Blood and Hexes (After Darkness Falls #4) - May Sage Page 0,35

velvet sofa. She entirely bypassed Alexius, though. "Is it just me, or does it feel like those two have their own language?"

Diana rolled her eyes, helping herself to another scone. "She was the Duchess of Bedford, sometime in the nineteenth century of the last era. She attended court, but every afternoon, she got dizzy and weak. She'd sneak out to her room and eat some cake or light sandwiches. Then her lady friends found out and figured it was a wonderful idea. And Afternoon Tea was born."

Gwen lifted her pink and gold china cup high in the air. "To Duchess Anna!"

They echoed the nonsensical toast to a human woman long turned to a pile of bones, and kept munching and drinking the very best tea, perfectly brewed just at the right temperature. Catherine Stormhale was a hell of a hostess.

Though she remained with them, Diana saw her eyes surveying the entire room like a hawk. Whenever teapots and plates emptied out, she tilted her chin to Bash, who dutifully left Levi and Sylvan's sides to serve refills.

“You'll have to tell me how you trained your mate. I could use a pointer or two,” Avani said, earning herself a little nip on the earlobe from Alexius at her side.

Cat grinned wickedly. "Oh, I'll pay for his help later." Her heated gaze told everyone just what she'd promised to earn Bash's waitering services.

Diana shook her head, half amused. Another part of her was borderline envious.

She'd never seen so many mated pairs in one place, not even here back in the old days. When she was young, most couplings on the hill were arranged to further the families' power, not for affection's sake. Sexist as the time had been, men had more of a chance to pick their partners, but women had little choice. Hell, even she had been promised at the time—to one of the Beauforts. Those bondings—not marriages, but partnerships established based on contracts—were typically sealed one or two years after a vampire was first turned, as the first few months were spent adapting to their new lives. Both of Diana's parents had died shortly after she was made, and none of the Helsings left had managed to bully her into sticking it out, so Diana had escaped that unappealing prospect.

Matings, or even affection between couples, had been rare back then.

Sexism was a strange notion among vampires. Human males could technically overpower their women, and barbarians that they were, they had used it to their advantage throughout history. A female vampire, however, could be as physically strong as her male counterpart, yet they'd still stuck to the notion that women were somehow subjected to their patriarch's rule. Well, come to think of it, it had been the same in matriarchal families such as the Stormhales. Perhaps it had little to do with sex, and more to do with age. Those betrothals were established early, when the fledgling was too young and dependent on their parents' goodwill to dare speak out against their decisions. She wrinkled her nose, disgusted by the memory.

How things had changed. There were only four of the seven families living on the hill at the moment, and every single one of them was mated, with the person fate had chosen for them. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that women had an actual choice nowadays.

Over the rim of her royal blue and white teacup, Diana spotted a disturbingly familiar figure entering the dining hall. She couldn’t help a sigh. Damn if he wasn’t pretty. No, pretty didn’t work, masculine as he was. He was downright gorgeous.

Mikar was generally dressed in dark clothes that blended in with the darkness and were easy to move in. Today, he wore blue jeans and a mauve shirt that looked like it would be silky to the touch. It outlined his hard, defined arms and torso, open at his throat and on his narrow hips.

In the three weeks since she'd arrived, Diana had noticed a pattern: he donned dark clothes most of the week, and once or twice, something a little more casual, and with a keen, if a little classical fashion sense. He dressed like that on his days off guard duty. That explained why he hadn't arrived glued to Chloe’s side. Chloe was under Sylvan’s or Ruby’s supervision today.

Mikar moved to Levi and Sylvan, joining their conversation, but his eyes roamed around the hall, looking for something. Chloe, no doubt. His eyes fell on Diana and held her