Page 67 of Halfblood Deceived

Aella shrunk into herself, blood rushing to her cheeks and ears.

Zeydan slid the tray with the remaining five steaks toward Aella. “Help yourself. You need to regain your strength.”

Aella blinked at him. There was no judgment on his face, nor disgust.

“I cooked those,” Sebastian announced proudly, drawing Aella’s attention to him. “I’d like an impartial opinion on who did it better.” He winked.

“You better grab two,” Evan suggested, leaning closer and whispering theatrically: “Sebastian’s steaks are usually better.”

“I heard that,” Kerian said. “Traitor.”

Everyone else resumed their meals.

Aella swallowed hard and, with slightly shaky fingers, she took one more steak before pushing the tray toward Evan, who grabbed his. Aylana and Lex also helped themselves to another serving.

Kerian and Sebastian were both waiting for Aella’s impartial judgment.

She took a bite, and a small but audible sound to everyone with supernatural ears left her throat.

Sebastian grinned, double canines flashing. “Aha!”

Kerian shrugged. “The flavor of your steaks was improved by the shower of juices from mine.”

“What juices?” Sebastian argued.

Aella almost laughed. The knot of tension in her stomach unwinded. Her hunger returned, but this time she forced herself to eat like a somewhat civilized person. Zeydan handed her a thick piece of buttered bread. Evan placed two more potatoes on her plate before piling a few more on his.

Sebastian and Kerian kept needling each other over who was the best chef. Kamilla and Aylana interjected from time to time in the clearly fond verbal sparring between the males.

Evan was cheeky enough to add a few comments now and then, but most of Zeydan’s family was divided between surprise and barely contained amusement. Aella understood that sentiment.

Here she was, having dinner with powerful, lethal, royal vampires who were clearly a family.

She should be afraid, but she wasn’t.

In fact, Aella couldn’t remember ever enjoying a meal so much.

CHAPTER 16

Aylana, Kerian, and Kamilla cleared the plates and placed them in the massive dishwasher. The table was cleaned in a communal effort that Aella had also been a part of. Sebastian served hot coffee and lavender tea, which they all helped pass on.

Her nerves still frayed, Aella took a cup of fragrant tea for herself.

The royals’ attention wasn’t riveted on Aella, per se, but she could feel their interest. Days had passed, so they had obviously talked at length about the situation already, but she had questions, so many questions. The atmosphere was strangely welcoming, and Aella was going to explode if she didn’t ask at least the most prominent question burning in her mind.

She took a bracing breath. “Did you kill Micah?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Zeydan answered, jaw ticking.

“He, along with the psychopathic fucker who wanted to clip Zeydan’s wings, ran away,” Andreas said, mouth curled with anger.

“‘Micah, the Davashkov twins are here!’” Sebastian mimicked Eli’s southern drawl but made the pitch higher. He scoffed. “So brave and mighty when the fight is three-to-one, but once they realized they were out-powered, they all but shat themselves.”

Aylana nodded. “I can confirm. The ones who were attacking Lex, Andreas, and Evan nearly fainted when I threw my fire at them.”

“You singed my tail a bit,” Evan pointed out, but he was smiling, something like swooning awe in his amber eyes as he gazed at Aylana. “But that was a small price to pay not to lose my head.”

Aylana returned the smile.

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