With a snap of Matthias’s fingers, two large men approached and escorted the stocky vampire from the dance floor. The crowd booed but Matthias said something, then waved a bartender over and the protests died off. Apparently he’d bought them all a round of drinks.
He caught my eye across the floor and held up a finger. I nodded and he went to the bar to speak with the woman who’d shown us to our table.
I threw back the rest of my own drink and reached for the bottle, pouting when I found it empty.
Since leaving the mansion, my mind had ping-ponged between anxious thoughts about Jupiter to the tournament and back again so many times I was starting to get dizzy. I couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching me. There was something creepy-crawly about Ivan Murrad being in my room—let alone ending up murdered there. I was missing something. The explosion of violence shook me more than it normally would have and even as I read the menu, I couldn’t help but wish to get back to the safety of Matthias’s home.
“Well, well, well. Imagine the pleasure of finding you here.”
My eyes snapped up, the menu slipped from my finger.
I whipped around toward the drawled voice and found Jerrod grinning at me in a way that could only be described as predatory. Like a jaguar dropping from some jungle tree to stalk a passing deer.
“Pleasure isn’t the word I would choose,” I said, curling my lip.
Laughing, he slid into the seat beside me, so close his leg pressed against the outside of my own. I tried to jerk away, but there was nowhere to go. “Now, now, Lacey, is that any way to speak to your future husband?”
Bile rose in my throat at the stench of alcohol and his overabundance of cologne. I concealed the nausea with a flash of a smile. “Is that who I’m speaking to? My mistake, I thought you were just another one of my father’s dogs.”
He bared his teeth.
“Yes, now I see where I got that impression.” I laughed. “Do you have a nice low growl to go along with those pretty teeth?”
“In a few nights, I’ll show you exactly what I can do with these teeth. Ask anyone, none of the other suitors want me as their opponent.”
A chill spread over my skin but I refused to drop my sarcastic smile. “You really think you can win? You think my father would allow me to marry some turn? Ha!” I shook my head. “You’re there as pure entertainment. Chum in the water.”
Jerrod growled.
“There it is! I knew you had it in you.” I flashed my own teeth, my fangs begging to descend. “If you don’t believe me, then take yourself to the library—you can read, can’t you?” I flapped a hand. “If not, someone else can do it for you. The point is, there are volumes and volumes of family trees. Look through them and see if there is even one turn in there. Whatever my father has promised you, it’s all a lie. You won’t make it past the final round. So, I suggest you find a way to shake off illusions about marrying me and lose in round one or two. Otherwise, you’ll be facing that guy in the final ring,” I said, nodding at Matthias, who was still deep in conversation with the bartender.
Jerrod leaned in, his breath hot on my cheek. “He’ll have to survive long enough to get the chance.”
Something about the way he said it made the small hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
“Besides, your father has made a promise to the Court. The winner will be determined in the ring. When I’m the last one standing, there won’t be anything you or your father can do to stop me from claiming my prize.”
The cold shudder seeped deeper into my skin, down to the bones.
Matthias glanced up and immediately stiffened. His eyes narrowed into dark slits and he all but flew across the bar to return to the table. “Get away from her,” he seethed, glaring at Jerrod.
He didn’t reach for him, but I took note of his balled fists.
“Oh, good, I was just about to see if your bouncer friend was available for another pest removal job,” I said to Matthias, looking past Jerrod.
Jerrod glared up at Matthias. “The princess’s champion, huh?”
Matthias’s green eyes flicked to mine for half a heartbeat before boring back into Jerrod. “If that’s what it takes to keep her away from someone like you, then so be it.”
His dark eyes moved back to mine and a herd of steroid-enhanced butterflies rammed into the walls of my stomach.
Steady girl. He’s just flexing his muscles. No need to get worked up about it.
Jerrod snickered but slid out of the booth. He stood and brushed past Matthias, intentionally knocking into him with his shoulder on the way. “If you don’t think your father will let you marry a turn, then you should ask him how he’d feel about you marrying a blood traitor.”
“What?” I asked.
Matthias’s jaw clenched so tight I worried he was breaking his own molars. He reached out a hand. “Come on, Lacey. We don’t need to listen to this.”
Jerrod laughed, the sound like something out of a Bond villain. “This was fun, guys. We should do it again sometime.”
With that, he wove through the tables and headed for the dance floor, getting swallowed up by the crowd.
“What was that all about?” I asked Matthias, letting him pull me to my feet.
“Just the crazed mutterings of a desperate man. Ignore him.”
There wasn’t a question in my mind that Jerrod was a little … off. But using the term blood traitor seemed a little specific to brush off as a random insult.
Whatever it was, Matthias was clearly not willing to discuss it. His forehead might as well have a permanent sign attached saying: Don’t ask.
He shepherded me through the club and back to the same hallway we’d come in through. I absently noticed that his hand was still holding mine and almost pulled it away before realizing that I actually liked the way our fingers intertwined together. His hand was large and strong, an anchor in the chaos that had consumed my life. It didn’t have to mean anything more than that.
“Thank you,” I said, glancing up at him. His stony profile softened at my words.
He met my eyes. “For what?”
“For getting him away from me. I mean, I totally could have handled him, but still.”
He chuckled. “Happy to help.”
We paused at the door, staring at one another for a long, suspended moment.
After a thick moment, he moved his eyes to the left and frowned. “You really think the decor is tacky?”
I smiled. “Tragically so.”
Chapter 12
“Will you please quit pacing? This is a lease and you’re wearing tracks in the carpet.”
“It’s been four days, Matthias!”
He sighed. “I’m well aware.”
I stopped stalking across the living room and spun on the heels of my sock-clad feet to face him. He was leaning forward against the island in the kitchen, his weight resting on his forearms. A spark of irritation shone in his eyes as he watched me. His dark hair was mussed from the nap he’d taken on the couch earlier. According to him, I’d woken him up when I slammed the fridge door closed too hard. Now, apparently, I was destroying his carpet.
I looked down at the tawny carpet and frowned. “You can’t see any marks. Do I look like Godzilla or something?”
“If Godzilla wore socks with watermelons on them, then yes.”
I scowled at him. “Now you have jokes about my socks?”
Matthias cracked a grin and looked down at my feet. “I just think it’s weird. You don’t actually eat watermelons.”
“I don’t eat socks, either.”
“Fair enough.”
I looked down and wiggled my toes, making the cartoon watermelons dance. “They’re just cute. All right?”
Now I knew how my old roommate, Holly, must have felt when I made wise cracks about her fashion sense. I thrust my shoulders back and met Matthias’s eyes. “Well, I’m glad you’re entertained, Hartford. I’m a little too worried about Jupiter to think twice about the pile of your carpet!”
“I’m worried about Jupiter too,” he said, his expression losing its amused light. “But there’s nothing we can do. You calling your father twenty times a day isn’t getting us very far. Neither is threatening bodily harm to every guard he sends over. This isn’t the Inquisition, Lacey.”