Her face grew pale. It didn’t take a mind reader to know she didn’t want to do anything that would make Lucien angry.
I could understand that. He could be a pretty freaking scary guy. And, I didn’t know her, but I still didn’t want to scare her.
Thwarted again by the hated Lucien.
“I’m going to kill him,” I bit out, my emotion got the better of me and I had to lean against the dressing table to stay standing.
“You need food. Lucien said the minute you woke, I needed to feed you.”
“Lucien can go to hell,” I clipped.
She studied me a moment, surprise behind her eyes, her head angled to the side like a bird’s.
“I think something’s not right here,” she announced.
“You think?” I asked sarcastically.
“Why are you angry with Lucien? No one is ever angry with Lucien. Well, not no one. He has enemies, of course. But not his concubines. Never his concubines. They all love him.”
Oh please.
“I’m not like the others,” I proclaimed.
“I’m sensing that,” she agreed on a comprehending nod.
I dropped my head and lifted my hand to my forehead.
“I think I need space,” I told her, not wanting to be rude but I did.
In this moment of tumult in my life, I hated to admit it, but I really needed my mother even though she and her ancestry of rabidly adoring vampire concubines had gotten me into this mess.
Suddenly, I felt Edwina’s hands gentle on me as she pulled me away from the dressing table.
“What you need is bed and food, in that order,” she declared.
I went with her because I didn’t have the strength to fight.
I blamed that on Lucien mainly because it was his fault.
And I filed it away in my Why I Hate Lucien Vault.
Edwina put me to bed. She came back with a tray covered in food half an hour later, time I spent organizing all the many, many files in my Why I Hate Lucien Vault. A stack of light, fluffy, buttermilk pancakes drenched in melting, real butter and warmed syrup. Crisp bacon. Succulent berries. Grilled sausage links.
I ate it without complaint.
Normally I would never eat that much food as food like that, especially in those amounts, magically expanded to ten times its size and weight before it settled on my ass.
But I needed my strength. For tonight, I would be battling Lucien.
Chapter Five
That Night
Lucien drove toward Leah’s house feeling a welcome sense of anticipation after a not very good day.
She was, he knew, going to be cold or furious but he couldn’t care less.
Whatever she was, it would not be eager, it would not be sycophantic, it would not be adoring and it would not be complaisant.