by E. M. Moore
He snickered. “You’re always quick to apologize. Christian told us you kept saying you were sorry earlier too. We’re all in this together, Ri. No matter what happens, you should never apologize.”
“Same goes for you guys.”
“I’m not so sure of that anymore.”
A sound came through the other side and then Nic moaned. “Chill. Let me get up.”
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Nic sucked in a breath. “I was sitting with my back against my door, and Connor tried to come through it like the spaz he is. Wait, he’s holding out his hand for the phone. No,” Nic said, a little ways away from the speaker. “Call her yourself.”
“How can I call her if you’re on the phone with her?”
“Wait your turn.”
“Give me the phone.”
“No.”
I covered my mouth to keep from laughing. “What does he want?”
“What do you want?” Nic asked, repeating me.
Connor said, “I just wanted to know if she got the invitation and the dress.”
“I did.”
“She did,” Nic told his brother. Then, into the phone, he said, “I knew that already.”
“Does she like it?” Connor asked.
“Tell him I love it.”
“She loves it,” Nic repeated, clearly not enjoying this at all.
“Tell her—”
“No,” Nic said. “We’re done here. We’ll see you in about an hour, Ri.”
He hung up the phone before I could have a full-blown panic attack. An hour! I really needed to look at that invitation, and now.
21
With shaking hands, I tucked the last curl in with a bobby pin. I’d borrowed Shannon’s curling iron to do the job, and even though I was freaking out inside, I thought I looked nice. The dress was amazing. It was by far the most beautiful thing I’d ever worn. If only there was a full-length mirror somewhere, I’d love to see my whole self in it. Even do a girly thing and twirl around to look at my body in the dress from all angles.
When I’d finally opened the invitation earlier, there was a note tucked inside from Isabelle Ravana. Though she mentioned that a trainee with no connections being invited to a welcome party was unheard of, she understood how much I meant to her sons. No, this wasn’t a warm and fuzzy wanting-to-meet-her-sons’-girlfriend kind of a thing. It was more of an appraisal situation. I felt as if I was going up for sale on an auction block. She specifically stated she’d be watching out for me tonight, taking notes on whether I was fit to be her sons’ guard.
That didn’t mean I couldn’t appreciate the dress though.
I stood back from the bathroom mirror and looked at what I had in view. I’d done everything I could on the outside to garner Isabelle’s approval, now I just had to go in there and meet her. I unplugged the curling iron and pressed the front of my dress down. Luckily, Connor had also sent someone to the door a half an hour ago with shoes. My training sneakers would’ve messed the whole ensemble up. I’d have to remember to thank him tonight, just not in the way I wanted to. I’d use my words, not my hands, fingers, or lips. No, all of those were off-limits. With all the prying eyes tonight, we had to be on our best behavior. Scratch that. We had to be better than our best behavior. Our best behavior wasn’t working out so well.
Part of me wondered about the guys’ mom. Was she really just trying to feel me out? I couldn’t help but worry that it was something else entirely. If she knew the depths of our feelings for one another, wouldn’t she be wholly against it? Especially since it could call into question her sons? If I were her, I’d be looking for a way to get rid of me.
Without thinking any more about it, I pulled the small black purse Liv let me borrow and walked into the hall. I locked the door and put the key to my room inside the purse along with my new cell phone. It felt odd walking down the hallway with anything but my training gear on. When I walked by the common room, all heads turned my way as if this red dress was a magnet. “Wow, Ariana. You look amazing!” Shannon shouted.
I turned, finding her and Liv on the couch. I waved to them. Off to the side, Evan looked up. His eyes widened, and then he was making his way toward me. My stomach flopped, but honestly, I had way more important things to deal with tonight. He gave me a half smile as he approached, looking all the way from my head right down to my skirts that graced the floor beneath me. “I have to say, I was really disappointed about not going to lunch with you today. But…maybe it was worth it just to see you in this dress. You look—”
“Hello, Ariana.”
