Page 16 of A House of Fangs & Deceit

I lost it and threw myself across the couch, hugging her fiercely. Carmilla laughed as I spilled liquor everywhere.

“Thank you!” I squeezed her once more before pulling back to look her in the eyes. “I promise you that I will be a strong asset for House Harker and will do whatever I can to support our House in the future.”

“I know you will.” She patted my cheek lovingly. “Now, you’ve had a long day. Go get settled. Your room has been kept up while you were gone, and all your belongings are still there. We’ll speak more tomorrow.”

Kieran trailed after me as I found my way back to my old room, and I only half paid attention to everything he was saying. For the first time in years, I had a future in front of me that I was actually excited about.

“Have you been listening to anything I’ve said?” he asked when we reached the doors to my suite.

“No,” I said honestly. He huffed a laugh and moved to follow me inside, but I blocked his entrance with a pointed look. “Nuh-uh. I’m going to have a nice long soak in my tub and call my besties.”

“Or,”—he offered me a heated look—“I can join you in the bath and maybe rub some of the tension from your shoulders?”

I leaned against the doorframe and tilted my head while Igave him a very obvious once-over, noting all the ways he’d changed in the years I’d been gone.

Kieran had never been that tall or big. When he’d first arrived at House Harker, he’d just turned fourteen like me. I’d just gone through a growth spurt and towered over him with my five and a half feet. He’d gradually caught up to me and during my years at Drudonia; every time I came back to the House for a visit, Kier would be just a little taller. I unfortunately never grew any further, so now I was the one always tilting my head back to look up at others.

Even after surpassing me in height, Kieran had been on the slender side back then. That was no longer the case. While I wouldn’t describe him as bulky, his lean frame was now corded with muscle. Fuck. Kieran had always been good-looking, but now he was absolutely gorgeous.

“Based on the way you’re practically drooling over me,” he drawled with a smirk, “I’m assuming the answer is yes to that shoulder rub.”

“It’s not my shoulders that I’m interested in having rubbed,” I said with a shrug, pleased when a spark of surprise lit up his eyes.

Our flirting had always been harmless and mostly one-sided growing up. Kieran was a flirt with everyone, and I’d been promised to Demetri. Part of me had always wanted to flirt back, and sometimes I did, but normally I refrained because it’d felt too dangerous at the time.

Because IlikedKieran.

It would have been too easy to cross that line with him, and that would have ended with me nursing a broken heart.

But now, even if I didn’t go through with the marriage dissolution… Demetri clearly didn’t view our marriage as one based on love and respect. If, and that was a very big if, I decided not to dissolve our marriage and return to House Laurent, our marriage would be one in name only. I wouldn’t deny myself pleasures any longer.

However, I would deny them for this night, because now that I had the conversation with my aunt over with, all I could feel was the sense of grime on my skin. I needed to cleanse myself of the trials of the day and fill Rynn and Cali in on everything that had happened.

I reached out and flicked Kieran on the nose. “See you in the morning.” Then I shut the door in his face.

“I’mgonna cut off his balls and make him choke on them!” Cali snarled. Her shadowy form was perched on the edge of the bathtub and was practically vibrating with unrestrained rage.

Rynn waved her hand dismissively, causing the shadows that made up her fingers to swirl through the air from where she was leaning against the wall next to the tub. “Demetri has always been worthless. He’s hardly worth the effort. I’m more pissed about his mother. Who the fuck does she think she is?”

“The head of House Laurent,” I said dryly as I sunk further into the bath.

As the Heir of House Harker, my suite was comprised of a large sitting area, a bedroom, and a rather lavish en suite. Every time I used the tub, I silently thanked the Fae for being such fans of luxury and leaving this all to us.

Granted, that probably hadn’t been their intention, but whatever. Finders, keepers.

Cali snorted and flicked her hand. A dark tendril whipped towards the water, solidifying for just a second, and water splashed against my face. I wiped it off with a laugh. If anyone else saw Cali using her magic so casually they would be terrified.

Shadow magic was feared thanks to the wraiths that roamed the nights, but the Furies excelled at wielding it the same way Moroi were skilled with blood magic and the Velesians had some psychic abilities.

Cali, in particular, was quite talented, well on her way to becoming the strongest Furie in existence. That is, if she didn’t lose herself in the process.

At least, that was what her family and the Furie elders feared. The Rayne bloodline was notorious for being incredibly powerful… and going insane. Because of that, the family worked hard to control and tamp down the rage that burned within them.

It required a delicate balance on their part because they needed that rage to fuel their magic the same way Moroi required blood and the Velesians relied on a connection to the earth.

They devoted their lives to walking the line of suppressing their rage without making it disappear completely. That meant they avoided anything that might tip them over the edge.

Like love.

---