All Souls' Night - Renee Rose Page 0,79

embrace.

“Didn’t get everything checked off your list?” Marechal asks.

“No, I accomplished what I set out to do.” I let my sisters go and scratch at the ache in my chest. “There were just… unintended consequences.”

“Uh oh,” says Cari, returning to Hadrian’s lap. “You should know my brother does not like surprises. He likes things to go exactly as planned.”

Hadrian smiles at his bride, looking at her like she is both the star he wished on, and wished for. Only a couple of weeks ago, I determined that Hadrian has an unhealthy obsession with my sister. I see it clearly tonight. That is the look of a man hopelessly in love.

“Anything we can help with?” asks Gaius as Marechal comes back beside him.

I chuckle at the offer. I’m not sure which would be the funnier ask. Should I tell Gaius about my intent to expose his kind to the world? Or should I regale him with the account of my misstep of falling for one of his kind and then calling her a monster, thereby ensuring she will have nothing to do with me, ever?

“You’re family now,” Gaius is saying. “I know we’re not the brothers you would’ve liked, but we’re the brothers you’ve got, and we take care of our own.”

He’s right. This is my family now. A collection of munsters trying to fit into the world we all find ourselves in.

The theme song to the sitcom plays through the television set, signaling the end of the show. There is a knot in my stomach. A dull heaviness in my chest.

“Why don’t you get some rest?” says Gaius. “Whatever it is, we can talk about it tomorrow night.”

He doesn’t need to compel me to take that direction. I go to the guest room Gaius indicates. My eyes are closed before my head hits the pillow. But even before my lids shut, all I can see is her face.

Deleting the video saved her and my family from a world that would struggle to accept them. But I have to face facts. Sanai’s face will play on a loop in my mind for the rest of my life. If I don’t find her and make things right, the color will drain from my world.

Chapter 12

“You’re still in bed? It’s nine at night. You’re usually up by the first moonbeam.”

I turn away from the moonlight that enters the room as Fay spreads the curtains. I’m not ready to greet this new night. I don’t know when I’ll be ready to greet any other night.

“You’ve already missed the first meal. The queen gave the eunuchs honeyed wine, and I have to say I like the sugary taste of the meal.”

The thought of another male’s blood makes my stomach churn. Fay thinks blood tinged with wine is sweet to the tongue. If she has a sip from a virile male, she’ll be incapacitated with one draw. A male high on the endorphins of sex would send her walking into the sunlight for a dust bath.

“What’s gotten into you?” Fay sits on the edge of the bed. Her slight form barely causes a dip in the mattress.

Her question is a loaded one. Little does she know, something has definitely gotten into me. More like someone.

I can still feel Arneis everywhere. On my tongue, between my thighs, and worse… in my heart.

“I’m just tired, Fayola. I think I’ll rest for the day while you and the queen go to the Serranos’ meeting.”

Staying in bed will also give me an excuse to not see the queen. Sooner or later, she will hear of my dealings at Club Toxic last night. Will she cast me out? And for which transgression? Attempting to take the meeting with the Serranos? Exposing the supernatural world to humans? Or having a sexual encounter with a man?

Whatever punishment she metes out to me, I will take it, even though I have already learned the error of my ways. Queen Malika was right to keep us from the vile creatures known as man. One brought me to such heights of pleasure, only to dash me down into unimaginable pain.

I know now why the queen cuts off that appendage of any man who wants to remain in her presence. She has only been trying to protect herself and her daughters from men’s treachery.

I wonder if the queen has ever had her own intimate encounters with men. If she had had a night like mine, she certainly wouldn’t have cut off Arneis’s member. Even though his words