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Minutes passed liked hours, but Victor soon returned to the reception and gave me the nod. The bait was set.

Alright, now we just needed this next part of my brilliant plan to be convincing.

“Ah, Victor,” I announced, as though surprised to see him, and also making sure the folks chatting in the foyer heard.

Victor strode from the doors to the desk, his long dark hair a dramatic cloak behind him. “Adam Vex, I hereby claim you as a gift for my queen.” His steely fingers clamped onto my arm.

“Oh, no!” I gasped. Did I sound surprised? Everyone looked surprised, including Madame Matase. I hadn’t had time to brief her on our plan, so I hoped she’d be alright until I could explain later. “It was all a ruse this entire time?” Was I laying the acting on a bit thick?

Thankfully, Zee wasn’t here to critique my efforts.

I glanced at Madame Matase and winked. Hopefully she wouldn’t think I meant to murder anyone, which was generally what winking meant around here. She winced. Had my wink looked like a twitch?

“I object.” Madame Matase slammed down her knitting needles and stood behind her desk. “As Adam’s guardian, his friend, and the hotel’s receptionist, I will not allow him to be taken. Not even by you, Lord Reynard, whom I had given the benefit of the doubt but never fully trusted.”

Oh dear. I should definitely have warned her. “Uh, no, please, you don’t need to object. Everything is going to be alright.” I squinted, trying to convey an expression that said it was all fine, but probably looked more like I was having a stroke. “Victor and I will sort it all out and I’ll be back here by the morning, right as rain!”

“If by sort it out you mean you will soon belong to the vampires and I will take my rightful place among the council, then yes, absolutely,” Victor said.

He was very convincing.

I was convinced.

Most everyone in the foyer who gawked were also convinced.

Noreen Greene, scribbling on a pad, was convinced—hopefully enough to immediately write an article and publish it. Cain would see the news, and we’d have a reliable source to back up our ruse.

And nobody could attack or stop Victor from taking me, because of the wards.

“Zodiac will not stand for this!” Madame Matase fumed.

“That demon can kiss my suit-clad backside,” Victor told her, in a very un-Victor-like voice. It was enough to signal that all was not as it seemed. Madame Matase frowned, her fury turning to irritation. I tried to throw her a sympathetic expression, but Victor yanked me through the foyer and outside, onto the porch.

“Oh no,” I told anyone who happened to be outside and within earshot. “The mean vampires have got me.”

Victor whirled and with a whip-like snatch, grabbed my neck, yanked me off my feet, and forced my face close to his. “Apologies for my rough handling, but your acting is atrocious and we need to convince our audience,” he said, all aggressive and snarly. Just the way I liked him.

“It’s alright.” I squeezed the words through clenched teeth.

“How were you able to convince anyone you were human for the past four years?” he asked, making it look as though he was all up in my face threatening me.

I wasn’t entirely sure I had. “By looking cute?”

The vampires began to emerge from their cars.

“What’s happening here?” A vampire clad in an all-black suit climbed the hotel steps, approaching from behind Victor’s left shoulder. “Where’s the queen?”

Victor waited until the vampire had gotten close enough, then dipped his chin, and when he next spoke, his voice resonated with a deeply powerful timbre. “Daisy went on ahead. Our queen left instructions to follow my commands. Obey me now and secure my gift to her majesty.”

Dangling from a vampire’s hand while he audibly manipulated a subordinate wasn’t supposed to be hot, right? But watching Victor work was a rare treat, and I was here for it. Had I actually been in any danger, I may have reacted differently. Or not.

The vampire driver’s face fell slack, probably while Victor’s talent rummaged around in his brain, then he perked up again and nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Oh, that was . . . easy.

Victor’s tight little corner smile reminded me of one of the many reasons why I loved our powerful murder daddy. He’d always been dangerous, but now he was my kind of dangerous. And Zee’s. He’d be so sad he missed it. Maybe we could roleplay later?

“Return to your car and use your security communications devices to inform the others of our new orders. Once you have relayed those orders, you will return us to the royal premises.”