Page 2 of Heir of Darkness

A pair of footsteps walked up to them. It was Dante Vitali, his suit wrinkled and shirt unbuttoned. Luna didn’t bother to fix her appearance or move away from Valerio. She didn’t care anymore if their position looked improper.

“Father wants you for the meeting,” he told Valerio.

Valerio stood up, turning back to Luna one last time. “Drink some water and go inside.”

“Drink some water and go inside,” she mocked in a quiet tone, currently annoyed with all men.

Even if he heard her, he pretended he didn’t, but still kept the slightest hint of a smirk on his face. When she was alone once again, she looked up at the statue behind her, running gentle fingers over the unnamed woman’s hand. Luna stood up, walking back into the party that continued on without her.

By the time she found her father, he was already shaking hands with Valerio and his father, Cesare Vitali.

A contract had been signed just like they wanted. One more influential and groundbreaking.

Luna Kingsley was set to marry Valerio Vitali.

ONE

LUNA

The last placeLuna should have been on a Sunday night was the Vitali mansion. Finn had made her promise she would be staying in bed tonight, getting a full night’s sleep before her first day of school tomorrow. Unfortunately for both of the Kingsley kids, Cecilia Hart was far too convincing when she wanted to party.

Luna hated the Vitali mansion. The home itself was beautiful and spacious. The walls were a soft cream, the floors a deep oak. The couches in the living room looked far too fancy to be sitting in the center, vulnerable to the drunk partygoers who overfilled their cups and danced erratically. One known fact about the Vitalis: They were loaded. Hosting a party of this size, they must have had a cleaning crew booked and replacement furniture on the way.

But that wasn’t why Luna hated the mansion. Rumor washewas living here again, back from his time abroad for the last seven years. She had been at the party for a couple of hours and he was still nowhere to be found. A relief for her and her best friends, who were able to continue partying until Luna was ready to leave.

Although the rivalry between the Kingsleys and the Vitalis rang strong, Luna was best friends with Gianna Moretti, cousin of the devil. It meant she was excluded from the petty fights that the boys got in to. She still had her own rivalry with the devil himself though, but it was personal and went beyond the rivalries their families had had for generations.

All night, she felt his shadow watching her like a predator stalking its prey. Her mind told her it wasn’t real; he wouldn’t have wasted time to make his presence known to her if he was actually there.

But it was his coming home party, a fact Gianna had conveniently left out until Luna walked through the door. That meant he had to be here somewhere, waiting for his moment to pounce.

She hadn’t intended to come, but when Gianna brought up the party to her, Cecilia, and Blair, the latter two jumped at the offer and forced Luna to come along.

She wished she’d stayed home.

Still, Allister Moretti and Dante Vitali knew how to throw a party. Gianna danced on the table, drunk out of her mind. Blair Adler, one of the top students at Grand Willow University, sat in the lap of some poli sci student who stood absolutely no chance with her, and Cecilia was lost somewhere in the sea of bodies. They were all in a state of carelessness, or maybe they were just drunk. She would have been too if she wanted to wake up with a pounding hangover for the first day of classes.

Any other night, Luna would have been dancing alongside them. Tonight, she hid against the wall, hoping the crowd of people covered her.

Until she had to pee.

Luna sighed, pushing herself off the wall. She shoved her way through bodies covered in sweat, making her way over to the bathroom beside the kitchen. The house was abnormally large,and yet, the number of people inside made it feel like she was walking through a tunnel. The floor was sticky and covered in gold glitter decorations, forcing her to kick off one that had stuck on her shoe.

The line for the bathroom was long. Luna wasn’t even sure where it ended and the urge to pee only got worse. She groaned.

Ducking under a fallen “Celebrate” sign that had been lazily hung up with tape, she climbed the stairs quickly, her heels clicking on the polished floors as she walked. Her feet were killing her and the straps of the black dress she wore dug into her shoulders. She was ready to go home and take it all off, turn on a show, and pass out on her bed before her anxiety about the new semester kicked in.

The upstairs was clear just as she knew it would be. There was a bathroom in Gianna’s room down the hall, but there was also one directly across from the study. Sincehehad been gone, the doors remained shut. She always passed by it when she came over to visit Gianna, and the room felt so much colder than the rest of the home. She assumed that any room he occupied frequently, like his bedroom, was probably just as cold.

This time, the mahogany doors were cracked open. Loud laughs escaped, drifting down the hall. Someone muttered something incoherently, stupidly—most likely drunk. Dante and Allister would be in there, but she wasn’t sure ifhewould be.

The last time she had seen him was for a second at some gala they both attended with their parents years ago. Seven years ago, to be exact. He had been young and boyish-looking, with black hair that was brushed back neatly but could be unruly at best. He didn’t smile back then, and she was sure he probably still didn’t.

That was when they first brought up the possibility of their union—her parents and his father. And it was for that reason she avoided him like the plague. It was also for that reason that she shouldn’t have been at his homecoming party either.

Another loud chuckle stopped her. Was there something really that interesting happening inside?

Luna’s curiosity was piqued. There may have been a small part of her that wanted to see if he was actually back. If she was quick with it, she could take one glance into the room and then continue her way to the bathroom. She huffed. Why did she even care if he was back?

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