Page 28 of Our Sins in Blood (Coven of Sin 1)

Vincent apparently noticed how the coven vampires were watching us, too, because he snapped his severe glower on them, making everyone stiffen. Good to know it wasn’t just me he had that effect on.

“All of you need to get to sleep. The sun will be up soon.”

A woman with dark brown hair and sharp midnight eyes stepped out from the dozen or so vampires gathered. She was achingly beautiful, with a small nose and soft, plump lips that seemed to hide a secret by the way they were twisted. “We have a right to know if the Elders are actually fool enough to make this half-blood the new queen.”

Vincent’s mouth slashed with a hard line as he regarded the woman with cool indifference. “Fuck off, Lexi.”

Her lips contorted into an icy smirk. “I see you’ve gotten too comfortable with telling me where to fuck, Vincent.”

The vampire brushed her off with a scathing scoff and gestured to Corry, who opened the double doors while shooting a warning glare at the small crowd. The youngblood might have been the youngest of the brothers, but by the way everyone took a step back, the title of prince still seemed to carry weight no matter how young.

It was when Vincent pushed inside with me in tow that Corry stepped in and closed the doors behind us, baring out the looky-loos with a definitethud.

The room was huge, with large windows giving us a stunning ocean view, heavy velvet drapes framing either side. In front of the windows were seven thrones all lined up, side by side. They were all the same size except for the middle throne, which was slightly more elaborate than the rest. It was also the only throne that was empty, which meant it was a safe bet that this seat belonged to none other than the vampire king. Or at least, it had.

Before I shifted my attention to the other six filled thrones, I took in the details of my father’s empty one. It was old, made of wood so dark it was almost black. The legs and arms were thick, crafted to support a sizable body, and the back was elaborately carved. Squinting through the dimly lit space, I could just make out the screaming face of a woman, her mouth filled with needle-sharp teeth. The wood that sharped her teeth was stained with a liquid all the way down her neck and to the velvet padding of the chair, which also formed her dress.

Real blood.

It looked like the woman was wearing a string of sharpened pearls or maybe shards of moonstone, but I realized a second later that her necklace was made with real fangs.

My stomach churned.

The throne was a gothic treasure of terrifying proportions and an unsettling tribute to the kind of man who once sat on it.

How perfectly at home Vincent Feral would look in it.

At that bitter thought, I swept my line of sight down the row of thrones, taking in the details of each Elder one by one.

I wasn’t sure what I’d expected from an ancient vampire council, but it wasn’t this.

In movies and TV shows, they always wore matching red robes, maybe with a sexy human girl captive in one arm, squirming sexually as her captor preyed on her slender neck. And maybe there would be some ominous chanting in the background while the coven leader approached an altar at the center of the room where a virgin was tied.

Instead, they were all wearing normal clothes. No robes, no chanting, no altars, no virgin. Well, except for me.

There were five men and one woman. The woman and four of the men were dressed in suits.

The man at the far left of the room I immediately recognized. Every muscle in my body tensed as I took in Dr. Sharpe sitting there, regarding me coolly as if he’d done nothing wrong.

My fists balled at my sides as I slowly took up a standing position in the middle of the room, with Corry and Vincent coming to flank either side of me.

I should have felt small sandwiched between the stature of these two, who were easily the two fittest people in the room. Instead, I felt like I actually belonged here with them, on the same side of the coin, looking at the Elders with resentment palpable in the air.

“Good evening, Ms. Baxter. It’s good to see you released from your room.”

My chest swelled with anger as I registered that it was Dr. Sharpe speaking to me. “Yeah, no thanks to you. You lied to me.”

His expression remained completely blank. “I did what your father asked of me, Ms. Baxter. The important thing was that you were kept safe.”

“You mean locked in a cage until you needed me?”

Corry and Vincent were both stone stiff beside me. Vincent looked pissed, the cords of his neck taut with barely-reigned irritation. And Corry looked both amused and anxious as fuck.

I was ready to fire off another spiked comment in Sharpe’s direction, but another of the Elder caught my attention. He was sitting at the far right of the room and was the only one not wearing expensive clothes.

The instant I registered the details of the new face, all the pent-up rage I was getting ready to lob in Sharpe’s direction evaporated.

For a second, my mouth remained completely open, the words I was about to say completely robbed by the male, who wasn’t doing anything but sitting in his seat, watching me with quiet curiosity.

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