Page 40 of Midwinter Night's Prince

Seth had always been amused by how easily the ancient lost his composure whenever his newly turned mate put herself in danger. Which was every other week.

“So, I might have skipped a few classes here and there.” Chloe winced. "Well, not Fin’s, naturally. I’m not crazy.”

Oh, she was plenty crazy. To have gotten to Erys, she had to have gotten very close to Aveka, all by herself.

“Don't look at me like that.” Chloe pouted at Levi.

When Blair did it, Seth wanted to set the world on fire and bite into her lips. Chloe just looked like a brat to him.

“She's always attacking us, coming at us from every angle. She almost killed plenty of our friends, and for others, well, there was no almost about it. They’re dead because of her.” The brat was rather endearing when she was bloodthirsty. “I've been trying to catch her closer acolytes. This guy was just outside the gates.” Chloe tilted her chin to Seth. “I guess we have you to thank for the company.”

He inclined his head. “They followed Blair and me here.”

"Blair’s here!” Chloe strolled to the house, fully expecting to be invited in.

Seth hesitated. He wasn't used to having people in his space. When the Stormhales threw galas or charity dos, they did it in the Rome mansion, never at his apartment. He was head of the house now, and technically that meant that the manor was his, but it didn’t feel like it. The place was cold and cruel—a remnant of Drusilla’s rule. This house on Night Hill felt more like his.

He fought against his instinct to tell the newborn to fuck off, and stepped aside to let Chloe in.

To the others, he said, “I'm not entirely certain what I may have in terms of refreshments, but you're all welcome to it. Blair is taking a shower. When she's done, we all need to talk.”

He didn't want to start the conversation until Blair had joined them; it wasn't his story, it was theirs. Blair had answers he might not have, and he knew something they hadn't had a chance to share with her yet.

"Give me some credit, brother.” Cat rolled her eyes. “You have a fully stocked bar.”

22

THREE EVILS

Blair was never getting out of this bathtub. Ever. They were going to have to pry her out of here. Ablutions had lasted a matter of minutes in the last few months, as she’d always been in a rush, in order to escape her pursuers. Now she was melting in Seth’s stupidly humongous tub. It was big enough for her to sprawl in, and no one was going to take this moment away from her.

Velvet happily slept on a thick mat by her side, seeming as content as her.

She closed her eyes just as someone knocked on the bathroom door.

Oh, hell no.

“Fuck off!” she yelled.

“I hardly think that’s fair.” There was a chuckle on the other side of the door. “Your friends are draining my reserves of blood and alcohol, and I’m not very good at playing nice.”

Her friends?

“I’m coming!”

Nothing else he might have thought to say could have gotten her out of that piece of heaven faster. Her friends! A wave of homesickness seized her, soon washed away by thrill. Somehow, either because Seth’s home was entirely new and foreign to her or because she had been exhausted after everything that happened the last few hours, she hadn’t quite realized where she was. In Oldcrest. Seth had brought her back home. She'd been gone for so, so long.

She made quick work of drying herself and stormed out of the bathroom.

If she’d ever bothered to imagine Seth’s bedroom, it would have been a complex affair with velvet and brocade, opulent but bordering on gaudy, like the clothing he preferred. This room was downright cozy—warm and relaxing in its comfortable simplicity. It probably wasn't to his taste. After every house on the hill been burned to a crisp by Aveka’s men—except for Skyhall, the Eirikrson stronghold Aveka wished to claim—the six families had their home rebuilt. The Beauforts hired contractors to do the work, though they hadn’t dared show their faces, as far as Blair knew. They sided with Aveka—at least, some of their most eminent members did, out of fear of what Chloe could become as an Eirikrson.

For different reasons, Seth hadn't had a chance to make himself at home here. He’d been spying on Aveka for them at first, and now, he was kept away as her unwilling puppet. But somehow, though she wouldn’t have pictured it like this, this place…it felt like him. At least, who he truly was, beyond the swagger, the posturing, and the careless cruelty. She could picture him in here, lounging on his bed, on top of the covers, an old leather-bound book in his hand.

It was a ridiculously big bed, made to host a veritable orgy. Blair wrinkled her nose. Orgies were probably more like the Seth she knew than quiet reading time.

He’d laid out some clothes out for her—a yoga outfit on the boring side, but the fabric was so soft, she could see herself sleeping in the outfit. Blair got changed at the speed of light and burst through the elegant halls, rushing toward the soundscoming from the front sitting room.

She stopped in front of the open room and a sob caught in her throat.

---