“Adreona’s influence is great. We’ve all witnessed it,” Nol added quietly. “She knows how to manipulate others. She’s taken years to hone in her skill.”
“It’s true. Think of how easily she manipulated Lorenzo with a simple lie. With one little manipulation, he was putty in her hands. He became her puppet to wield how she deemed fit.”
“It got her a fucking crown,” Luka snarled.
“So where do we go from here?” Alon asked.
I took a deep breath. “I need to meet with Adreona.”
Luka tensed at my side. We had discussed this in depth already, but the idea still made him uneasy. “I don’t want to start a war, but if that’s what it comes to, I will. To save the vampire species, I will start a war. Talking to Adreona is my last chance to end a war before it starts.”
37
ADREONA
I placed another crown on my head, this one was spiked and monochrome. Even the jewels were made of a black so dark it swallowed the light.
I placed the crown next to the rest on the dresser. Who knew the Blood Court had such terrible taste in crowns? When I was officially queen, I’d commission a hoard of them that would suit me. The crowns the staff had brought me lacked elegance. It was clear there hadn’t been a queen at the helm in many years. The fashions of the crowns were from centuries ago.
“What was wrong with that one?” Lorenzo wrapped his arms around my waist, kissing my neck. I resisted a shudder of disgust as I pressed my lips into a thin line.
“It blended in too much with my hair.” I unwrapped his arms from my body and headed for my desk where he had discarded a slew of letters when he arrived.
“I could get one made for you to match your ring,” he called after me. I glanced at the hexagon-shaped blood diamond on my finger that Lorenzo had given me as a wedding gift. Although rings were nottypically exchanged with vows, he had gifted me one. When I pressed him about it, he said it was to show his devotion to me.
I suspected it was a way to show ownership over me. That I belonged to him.
He’d learn one day I didn’t belong to anyone anymore.
But I continued to wear the ring, only to please him. To keep up the facade.
Although we had mutually agreed to this marriage as a strategic move, he still believed I was interested in him.
Sometimes males were so stupid.
But it made them easy to manipulate.
Flash them a smile, let them see your breasts, give them a simple compliment, and they’ll fall head over heels for you.
How easy it was to convince Lorenzo to make me his queen consort.
Sometimes I almost felt bad for manipulating Lorenzo. He had lost like I had after all—that was what drew me to him initially. Why I let him linger around the Panateia. Well, that and his continued financial contributions.
But I got to know him and realized what a scum bag he was, and it became nothing more than a means to an end. I let him take me to bed. I faked pleasure while he had his fill. After that first night I let him into my bed, he bent to my every will.
Him walking into my headquarters sped up my plan by years after all. I had to be grateful for that. His intel was priceless, I reminded myself.
I thumbed through the letters Lorenzo had delivered. “What is this?” I asked, coming to an envelope addressed to me with the royal Star Court seal on the back. “Why is the seal broken on my letter?”
“I was curious, so I opened it.”
I bit my tongue, breathing deeply through my nose as I slid open the letter.
“Lennox wants to meet with me,” I told him as I continued to read.
“I know.”
I wondered what the girl could possibly have to say to me. Was it in reaction to the Vanir failing to secure her and bring her back to me? I had failed to hear anything from Sidna since the Vanir sent to the Aquatic Court were killed. The details of what happened were scarce, only rumors since none of them came back, but I assumed they killed the siren. What a shame, she had been a great contact from the Aquatic Court for months now.
