Page 40 of The Serpent's Bride
Dismemberment. She’d have to knock him out, saw his limbs off, and…she looked down at the plate of food in front of her, and found she suddenly wasn’t at all hungry.
Raziel leaned close, whispering in her ear. “Eat something. You’ll need it.”
The meaning was clear.We can’t have you passing out when I drink your blood and make you regret teasing me for the past few days.
Gods below, she prayed her glamor would hold on her blood long enough for him not to detect what she was. Otherwise, her revenge plan wouldn’t last until morning, and she wouldn’t have to worry about convincing him to delay the sacrificial honeymoon.
Nodding once, she picked up the fork and knife and forced herself to eat as much of the roast beef as she could.
“Nice of your father to provide the beef for tonight.” Raziel was clearly unimpressed. “I hope he will enjoy the photographs we’ll send him. A reminder of the daughter he dismissed from his life.”
“I’m sure he’ll be thrilled.” The sarcasm was thick in her voice as she took a sip of her champagne. Fuck, she hated champagne. Somehow too bitter and too sweet at exactly the same damn time. How it managed that, she had no idea. But it was a moment for celebration, so…here she was. Eating overcooked roast beef and drinking champagne.
Next to the man she hated. Who had killed her family.
Who she was now married to.
Who she was extremely attracted to.
Who was going to kill her if she didn’t beat him to it and kill him first.
The whole situation was so farcical it was hard to be upset by it, really. That was probably why it was easier to smile over the whole ordeal than she would have expected.
Raziel sat back in his chair and watched the crowd in front of them. Laughing, sharing drinks, clearly having more fun than they were. “Parasites.” The single word was said with such disdain—suchhate—that she was taken aback by it.
“These are your family and friends.”
“Are they? Look at them. Do you know how many of these humans I’ve evenmetbefore? Let alone evencareabout?”
“No?”
“None of them.” He sneered. “They circle about us like vultures. No. Worse than that. They are hyenas, waiting for the lions to make a kill so they can lick the bones clean. They’re weak, powerless, insignificant littlethingsand if it weren’t for us, the savages would have rendered them all extinct long ago.”
If the Nostroms were lions, Raziel wasn’t even the king of the pride. Mael was the brother with the most influence, the most standing in the family. Even Lana outranked him. She opted not to point that out to him.
Shaking her head, she went back to her food and drink. “If you aren’t a fan of humans, why have us around at all in the first place?”
He was silent for a long time. “Isn’t it obvious? We can’t feed on each other. And wecertainlycan’t feed on the fae.” He gestured vaguely at the scene in front of him. “So, we protect the meat.”
“Why can’t you feed on the fae?” Oh, now this was interesting.
“They’re vermin. They tasteutterly vile.” He took a sip of his wine. “Unmistakably so.”
Was that true…? Well,fuck.She had no idea if it was true or not. Would Raziel know the moment he sank his teeth into her neck? She could only continue to pray that her glamor held out.
She downed her glass of champagne and poured herself another. If he noticed her sudden exasperated and slightly panicked expression, it didn’t stop him from continuing his rant.
“Look at them. Celebrating like this is some kind of momentous occasion. They all know this is just as fake as we do. They don’tcareabout me. They don’tknowme. They’re simply hiding in the safety of our power.” He grimaced, revealing his dangerous fangs. The fangs he planned to sink into her throat—or elsewhere—before the morning. “But they celebrate the death of one of their own, don’t they? They know the moment we leave for our ancestral home, only I’m coming back. Yet they have thegallto toast you. You might as well be on the plate with thefuckingbeef.” He almost sounded offended on her behalf. How…oddly sweet.
She huffed. “I’m almost flattered that you rank me on par with what the chefs did to this poor slab of meat.” She poked the steak in front of her. “They really didn’t need to kill the cow a second time, I wonder if they knew that when they cooked it. At what point do I graduate to ‘properly cooked dinner’? Or is that never going to happen?”
“You’ve turned out to be more than I expected, I’ll give you that much.” He trailed his hand over her shoulder, tracing the line of the shawl she was wearing. “But if you think a pretty face and a willingness to stab Hank is going to win me over, I have terrible news.”
She laughed. She didn’t know why. The farce of the situation finally caught up to her. Or maybe it was the champagne. She turned her focus to the crowd in front of them. Tables upon tables of people, many who were known to her—but not a single one of them hisfriend.
Ivan and anyone else Raziel might actually consider friends were working, after all. The bull in question was standing nearby, arms folded.
As for Hank, the other guard? He was watching the rear entrance. She’d apologized for the gash on his side, and he’d just simply shrugged and said he’d gotten worse going to brunch.
