Page 16 of House of Pawns
“Before you decide to join me,” I begin as a cement ball starts to form in my stomach, “there’s something you need to first know. I think the King has sent a spy to watch me. This means it won’t be long until the King arrives.”
Lillian’s face blanches slightly, and I see her swallow once. The gears are turning in her head, over and over, evaluating the implications of what I just said.
“The King was going to come one way or another,” she answers. “Better he comes with you already in leadership, with your own allies, than come with you being used as Jasmine’s pawn.”
“Do you know anything about the article in the paper this morning?” Ian asks. There’s a sharp edge to his voice. He’s talking to a House member, face to face, and he has to be nice about it—for my sake.
Rath slides the paper across the table and Lillian takes it.
“She never said anything to us,” Lillian says as she scans the article. “But it seems like a move Jasmine would make.”
I’m about to comment, when Ian and Lillian both perk up at the same time. They both turn to face the window and their eyes flash red.
“What is it?” I ask in a whisper. Without thinking, my knees have bent and my hand clasps around the stake tighter. I gaze out the window, but I can’t see anything through the darkness.
Ian is suddenly gone and I hear the front door open.
Rath is on his feet, retrieving a crossbow from the buffet table I didn’t know was there. Lillian is on her feet, and she backs up toward me, as if guarding me.
“What’s going on?” I demand.
“I heard someone out there,” she says. Her voice hisses just slightly. “Breathing, quiet and low, like they were trying to hide. I know I saw a silhouette.”
“The spy,” Rath says as he crouches beside the window, pulling back the Gaussian curtains.
I step out from behind Lillian and start for the front door. My insides quiver slightly. I’m just a girl still, just a human woman from Colorado who likes to bake and watch badnineties teen comedies. But right now, I have to be a ruler. A leader of Born vampires.
“What are you doing?” Rath growls as he watches me go.
“I’m not hiding.” My voice holds confidence, and as I say it, I feel it grow inside of me.
I step out onto the front step, feeling the brisk morning air seep into my clothes and snake up my back.
“My name is Alivia Ryan,” I say loudly into the dark as Lillian and Rath step up behind me. “I am the daughter of Henry Conrath. A Born Royal. You can tell your King he doesn’t need to spy on me. Tell him to come and talk to me face to face.”
Only darkness answers me back.
There’s no sign of the spy. No traces of Ian.
But here I am. Not hiding from my destiny.
I will not hide who I am.
Chapter
Seven
“TELL ME AGAIN WHY WE’RE doing this,” Ian says as he switches the blood bag for a new one.
I look down at the red tube connecting the needle that resides in my forearm to the fresh, new blood bag. I’m starting to feel slightly lightheaded.
“Who knows what is going to happen when the King comes,” I say, focusing on calming my racing heart. If I’m going to lie, I have to do it well to fool Ian. He was difficult to lie to before. Now, he can hear my heart race and smell the sweat that breaks out on my palms. “I just want to be prepared. If I get injured. If anyone in this House does. I’m a universal donor and we won’t exactly be able to race into a hospital with bite wounds and claw marks.”
Ian swears and shakes his head. His gloved hands carefully hold the bag that is slowly filling up with my blood. “I’m not even sure your blood is going to be safe, Liv. I bit you. I’m sure some of the vampire toxin is going to be in your system.”
“Not enough to hurt anyone,” I reassure him. I take hisfree, gloved hand in mine and squeeze. “Thank you for doing this. Despite it being my own blood that’s draining out of me, it’s actually kind of nice seeing you back in your element.”
This does bring the smallest of smiles back to his face. “I will admit it, I’ve missed working.”
