To Love a Vampire - A.K. Koonce Page 0,29

crosses the small room until he’s just a foot from me. His eyes trail over my skin, making a flush creep over my neck and face from the appraising look he’s giving me.

“You’re beautiful, Fallon,” His voice is barely a rasp. “You’re always beautiful.”

I lean into him, unable to help the pull I feel when he’s around and he wraps his arms around me in an instant. The beat of his heart fills my mind as he just lets me relax against his body. The anxiousness I felt moments ago isn’t there anymore. I breathe in his warm scent as I nestle into his chest, my hands slipping around his trim waist, brushing over the hilt of the Crimson Sword as I go.

“I wanted to tell you to be careful tonight,” he says against my hair.

Just like that, the calmness is pulled out from under me.

“Why?”

“I know what Raske intends for you.” I shift until I’m looking up into his concerned eyes, a thin line creases between his brows. “I—I’m not going to—I don’t want to talk about that.” He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before meeting my confused gaze again. “The government isn’t just going to let him join the races. Be careful of your words. I wish I could tell Raske to be careful, as well. Don’t put yourself in danger for him.”

I swallow hard, knowing he’s right. I’ve thought the same thing hundreds of times. I nod and lower my head back to his chest, hoping to find the comfort I had. But it’s gone. A nervousness churns my stomach as he holds me close. I close my eyes against the growing dread that is now heavier than it was before.

I won’t have Asher to lean on tonight.

At Luca’s side, I sit, shifting restlessly in the hard chair that bites into my spine. The tent has been lowered, we’ll eat beneath the shining stars tonight.

In silence. The ever present drums that accompany the celebrations are not beating through the wind tonight.

“Nervous?” Luca asks, quirking her eyebrow at me as I wiggle in my chair once more.

I bite my lip and nod. No one has joined us yet aside from Kaino and Shane, who sit side by side. The two don’t speak or even acknowledge each other. Stiff posture fills their broad shoulders as they stare off into nothingness. They’re odd, almost intentionally ignoring one another.

The need to turn away from them fills me as their uncomfortableness begins to seep into me. I glance toward the head of the table as Raske and a group of five walks toward us. They take in the sights of our camp, admiring the display of mystics as if they’re a rare commodity instead of a shunned community.

Kaino stands, meeting his father’s eyes, his hands held neatly behind his back.

“President Docile, you remember my son, Kaino,” Raske says, waving an arm proudly to the warrior standing before them.

I find it strange that Luca isn’t mentioned once. The daughter of the lord apparently isn’t of importance.

The president is an even stranger sight. Dressed in all black from head to toe, a shrouding black veil covers the woman’s face. Soft blonde hair slips out beneath the curtain, revealing a single feature to us. The uneasiness flips in my stomach again at the hidden sight of the president.

Why is she dressed like that? Is that the way everyone dresses in Congress? Has she lost someone she loves? An appearance of mourning symbolized in her attire…

I glance toward Luca but she doesn’t return my confusion. A charming smile is plastered across her lips as she gazes at the president.

“Please take a seat. Dinner will be served shortly,” Raske tells them in a formal voice that I have never heard before.

I sit on my hands to keep myself still as the group of representatives begin taking their seats across from us.

A man pulls out the seat across from me. As he’s about to take his seat his dark eyes meet mine, stopping him in his tracks.

“Ayden?” I stand, an astonished smile filling my face, the strange president and my anxious nerves all but forgotten.

“What are you doing here?” he asks, his eyes tracing every curve of my body, seemingly searching for injury where there is none. “Are you all right?”

He comes around the table, holding me by the arms as he does his assessment at a closer stance. An enormous and filling happiness floats through me, making me unable to contain the smile on