Blood Trial Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers #1) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,101

in Kyros’s chest.

One by one, the siblings grinned. In weird unison, they focused on me with muted gazes. Something was going on. There was a silent conversation happening. Because if his siblings were cats, he was the canary.

They knew something I didn’t. And if they knew it, Kyros certainly did or he wouldn’t be uncomfortable.

Kyros hadn’t told me everything. For one fucking second, I thought we might be figuring this shitstorm out together.

I took a large step away from him toward their barrier. “We should have just gone with Plan D from the start, Kyros.”

That drew his gaze from Safina and Francesca to me. “There wasn’t a plan D.”

“Lies and omission, Kyros. A great idea—your best, really. It’s a certain solution to our little problem. There’s no surer way to turn us against each other.”

I stormed to the line of his siblings who blocked the entrance. Pantsuit winked at me and turned sideways so I could pass.

I turned once out in the lane. “Is someone going to drive me to the tower? Or should I walk?”

They slid their eyes toward their eldest brother, their crown prince.

Whatever.

“Walking it is,” I declared, braid whipping around as I turned on my heel.

23

I sighed at Laurel over the top of the car—the silver trash car was nowhere to be seen today. I was back in the white one. The scratches I’d caused were gone, and I could only suppose I’d been trusted with the flashy vehicle again for the sake of appearances.

I stood outside the three-bedroom, two-bathroom property of Mr and the future Mrs Polton in Green.

“They could be watching us,” I told the vampire. “Wait down the end of the street or out of sight. I don’t care. But it’ll be weird if you’re in the car waiting like my caretaker.”

Laurel clasped her hands behind her back. “I’m sorry, Miss Tetley. I have my orders.”

She had her chains.

“Do you have the number of someone in the tower?” I asked, rubbing my temples. I’d been awake half of Saturday and Sunday night, replaying Kyros’s groan when I licked his fang. Thank god, his siblings interrupted us. Their bad record after Level 66 was officially wiped clean. Pantsuit even gave me a lift back to the tower in the end. I was considering asking for a transfer to the industry she covered—whatever that was. I’d put my money on Finance.

The Indebted stared over the top of the car at me. “Yes, I do.”

I rounded the car and held out my hand.

With a shrug, she passed her sleek device over after dialling a number. Not as easy to hold as Beast, if truth be told. It probably didn’t have brick snake either. Phones had gone backward.

I held the device to my ear.

“Laurel.”

Crap. “Angelica,” I said coolly.

“Miss Tetley?”

“The same,” I answered. “There’s an issue. Laurel has orders to remain with me, but she’s going to weird out my clients if she does. Can you expand her orders so she can wait at the end of the street?”

Silence met my query. “I’ll have to clear that. Hold, please.”

I listened as she placed the phone down and spoke to someone else in the room. I assumed she was clearing it with Kyros—my babysitter.

The speaker snapped as Angelica picked up the phone again. “Five houses away. No more.”

That seemed extreme. “Laurel was only appointed to me because I don’t know how to drive... right, Angelica?”

She paused. “Word has reached our ears that Clan Fyrlia is aware we have a human in our employ.”

“So?”

“We have never had a human in our employ, Miss Tetley. It’s unexplored territory for us, and Kyros decided to take the safe route.”

If growing up in a drama-fuelled rich world had taught me anything, it’s that both contenders in a war always believed they were right. The clan I worked for weren’t as squeaky clean as they liked to harp on about. The other clan probably sprouted the same propaganda against them.

“Sure. I’ll pass that on to Laurel.”

“Thank you. And so you know, King Julius rolled a three last night.”

A three. “Green?”

“Green.”

I didn’t know the various probabilities of the dice combinations, but from my own experience with board games, three didn’t crop up much. Yet here I was. What was the bet that all the staff with appointments in the most likely suburbs were scrambling to adjust their days?

I snorted and hung up, turning to Laurel. “Catch all that?”

She was already moving down the street. “Got it.”

“Okay. I usually take a couple of hours unless they slam