Blood and Blade (Goddess with a Blade #6) - Lauren Dane Page 0,58
the trip so the bill should be split.”
“Only because Vampire Nation bullshit forced me into it. So again, that’s Nation business and a Nation bill,” She said, a frown in her tone.
“I find your thriftiness so fascinating.”
“Look here, Scion.” She turned in her chair and he leaned against a nearby desk, waiting for whatever thing she was about to say. Whatever it was, he knew it would be amusing.
“Yes, darling? I’m all ears.”
She flipped him off. “You’re all attitude. But back to my point. The Vampire Nation is behind all this nonsense. Every last bit of it. So you should have to pay for the cleanup. How many broken bones have I had because of this bullshit? The Vampire Nation should buy me a fucking jet for all my troubles cleaning up your fucking mess.”
She had him there. If the situation were flipped, he’d send his bills to Hunter Corp. Not that he’d say as much to his wife.
“Well, undoubtedly I owe it to you after you sacrificed yourself for me. I know you made that deal with your father to protect me.”
They hadn’t talked about that yet and he wanted to broach it before she avoided it. She never wanted to be seen as soft but that’s what she could be. Like a miracle, just when he least expected it but needed it most.
“I don’t like you getting into debt with him. Not for me,” Clive said.
She waved a hand. “He was going to agree to everything you proposed anyway. But he would have dragged it out and made you give up stuff and it would have been stupid and a waste of time. I just got to the point, agreed to go visit at the winter holidays. And look, don’t tell anyone this, but the Keep at Solstice and Yule is spectacular. It’s all old school and pagan. He has torches lit every night along with fairy lights. All the greenery gets decorated. It takes a full week for them to get everything up and working. When it snows it’s like a dream. I didn’t know he hadn’t had any Yule Balls or full New Year’s Eve dinners in years and years though.”
“Not in the last decade or so. Not that I’ve been invited to.” Hm.
She snickered, knowing what he was thinking. “You’re Scion. You would have been invited. All the other Scions will be invited to the New Year’s thing. I don’t know about the Yule Ball. You never know when Theo is going to decide everyone has to attend and then all sorts of swanky Vampire families will have to sleep in tents in the gardens because he’s run out of room inside. He did that once. I was six or seven. Goddess, I hope he does it again. And that it snows like hell.”
“You’re a terrible person, darling,” he said, smiling.
Her laugh was close to a cackle of glee, which made him laugh as well. “I totally am. But we’ll be in our swank suite of rooms. Warm and dry snacking on all the things Dina will cook to spoil me.”
Dina knew how much Rowan deserved it. And since she’d made a sacrifice by exposing her vulnerability to her father, Clive would have to be sure to spoil her too, to make up for it.
“And they will be in tents humans use for glamping and it won’t be enough because Vampires are the most extra of all beings.” She started laughing again.
“What is glamping? Is that a weird sex thing?”
“It’s a portmanteau! Glamor camping. Glamping. Anyway they’re like super nice tents with multiple rooms and electricity and running water. All the things that make camping intolerable, glamping addresses. I mean, you’re still not sleeping in a hotel suite or at home. But if you had to be camping, that’s the way to go.”
“The best way to go is not to camp at all.”
“Not if your boss tells you to. Then you have to pretend to love it. He’s such a dick.”
“I can’t believe I don’t even get nauseated anymore when you say things like that. Maybe the terror has numbed me.”
“You gotta roll tough if you ride with me. That’s all I’m saying.”
“That’s never all you’re saying. There’s always more for you to say.”
She tossed a balled up sheet of paper at his head.
“Obviously you love and adore my dulcet tones and yearn to hear me talk all the time because I am super fucking wise. Duh.”