidates traced the movements of his hard muscles in admiration. Power was a thing in Mist of Cinder. It never failed, and that was the language the shifter prince understood. Next, he let his power ripple across the dining hall to charm the mass, an automatic muscle memory that he wasn’t even aware of. But I would not forget that he’d once tried to use compulsion on me to get me to suck his dick, even if it now seemed like ages ago.

You hold a grudge for so long even though the wolf prince has long since forgotten,Sy said.

I didn’t hate Silas, though, never had, but I couldn’t say the same about Killian.

Sy edged closer to the surface to study Silas. He’s powerful. If you feed from him, we’ll feel sated for at least a week.

As she ogled him, starting at his cruel yet gorgeous face, then his throat, then his broad, tattooed shoulders, then his cut chest, I followed her lead. In the back of my mind, a thought sparked like a warm ember. Maybe I could use Silas as a rebound.

A dragon’s growl rumbled across the hall, full of rage and menace. While everyone froze in their seats, I sneered inwardly, then stretched my smile even bigger. “Prince Silas, a date?—”

“Well, well,” Louis cut in as he descended the stairs with a lazy and confident gait. He was like a strutting peacock, yet dangerous. “Is it me”—his gaze fixed on Silas and me—“or is it just too painful to watch this?”

The bride candidates swept their gazes toward the vampire prince, shuddering with excitement as he flashed his fangs at them. They were struggling to settle their attention between the three heirs. Killian still held the interest of half the crowd, even though he hadn’t made an attempt to draw attention to himself other than his dragon’s growl. He wasn’t as cool and indifferent as he’d tried to appear.

Louis rolled up his sleeves, showing off his muscled arms for the benefit of the girls. His pale blue eyes sparkled with competitive glee. His blond hair flowed down his broad shoulders.

Silas huffed out a displeased breath and propped his feet on the table so his powerful legs, hugged by his tailored slacks, were on display for all to ogle. I pulled my smoothie and the plate of cakes away from his expensive and spotless leather shoes and gave him a look. He arched a brow at me, but finally he reluctantly removed his feet from the table.

“What are you doing here, Louis?”Silas demanded, eyeing his rival like he was a fanged serpent. “Don’t you see Barbie and I are busy here?”

“I had to come down.” The vamp prince shook his blond head. “It was just too painful to watch how you awkwardly triedto get into Barbie’s pants. I felt her pain, man, I did, and thus I had to be her shining knight and rescue the virg—” Over my look, he amended, “inexperienced maiden.”

Not too long ago, when the fae prince took me to his villa, I’d blurted out that I was technically a virgin. Well, I wasn’t anymore, thanks to another asshole. But no one knew that Killian had taken my maidenhead. I’d take that secret to the grave. Everyone, except his inner circle, still believed no woman save for his betrothed could touch him without being burned. What a sham! And now, Grace could touch him as well, since the demon queen made an exception for her ward.

Silas glared at Louis. “I don’t do awkward, vamp.” He added with a sneer, “As if you know how to court females.”

“I do,” Louis said cockily as he pulled a chair up next to me and sat his ass down. “It irks you that I always get a lot more action than you, doesn’t it?”

He crossed his ankle over his knee, his arm on the back of his chair, his body trained toward me in invitation. Intense hunger lit his eyes, turning them dark blue, as he couldn’t help but glance at the veins pulsing in my neck. As he noticed my regarding him warily and scooting my butt to the other side of the seat to put a few more inches between us, he fixed his gaze on my face, consciously dimmed the thirst in his eyes, and turned up the voltage of his smile to disarm me.

Only a fool would take it easy facing two predators, one a big bad wolf, the other a ruthless bloodsucker. Not to mention a third predator—my betrayer—and my doppelgänger were also staring at me with laser focus while the entire school was watching, expecting a showdown.

Supernaturals loved drama as much as humans.

“Sometimes I fucked several women at once. Barbie saw it firsthand,” Louis gloated before he put the brakes on his brag when he noticed my sour look. “I didn’t mean it in adisrespectful way, Barbie. You were Little Bob during those dark times. I haven’t had an orgy ever since your girlhood was”—he paused to glance upstairs—“exposed by Killian.”

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