Page 82 of The Serpent's Bride
Even Mael was fighting a smile.
“Enough.” Volencia had the presence of mind to ruin her fun. “Leave her be, Alberto. This is not a permanent arrangement. She leaves for her honeymoon in two days, and she will not be returning.”
And neither will your precious son, you rampant bitch.No one would come back from the trip. Nadi would make fuckingsureof it.
The luncheon continued on exactly as it had started. More niceties. More obnoxious conversation. After food, everyone broke away into little pockets of conversation. She trailed alongside Raziel for the most part as that would be exactly what Monica would do. At least, until he excused himself and went to go speak to someone privately, leaving her alone in one corner of the large greenhouse by a large statue of some vampire muckety-muck whose name she didn’t care to learn.
“Finally.”
Turning, she found herself staring at a chest. Blinking, she looked up. Right. Mael wastall.“Oh. Hello.” She smiled at him.
“Bastard certainly has a way of keeping me from speaking to you.” The tank of a vampire shook his head. He looked like the antithesis of his brother. Every time she saw him, it struck her how remarkably different they were. Like the two moons—one light, one dark, but both belonging to the night sky. His golden eyes were hidden behind dark sunglasses. Even under the tinted glass of the greenhouse and the shady sky, it was bright for vampires. “I have been attempting to talk to you since after the wedding. He said if I didn’t watch myself, he’d order me to eat my own hands.”
“Can he do that?” She wrinkled her nose. “Order a vampire to do something?”
“I’m honestly not sure. He’s never tried.” He chuckled. “I’d hate to find out. Would you like to join me for a walk? Lana has beautiful gardens. And while the mayor is here and I have business to do, it can wait.” Gesturing one of his enormous hands down a path, he started moving before even waiting for Nadi’s answer.
“Sure.” Shewasgoing to join him, anyway. But the fact that he assumed made her want to roll her eyes. Lana’s fake gardens were rather pretty, she had to admit. They were beautifully designed with soaring iron arches to keep therealroses from consuming the building. The Wild could infect anything, if they weren’t careful. But most of the plants were replicas. She supposed a fake garden was easier to keep alive—no need for a staff to take care of plants when everything was metal and glass.
But so strange that the humans and vampires felt the need to mimic the thing that they hated and feared so very much.
She kept those thoughts to herself.
“He told me you were concerned for my well-being. That’s funny, considering I’m going to be dead soon. But a sweet thought, I suppose.” She chuckled.
“To use a metaphor you might appreciate, just because I eat a steak doesn’t mean I want the cow to suffer.” Mael sighed. “And I don’t think it’s right, rushing you off to die like that. You showed your value. If I…”
Interesting.Veryinteresting. “If you, what?”
“Nothing.” He shook his head again. “There’s no point in wondering what could have been. You’re his wife.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny manilla envelope. “I just wanted to give you this.”
Taking it, she pretended she didn’t know what it was, and looked back up at him quizzically. She knewexactlywhat it was. Pills, made from the mushrooms from the Wild.
“For the pain. Of…” He made a face and looked away. “Of being with him. I know what he’s like. Weallknow what he’s like. And what he can do to people. If you need to dull the pain, take one. If you need it to stop…take them all.”
Oh.
Oh, shit.
Well. Wasn’tthatfascinating. Reaching out, she placed her hand on his arm. “Mael? Thank you. Really. I can tell you care, and that—that honestly means the world to me.”
The funny thing was, she could tell he reallydidcare. Why, she didn’t know. Putting the small envelope in her inside coat pocket, she let her hand drop from his arm. “I don’t want to die, Mael.”
“I know. And for that, I’m so truly sorry.” The big vampire stepped in closer to her, making the moment suddenly intimate. Alarm bells started ringing in her head. “If there were more time, I would?—”
“There you are. We’re leaving.”
Raziel.
Like an icy wind through an open door in the dead of winter, he shattered the suddenly too-warm moment. Mael took a step back from Nadi, and it left her standing there, stunned and confused.
“Y—yeah.” Honestly, she was kind of relieved. “It was good to talk to you, Mael. I—” She was about to sayI look forward to seeing you again,but…Monica wasn’t coming back from that trip to the ancestral home. “Bye.”
The walk to the car was deathly silent. And so was the majority of the ride back. It wasn’t until they were halfway backto Raziel’s home that he held his hand out to her, palm up. “Hand me the envelope.”
“What?” She blinked.
“The envelope he gave you.” The look on his face was one that promised violence, though she didn’t feel the swirl of his hypnotism in the air. “Now.”