The deep, rich voice of Nicolai Ravana sounded behind me. I turned and almost lost my balance. He wore a black tux, his usually wavy hair that flirted with his ears was gelled back, artfully arranged on his head. All the air inside my chest rushed out. I was stunned speechless. If this was what all the guys looked like tonight, I was in for some trouble.
Nicolai tore his gaze away from mine and looked off my right shoulder. His lips turned upward into a smile. “Evan, isn’t it?” He walked forward and offered him his hand.
Evan shook it. “Yes, Evan Waters. Nice to formally meet you.”
There was a twinkle in Nicolai’s eyes as I watched the scene play out in front of me. “Same,” he said. “I’m glad our guardian-in-training has friends.”
“Well, she’s something special,” Evan offered as he looked me up and down.
I leaned closer to Nicolai, but he kept his distance. He turned a mischievous smile toward me. “I guess we’ll find out. Our mother can’t wait to meet her.”
Evan raised his eyebrows at me. “Good luck,” he said, as if I was going to need it. Well, I probably would need it.
What just happened?
Nic turned and walked away. He was already out the main doors before I even took my first step. I hurried after him, vaguely hearing Evan’s voice as he told me to have a good night. I didn’t respond.
As soon as I got outside, hands closed over my forearms. I was in the air, my feet dangling, until they were safely on the ground again, my back against the side of the building. Nicolai’s hot breath was on my lips. “I’m going to kill my brother for buying that for you.” His gaze racked over my body. Everywhere his gaze touched, my skin heated. “He’s going to get us all in trouble.”
I stared down, my chest heaved in front of me, and my nerve endings were on fire.
Nicolai closed his eyes. In one torturous step, he tore himself away from me and opened his eyes once more. The light in his eyes was dead. “I might have to kill that Evan kid.”
“Kill?” I asked, finally finding my voice.
“Did you not see the way he was looking at you? It was the way I wanted to look at you, but no. Instead, I had to act like you were just my guard, and I wanted to walk you to the main house so you knew where to go. I had to play a part instead of taking in every curve of your body. He’s lucky he’s not already bleeding out on the floor of that common room.”
I reached for Nicolai, but he took a frustrating step back. “Hey,” I said, coming close again, matching his step back with another step forward.
“Don’t,” he said, holding a hand up. “You have no idea how difficult this is. Let’s get to the party and in front of others before I lose my damn mind.”
He walked ahead of me, and I followed behind. I hated seeing the stiff set to his shoulders and the unnatural gait to his walk. He looked almost as if he was in pain as we made our way around the building and toward the perimeter wall on the East side that separated The Fort grounds with the Rajyvik family’s estate. He opened the steel gate revealing a stone path to the front entrance. I walked past him and smiled up. “I take it you like my dress.”
His eyes clouded over. “Don’t tease me tonight, Ri. I’m already on edge, and I’m more than likely to say, ‘Screw everything’ and do whatever the hell I want. Everything else be damned.”
He was serious. I walked ahead, not wanting to give him reason. I knew ho
w he felt.
“Thank you,” he said, sighing.
We made our way up the path in silence. A soft glow emanated from the stone house windows ahead of us. A large, black iron chandelier swung lightly in the breeze just above the main entrance. When we got there, Nicolai held his elbow out for me. I looked down at it questioningly.
“It’s customary,” he said.
Heart pounding, knowing what torture this would bring both of us, I slipped my hand through the crook of his arm and tried to ignore the pull. Everything in me wanted to lean into him, smell his musky scent, and touch the fine cut of his tux, but I couldn’t. Not here, not now.
The door opened in front of us. It startled me, and I stepped another pace away from Nic. I blinked, getting used to the light now that came from the inside of the house. It took a minute for Stephan to come into full view. When he did, my breath hitched in my throat. He looked so handsome.
“I’m going to kill him,” Stephan said, his voice as calm as I’d ever heard it.
