Page 20 of The Serpent's Bride
Lana snickered as she filled her glass with alcohol. “Did he, now?”
Raziel still didn’t move, just lay there with his arm over his eyes.
“I do have a hand in the family business. All us ladies do,” Lana continued. “I’m in automobile sales, actually.”
Raziel snorted once in laughter.
“Really? How modern.” It was easy to feign surprise on that one. Lana pretended she dealt inautomobiles?How in the name of the moons did that make any sense?
“Mmhm. All manner of vehicles.” Lana poured a second drink. Nadi watched carefully just in case the woman slipped anything into either glass, but it seemed fine. Lana crossed the room to offer her one of the drinks.
Nadi took it, smiling in thanks. Even if she wanted to smash the glass on the marble coffee table and ram the broken pieces into Lana’s skull. “That sounds fascinating.”
“It is, honestly. We offer every kind of ride. New and used. We rent, we lease, we sell. Any kind of ride you could imagine, we provide it. Cheap? Expensive? Exotic? Even the hard-to-find ones—we’ll procure them for our patrons.”
Ah.Therewas the joke. Nadi kept her expression smooth as if she believed it. “Is there a lot of money in it?”
“What do you think?” Lana sat down on the arm of Nadi’s chair. So much for personal space. Lana reached out and stroked her hand over Nadi’s hair. “Weareone of the richest families in the metropolis.” The vampire let out a rush of air. “Goodness. You came from one of the outer cities? I need to get out of the metropolis more often.”
Lana was beautiful, with her long, perfect blonde hair, and her full lips painted a garish color that matched her magenta eyes, revealing what she really was. She had curves in all the right places. What Nadi hadn’t expected was the seemingly genuine…brightness to the woman. Like she was about to coo over a baby rabbit.
How could she rent, lease, and sellpeople—and still smile like that?
“I just can’t get over howprettyyou are.” Lana’s expression was almost innocent. It was missing the cruelty, the deviousness, the inherent predatory nature that her brother had. “I’m sure Raziel has had a hard time keeping his hands off you.”
Nadi blinked. “I just arrived. He’s—he’s been busy, and—well. He’s been letting me rest from the travel.”
“How…gentlemanly.”Lana shot Raziel a withering stare. “I’m sure his intentions are nothing but pure. He is such a chivalrous man, after all.”
“Love you too.” Raziel didn’t even dignify Lana’s obvious barbs with a gesture or eye contact. “Are you done, now? Can you leave?”
“Rude!” Lana huffed. She scooted down the arm of the chair, squishing Nadi into the other side to squeeze in next to her. She put her arm around Nadi’s shoulders. “And I’m here to get to know my new sister. You can fuck off, for all I care.”
Nadi went tense, trying her best to relax. But she supposed the real Monica would be a little uncomfortable with the situation, so she was still in character. She sipped the drink Lana had given her in an attempt to refocus her attention on something.
Raziel laughed dryly. “Like I would trust you with her alone? It wouldn’t be five minutes before you had her legs spread and your hand buried up to your wrist in her?—”
“Brother!” Lana placed her hand over her chest, gasping in horror. “What a horrid thing to say! You’ll offend Monica’s innocent ears.”
Right. Innocent. Nadi killed people for a living. The idea that she hadn’t witnessed her fair share of what people could do with each other was pretty hysterical. But, she was supposed to be a sweet, bright-eyed cattle rancher’s daughter. Not an assassin who had walked in on somefascinatingscenes in her life.
“Besides.” Lana rested her head on Nadi’s shoulder. “I would never do something so crass before your wedding. Now…afterthe wedding? That’s another story.”
Nadi had to bite back a genuine laugh.
Lana’s coarse joke earned her a reaction from Raziel. Namely, he lifted his other hand to idly flip her the bird.Nadi just sat there, pretending like she wasn’t a part of the conversation. Because she really wasn’t.
Lana noticed her silence and, lifting her head from Nadi’s shoulder, kissed her cheek. “I’m joking, of course.”
“I figured.” Nadi smiled at her, feigning nervousness. “Sibling banter.” Sure. Because normal siblings talked about shoving their fist up the other’s fiancée. Vampires…
“Raz and I have a special rapport.” Lana wiped away what was probably a magenta smudge on Nadi’s cheek. “And he is heinously inappropriate. You’ll learn soon enough.”
“Don’t you have somewhere to be?Carsto sell?” Raziel sounded both bored and annoyed. Listening to them dance around Lana’s real profession was half insulting and half hysterical.
How dumb did they really think Monica was? Pretty fucking dumb, by the sound of it.
Lana snuggled in closer to Nadi. “I want to hang out with my new best friend!” She snapped her fingers. “Oh! We should go out! Have you ever been to a jazz club? Of course not. They’re all the rage out here now. They don’t have clubs out where you’re from. Do they?”
