Page 27 of Stone Lover
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Silence descendedwhen Malin landed in the center of Geza’s tower suite. His brother had the dome back tonight, one of the rare nights there was no rain, and the serum Surah had injected made Malin feel strong. Almostnormal.
He turned his head slowly, meeting the eyes of several warriors in the room. They stared at him, unmoving, except for deliberately casualmotions.
“Brother,” Geza called out. “You never join us for our eveningentertainment.”
Warriors parted as Geza rose from his couch on the far side of the room and approached. Malin met his eyes. “I have something tosay.”
Geza’s eyes narrowed fractionally, but he smiled and swept an arm with all the drama of a male who was slightly drunk…or pretending to be. “Then speak. The former Prince is always welcomehere.”
“Lady Surah, the Princess Ioveanu, is mine. She wears my jewelry and will bear mygarlings.”
Geza’s fake smile disappeared. “Is shepregnant?”
“No. Any male who touches her will die by my sword—and then I will go after hisline.”
“And what would Surah say aboutthat?”
Malin smiled, cold. Deathly cold. “She won’t know. But all ofyouwill. No more attempts on her life, no more attempts to court her. Stayaway from mybetrothed.”
Geza didn’t move. “Keep her, if you are strongenough.”
“She makes me strongenough.”
* * *
“Ineed a favor.”
Surah stared at her brother’s face in the wide screen of her laptop, unsure she’d heard correctly. That particular string of words had never left Geza’s mouth that Surah could recall. She ran her tongue around her teeth, considering all the variables. Hearing from Geza at all was surprising. The last several weeks had been…difficult. With Surah's now open mating to Malin, the relationship between the three was tense, to say theleast.
And there was the whole issue of Malin being approached to overthrow Geza and seize back the throne. Navigating their tangled relationships as sorta step-siblings was difficult enough on normal days. Especially on days when Surah had to endure looks of horror becausepeople seemed to forget she wasn’t related toMalin.
“Okay. What isit?”
Geza’s dark brow lifted imperiously. “You don’t want to negotiatefirst?”
“Negotiate with myPrince?”
Geza snorted, the display shaking for a moment as he threw himself onto his bed, midnight-ombre wings draping over the sides onto the floor. Which said something about his wingspan, since Surah knew the bed was the size of two CaliforniaKings.
“Like the fact that I’m your supreme Sovereign to whom you owe breath and allegiance ever mattered toyou.”
“What’s the damn favor,Geza?”
“I need you to convince Malin to marry myfiancée.”
Surah poked a finger in her ear, simultaneously checking the volume on her cell. “I’m sorry; I don’t think I heard youcorrectly.”
Geza stared off into the distance, already bored. “You heard me, Surah. Just a political marriage. It shouldn’t interfere with your betrothal nonsense–I don’t care if you are his firstwife.”
A brief note of distaste slid through Geza's tone before it disappeared. Surah stiffened. Geza had made his opinion of the union quite clear. It didn’t matter to him that Malin and Surah were both half-siblings to Geza. It mattered that they now paid more attention to each other than him. That their union meant she now had significant influence, a half-human, overtwoIoveanuPrinces.
And, yes, that did piss a lot of peopleoff.
“Are you in denial, Geza, about Malin andI?”
He ignored her question. “You owe me for not coming down on Malin for that little threat he made to his ruling Prince in public the otherweek.”
