Page 64 of Sold to the Dark Vampire Prince

“I have no fucking idea,” he said under his breath.

He was just turning back towards his sister when a scream sounded from across the room. Glass shattered. Everyone whirled as a form crumpled to the floor. All Alex could see were a pair of twitching legs, and when the crowd briefly parted, foam bubbling from a man’s lips. Isabella and his father looked on in horror just as someone shouted—

“It’s poison.”

CHAPTER 10

DANI WATCHED AS THE room erupted into chaos.

“Don’t touch him.” Sera elbowed her way through the crowd. “We can’t be sure what he ingested. Did anyone see what he took? Hang on, I need my medical kit.”

She vanished in a swirl of smoke.

Dani exchanged a look with Alex, neither of them looking in Giselle’s direction. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the other sanguine working her way towards the back of the room, where a door led to the kitchens.

What was her extraction plan? Surely the resistance hadn’t inserted her into the palace with no plan to get her out in the event things went sideways.

Sera reappeared, black medical bag in hand. “I need everyone to back up.”

She and Dante snapped on gloves and knelt beside the man, who had turned a horrible shade of red and was going stiff.

Suddenly, Isabella gasped. “That server is trying to run! I saw her. She’s the one who gave Garrett the champagne.”

There was a loud crash as a tray of crystal flutes shattered against the floor. Dani turned with the others in time to see Giselle bolt for the servant’s entry. Her heart sank as two guards stepped before the door, blocking her path.

Her escape cut off, Giselle turned back to the room, extending her hands out before her. “Don’t come any closer.”

Screams filled the room. Partygoers began to ghost away. The ones that weren’t strong enough to transform darted for the exits.

Dante vanished from Sera’s side in a swirl of smoke, reappearing across the room a second later and slamming into Giselle. Dani registered only a blur of smoke before they both vanished from the room.

“Do you think she had time to poison the entire room?” someone whispered, sounding a bit faint.

“We’re all going to die.”

“Is that Garrett? Oh my gods. I was just talking to him a second ago—"

“Everyone is to remain calm.” Alex stepped forward, voice cold and commanding. “No one is to consume anything. We don’t know what the assassin touched or what could be tainted. Please bring any plates or glasses over to the bar and make an orderly row, so that we can submit them for testing to determine what type of toxin was used.”

Using a napkin, Dani helped collect the water glasses and champagne flutes. She pressed a hand to her heart and whispered a silent prayer, watching as Sera worked over Garrett. Given the stricken expressions of people standing around and the speed at which the arriving medics hustled them away, the prognosis seemed grim.

“I think mine was poisoned, too.” Beside her, Lara began to hyperventilate.

“You look very pale.” Lord Cavalieri hurried to her side. He whirled, shouting to no one in particular, “My daughter needs medical attention!”

Dani noted that pale wasn’t at all how the confirmed poisoning victim appeared, but said nothing.

Instead, she went to fetch one of the ornate chairs that were standing against the wall, though they looked rather fancy and like they weren’t meant to be shifted about. When Isabella grimaced and shook her head subtly as if to warn her, she guessed she was right. Oh well. It was too late, in any case.

Lara collapsed into the chair anyway, gasping for breath. “Alex, where are you?”

“I think he’s overseeing the poisoned flutes being collected,” Dani offered.

“No one asked you.” Lara shot her a venomous look.

Her breathing had certainly improved, now hadn’t it? Rolling her eyes, Dani made her way to Alex’s side.

“Alexander,” Luciano called sharply.