Page 60 of Our Sins in Blood (Coven of Sin 1)

“I don’t know what the fuck you’re insinuating, but your father killed himself by drinking liquid silver. That’s knowledge that only his progeny and the Elders were supposed to be privy to. Now that it’s gotten out to the Boston Coven, we know there is a traitor in our midst.”

“But that’s not really how he died, is it?”

There was, so far, no hard evidence pointing to the fact that my dad’s suicide had been staged. All I had was my gut instincts and the fact that no one loathed my father more than Vincent Feral, who also happened to have the world’s biggest hard-on for the throne.

To me, it was a no-brainer.

The vampire strode toward me with terrifying purpose in his steps, easily eating up the distance between us. He was still shirtless, muscles shifting beneath raven-tattooed skin, a lethal miasma of fury oozing off of him like a damn gas leak. He slapped his hands down on the car, caging me between his arms as he loomed over me.

“You want to tell me what you’re getting at?”

I swallowed. “I think you know what I’m getting at.”

“I warn you—”

“What are you gonna do? Kill me, like you killed him?”

To my shock, the vampire’s expression remained completely stony. If I had guessed right, there was nothing etched in the grooves of his face, not a twitch or a flicker in his eyes that would betray the fact.

He reached to brush a knuckle over my cheek, the gentle gesture turned menacing by the poison lacing his tone. “Sweet little princess, you think I killed your daddy? I fucking wish. Progeny can’t kill their masters. It’s impossible. There was no one stronger than him that could have forced him to drink that silver. It would have had to have been his own will.”

I jutted my chin out, glaring. “Even so. My father wasn’t the type to kill himself.”

“You don’t know shit about your father.”

“I know that you’re more like him than you care to admit. And I know you would rather be ripped off the throne by a pack of wolves than surrender it by drinking silver. You think I’m so damn naive. That may be true, but I’m not a total dunce. You have to know, I don’t care. Who gives a shit if you murdered him? He was an evil asshole. You probably did a lot of people a lot of favors.” I reached out to touch his chest, hoping to ease the tension between us but he shoved me away with a snarl.

“Keep your fucking hands off me. You have no idea the world of shit that’s going to come down on you if you keep digging into my past. If you insist on playing Nancy Drew, help us figure out who the mole is.”

He stormed away and turned to look over his shoulder at the hanger door. “The sun will be up soon. Go upstairs, clean yourself up, and go to sleep.”

“No way! I’m going to your meeting. I deserve to be there.”

His gaze raked down my body, hot and leering at me like I was something to eat. “Dressed like that? Are you coming as one of the Knight heirs or as a snack?”

“Let’s get one thing straight asshole, I can be naked, wearing a potato sack, or a damn inflatable t-rex costume. I deserve to be at your little ‘bro’ meeting. I’m going to be your queen, aren’t I? If you want me to be your mate on top of that you’ll start thinking long and hard about what you tell me what I can and can’t do. Now I’m going up to take a shower and find a change of clothes. Don’t start the meeting without me.”

I moved to march past him but he caught my arm and jerked me toward him. “Or what? What are you gonna fucking do?”

I held my head high, meeting his dagger-sharp glare with one of my own. “Oh, who knows?” I leaned against him as if I was flirting, and ran a teasing finger down his chest.

“There are so many ways I can piss you off. Maybe I’ll form a ‘We Hate Vincent Feral’ club with Eros. We’ll bond over how much we both hate your guts. Or maybe I’ll just tell all your brothers that I think you’re lying to them about their master’s death. I don’t think they’ll blame you but they deserve to know.”

His gaze turned dark as death, a thin ring of red bordering his blown up irises. He looked absolutely terrifying but I refused to flinch. “You’re playing with fire, little girl.”

“I’m not afraid of a few burns.”

“The way you’re heading, you’ll be going down in flames.”

I patted his chest, flashing him a coy grin. “Then you’re going down with me, big guy.”

With that I shoved past him and made my way toward the mansion, feeling his smoldering glare hot on my back.

Okay, so even I had to admit I had just done something incredibly stupid. My new obsession with riling up the most tightly wound of the Knight princes wasprobablygoing to get me killed.

But the plan that I’d hatched in the car was the first step in protecting me not only against Vincent but against the Boston Coven to boot.

In fact, I felt pretty damn confident taking on this whole queen thing if the plan worked.

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