“Don’t worry, darlings. Your secret is as safe as my real age.” She winks and somehow it contains both warmth and an ironclad promise. “But we need to have achatlater, hmm?”
Before I can respond, Snow interrupts.
“You guys want a drink?” Snow asks Cinder and Kai as she leads them over, volume rising as she approaches. “Oh, you need to meet our latest recruit. You are going to love her.”
Both their attention swings toward me. As soon as his gaze lands on me, Kai’s expression morphs. The warm, charming smile he sports evaporates as a cold hatred takes its place.
“You,” he says quietly. It’s fully loaded with accusation, and the blood freezes in my veins. I’m not sure why he’s pissed, but I feel like I’m suddenly between crosshairs.
Cinder and Snow swivel their heads back and forth between us, noting the almost violent shift in his attitude. Confusion swirls in me too. I don’t know this vampire, though a sneaking suspicion begins to form, and if proven true it would be very,verybad for me.
Before I can respond or process, he clarifies in one sentence.
“You ruined my sister.”
Chapter 19
Outing the Princess
TALON
Kai's words cut through the noise of Poison Apple like a blade.
Everything slows.
Aurora’s hand freezes mid-pour, and the glass in her other hand slips just enough to clink hard against the counter.
Muscles coil tight enough that my glass strains in my suddenly tight grip. I stare at the man through the hair that’s fallen in my eyes. He hasn’t noticed me yet. All of his open anger is pinned on Aurora.
Not just “Kai.” This must be Kaison Charming, the new King of the Midnight Fae, and he’s about to expose Aurora.
Snow’s head whips toward Kai. “What did you just say?”
Ariel returns with an empty tray, looking between everyone, trying to gauge what’s happened in the few minutes of her absence
Kai doesn’t blink. Doesn’t smile. Just stands there, impossibly tall in his tailored black coat, looking down his nose like Aurora is a stain he can’t bleach off.
“I said,” he repeats coolly, “she ruined my sister and broke up my family.”
Aurora flinches.
Ariel is already rolling forward, voice tight. “Wait, what are you talking about? You have a sister?”
“I didn’t know that,” Snow adds, her face gobsmacked.
“Neither did I,” Cinder says, all her focus on Kai now.
It’s then I realize who his companion is. The human he took as his queen. She’s since been turned into a vampire herself. I can see the cold energy pulse around them, along with a reddish aura. Hers is particularly strong, so strong I can smell it. She carries blood magic, which means she wasn't a human at all. She was a mage before she was turned.
Usually, the scent of a mage absolutely rankles my senses. They stink to high heaven to a shifter’s nose. But this mage turned vampire smells more like winter air does when you breathe too deep. It stings my nose with cold. Beneath it, there’s something old and metallic, like rusted iron under ice. Vampire and mage magic tangled together, frozen into something unnatural.
My hackles rise. I’ve got a thing against vampires with magic on account of the woman who cursed Aurora.
Though how Mal acquired mage abilities to curse a baby has always been a mystery. Mages don’t typically retain their power when turned (on the rare occasion that happens), and Mal was a born vampire, not a mage. No one knows how she’s acquired magic abilities beyond her fae race.
“We were forbidden to speak of Malixia,” Kai goes on, full attention still on Aurora. “After she was banished from the Midnight Realm by my father.”
Aurora recoils, taking a step away from the bar. Kai’s eyes narrow.
