Page 63 of The Star's Sword

I stumbled out of the portal still standing, and moved over to my friends a few feet away.

We waited until Sam came through, followed by Mor, and then Mor closed the portal behind us.

Mor had brought us right to Simon’s gate, and the guard watching the entrance recognized our group and waved to Samael as he pulled back the gate to let us in.

“Fancy,” Mor said. “I’ve been in the other realms so long I had no idea vampires have things so nice now.” We walked along the hedgerows, the moonlight beaming overhead as vampires passed us in groups, looking over curiously.

As some eyes fell on me, I could feel palpable hatred and disdain. Or was I imagining it?

Maybe the problem just seemed worse than it was.

But for some reason I felt less vulnerable the day we’d fought Dellen as a group and I’d nearly died than I did going into the vampire court again.

Zadis led us fearlessly forward, keeping my hand in his and pulling me along with Samael on my other side, glaring around us at anyone who came forward to stare.

The vampires standing by the glass doors that led into the elegant ballroom looked over our group scornfully, then slowly moved aside. “They have a void walker,” one of them said to another. “How low-brow.”

I spun, wanting to immediately take on someone who had spoken ill of my friend, but the vampire group had smoothly moved out of the way and into the gardens, before I could even confront them.

“It doesn’t bother me,” Mor said. “Vampires don’t like anyone. That’s the thing about their society. They’re all so fake. A bunch of heartless monsters trying to pretend they aren’t all the time.”

“What about Simon?” I asked. Plus Mark was pretty nice.

“Simon is too kind to his own kind,” Mor said. “He seems to always see the good in everyone. But they could turn on him at any moment too. They’re just here for his blood and his protection. But if they feel Vasara is stronger?”

“There’s a chance they could turn on Simon, too,” Zadis murmured.

“Exactly,” Mor said.

Samael was now holding one of my hands while Zadis held the other, as we walked into the ballroom and Griffin, Mor and Os split away from us to head into the glittering crowd of strong perfume and sparkling jewels and shining fabrics.

It felt safer to be there with Samael and Zadis, but I almost wondered if we looked weirder holding onto each other like that.

I let go of both their hands, giving them a smile as I moved to the head of our party, leading them both.

If was I going to be a Morningstar, I was going to need to be at the head of the pack, if only to show I could.

But it helped to know they were behind me.

“Well, well, well, look who decided to show up,” a low, booming voice said, and I looked up to see Mark, in his dark formal wear, at the top of the elegant, gilded marble stairs at the front of the ballroom. There was a landing, and then stairs went up on both sides, presumably to private rooms on the second floor.

He walked down to us and gave me a once over. As his gray eyes raked down over my exposed cleavage and thigh, a rakish grin spread over his face, which he put a hand up to partially hide. “Well, whoever is in charge of wardrobe, I need to thank them.”

I resisted the urge to cover myself as I heard Samael let out an angry curse.

“Calm yourself, incubus, she said you were mates,” Mark said. “Though you should let her feed with me, just for the loyalty bond. We could share her, you know.”

“Why don’t you dance with Cleo?” Zadis asked. “While Samael and I get acquainted with the rest of the court.”

“That sounds incredible,” Mark said, looking tempted. “But actually, I’d heard you arrived and wanted to smooth over some introductions with some of my court friends.” He looked to Zadis and Samael. “The two of you are welcome to join, but I did say she would be on my arm. You usually only bring a consort.”

“He’s on our side,” I said. “It’s fine.”

I put my arm over Mark’s huge forearm, even though I could feel Samael silently steaming behind me.

“Calm down,” Zadis said, linking his arms in a friendly way with Samael. “We’re still here. We’ve got her back.” Zadis laughed nervously, as Samael said nothing. “To be honest, I think we should get this guy a drink, if vampires are going to be talking to Cleo in that dress. His jealousy is already rising.”

“I’m just trying not to react to how I feel everyone looking at her with undeserved hate,” Samael said, messing with the cuffs of his shirt and rolling them up, trying to break away from Zadis, who kept hold of his arm. “I don’t know how I’m going to hold back if I hear anything like what they said in those papers.”

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