“Get in line,” Nic said as he pushed us past him.
I smiled at Stephan, and he smiled back before letting his gaze drop again, admiring my beautiful dress. My cheeks heated as I scanned the room around us. Everywhere I looked, there were perfect vampires in varying degrees of partying. The impeccably dressed men had stunning women hanging off one of their arms with drinks in the other. Our entrance into the house hadn’t been as world-changing as I imagined it to be. I thought for sure Isabelle Ravana would’ve been standing there, a knowing, hateful look silencing me forever. Instead, everyone seemed too in tune with the party to notice my arrival. I was fine with that. More than fine with that actually.
Christian was the first to turn and find us standing just inside the doorway. His gray-blue eyes hardened as his gaze swept over me. He shook his head and looked away, his jaw working. Was he still upset with me? Himself?
“It’s not you,” Nic whispered. I took a steadying breath and told myself to relax.
To my right, Connor’s voice sounded. “Wow,” he said. “You look—”
“Like our guard,” Nic said.
“No,” Connor said. The look on his face clearly said I looked like anything but his guard.
“I’m going to kill you.”
“Why?” he asked, eyebrows raising. “She looks—”
He dropped my hand and moved forward. He whispered in his brother’s ear, and Connor’s gaze moved to the floor immediately. He nodded once and then they both straightened again. By this time, Christian was able to extract himself from whatever he’d been doing, and the four of them hovered around me. We all stood looking at one another. The three of them, in turn, cast Connor nasty looks who looked properly ashamed.
A deep clearing of a throat sounded behind them. All four of them stiffened. Christian was the first to turn. “Dad,” he said, pulling away from our group and revealing him to me.
Gregor Ravana stood tall. He had at least a couple inches on Nic who was the tallest out of the princes. I recognized their father from one of the pictures in the paper recently, but I hadn’t put the Ravana name to his face. He looked thirty-five, not surprisingly. His chiseled features were flawless in their own right but looked nothing like any of his sons. He had a darker complexion with dark hair and startling green eyes.
“This must be Ariana,” he said, his lips pulling back into a smile. “The guard my sons are determined to text with at the dinner table.”
My heart caught in my throat, but the rest of them just laughed. Thankfully. It made my shoulders relax and allowed my brain to think of my manners. I stepped forward and held my hand out. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Ravana.” I held my voice steady, forcing myself not to stumble around the words. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to say Mr. Ravana now that I’d said it. If Nic, Christian, Connor, and Stephan were princes, didn’t that make Gregor Ravana a king? Should I have addressed him as King Gregor or his majesty? I wished I’d thought to ask Nicolai on the way here, but we’d been distracted.
He reached his hand out and gave mine a firm shake. “Please, call me Gregor. My sons have told me a lot about you. They’re very impressed with your progress in training.”
“Thank you, Sir. I’ve been trying my best.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Nicolai nod. I could’ve gone into much more detail, but something told me just to accept his praise and move on.
“How do you find your training?”
His eyes latched onto mine. I smiled, feeling as if this was somehow a trick question. Or at least my answer would tell him a lot about me. I took my time in choosing the perfect words. “It’s challenging, but I’m up to the task. The princes’ safety is of the utmost importance. If that means I have to train harder and longer, I will.”
I meant every word. This wasn’t some show to parade me in front of their parents to get them to like me, this was what I truly felt. I’d been waking up early to master the obstacle course. I relished the training the princes gave me. It would suit me for the future I’d chosen.
“Excellent,” he said.
A slim hand came to rest on Connor’s shoulder. The bright red nail polish caught my attention, and then it was the woman who wore it. She was breathtaking. Again, she looked to be in her mid-thirties with waist-length blonde hair. She had perfectly shaped eyebrows and a figure to die for. “I’m happy to hear that as well,” she said. Her voice was feminine, yet firm. She held her hand out. “I am Isabelle Ravana.”
