Page 86 of House of Vampires and Flame

Now he’s watching me like a hawk, I said irritably.

We can handle a hawk. We can handle all of the delicious princes. She smacked her lips. Do your pretense of innocence. You’re good at it.

Fuck off, I said. Just try not to stir more shit!

“Since no one can place his origin,” Louis drawled, “I propose to have Little Bob take turns serving each house for a week. He can rotate being a squire to Cade, Rowan, me, and Silas.”

Killian arched an eyebrow. “Have you forgotten a house, Louis?”

“You don’t seem interested in that squire, so why waste him on you?” Louis said. “But if you want him to be in your house as well, sure, why not. But mark my words, he’s trouble.”

“Yet you’re desperate to get him into your house.”

So the fucker could drink his fill of me during that week.

“Well, he has his moments.” Louis shrugged, staring at me in hunger. “And I’m the only one who knows how to handle him.”

Cade and Rowan murmured their agreement about having me serve each house for a week, like I was some kind of high-end whore for them to pass around.

Rage enveloped me. Sy seethed as well.

“No fucking way,” Silas retorted. “He’s a shifter, and he’ll serve as my exclusive squire.”

“On what basis, Silas? None of us believe that this Little Bob is a shifter,” Killian said.

What? My heart skipped a beat. This Killian was bad news.

The other heirs all chimed in, backing up the chaos heir.

“He entered my house even without being initiated,” Silas said.

He’d wanted to kick me out at some point, fed up with me, and now he was fighting tooth and nail to keep me because the other princes wanted to poach me.

“Do you know he got into my house the same way?” Louis chuckled without mirth. “He just walked through the door as if he was born in my house. You don’t have a claim on him based on that, Silas.”

Cade nodded. “That little squire snuck into the courtyard of my house as well, playing with the wards before I caught him. That’s how I’m sure that he’s a mage.”

A dark, brooding look coated Rowan’s silver eyes, and he drawled, “Are you saying he entered all of your houses without being invited or initiated?”

“He’s immune to magic, wards, and spells,” Louis offered. “Professor Longweed deemed him an Echo, a null. The rarest magic type, she said.”

All the princes turned their stares to Louis like birds of prey.

“And you didn’t inform us or the council that we have the first Echo in the realm?” Rowan demanded, suspicion and fury whirling in his eyes.

Shit! If the council got involved, more unwanted attention would shoot my way. Then shit was going to hit the fan.

The fae prince turned to glare at Cade. “You knew it too, since you’re a high mage. You can tell the squire’s magical grade. That’s why you’re desperately trying to enroll him in your house. Are you planning to use him as your spy since he can get into any house?”

“Fuck off, Rowan. You’re as paranoid as Killian.” Cade spread his arms. “And why the fuck am I under fire?”

“Way to try to poach my squire, assholes,” Silas hissed at the vampire prince.

“I’m releasing this information so the other heirs won’t be fooled by you,” Louis said. “You can’t hoard the squire. The sooner you release him from your grip, the better for every house.”

“This changes everything,” Rowan said. “No house should hoard an Echo, and the council must be informed while we investigate Little Bob’s true origin.”

I set my skates apart, stopping a few feet from the princes.

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