I took it at once, returning the firm hold. “Ariana Stuart.”
She did a cursory glance of my figure and dress and met my eyes again. “If the men of my family would be so kind as to leave us alone, I’d like to have a talk with you.”
“Of course,” I said, glancing at the guys.
None of them looked worried, which put me immediately at ease. Connor gave me a huge smile and even the soft upturn of Nic’s lips gave me all the encouragement I needed to follow Isabelle through the beautiful house to a back room. I couldn’t believe they’d said their house was even larger than this one.
The room was small, with fake candles glowing in each of the windows. She shut the door behind us and then faced me. Her elegant green dress looked as if it was designed to fit her and only her. “Ariana,” she said, smiling lightly and then motioning toward a small couch in the center of the room. I walked toward it and picked the skirts of my dress up to sit. She followed, and then faced me. “I’m happy you accepted my invitation.”
“I was glad to have been invited. An honor,” I quickly added.
A bundle of nerves pulled in my lower stomach. Her eyes searched mine. Whatever she saw, she blinked, and her smile turned genuine. “You mean a great deal to my sons. I can’t say I understand all of it, but I wanted you to know that not only their safety, but their happiness, means more to me than anything in the world. I think I can see the same in you.”
“You can,” I said. Closing my eyes, I chastised myself. Had I said too much? What would she think about that? I was only supposed to be their guard after all. Was I supposed to care about their happiness? Perhaps the guys and I did really need to sit down and talk—all five of us—about how we needed to play this out. I didn’t want to have to constantly wonder if I was saying the wrong thing.
She looked behind her toward the closed door and then back at me. I looked over her shoulder but found nothing. When I met her eyes again, I recognized fear swirling in the caramel brown. “I’m worried for them.”
I swallowed and inched closer to her on the couch. The hairs on the back of my neck stood.
“I don’t know how much they’ve told you, but our world is in the middle of the biggest turmoil we’ve seen. There have been upheavals and arguments, more than there has ever been. Some are screaming for change, while others are steadfast in their fixed ways. My sons are independent thinkers, brought on by their father’s determined opinions,” she said, her voice betraying the tender feelings for Gregor. “They are grow
ing up in a time of great complication. Their positions—their very lives—may very well be at stake.”
“W-what?” I hadn’t heard anything like this before. “You’re sure?”
“We are all treading in unsafe water. More often than not, I’ve heard from one side or the other that they are being unreasonable. I fear it all may lead to war.”
I swallowed, trying to bury that word deep into the ether. “Please tell me exactly what is happening,” I pleaded. If the princes’ lives were at stake, I needed to know.
“It is only a feeling,” she said. She pressed her fist into her core. “I feel it here that this tenuous grip we have on peace won’t last very long. My poor sons have already dealt with enough grief that I can’t stand the thought of something else happening.” She looked up, her gaze connecting to mine as if she’d physically reached out and pulled me to her. “Nothing can happen to them.”
I nodded, transfixed by the deep sincerity in her words. “I agree.”
Her gaze dropped, and I almost physically fell back into the cushion from the aftermath of her intensity. “I like you, Ariana. You make my sons happy. I can see the change in them since you came here to train. I do want to impress upon you the importance of their lives to me. I hope you can finish at the top of your guard class for the sake of my sons, but if you can’t, I hope you also understand that I want nothing but the best for them.”
I nodded, agreeing with that too. Zeke was bigger, stronger, and maybe he should win. Maybe he could keep them all safe. If the vampire world was on the brink of war, wouldn’t they rather have someone like him?
What if I failed at this? I wouldn’t ever be able to forgive myself if something happened to them and they would never be able to forgive me either. Our connection would implode from the inside out.
The door pushed open across the room, and Isabelle stood at once, slinking to the other side of the room. I pulled my shoulders back and waited. My heart pounded a furious rhythm in my chest. I could even hear it in my ears. Someone else had just come into the room.