Page 22 of Incoronate
I wanted to argue. I wanted to defend Caleb and insist therehadto be another explanation. But the words caughtin my throat because I wasn’t sure anymore. I wasn’t sure about anything other than the fact that if he had betrayed us, if he was the one that handed me over to William on a silver platter, then I didn’t know if I was going to be able to stop what was coming from Dominic and Trace.
And frankly, I wasn’t entirely sure I’d want to.
7. UNDER DARK SKIES
The kitchen smelled of coffee and something warm and buttery that made my stomach growl despite the sour conversation we had just finished in my room. Isa, the chef Dominic hired—slash compelled—to work here, moved like a little dynamo between the stove and the counter as she plated what looked like enough food to feed an army.
Dominic had paid her very well for her time, and despite my initial objections, I couldn’t deny that she’d become indispensable. Not only because she never questioned the odd hours or the occasionally bloodstained clothing, but because she was an absolute sorceress in the kitchen. Figuratively speaking, of course.
Outside the windows, the sky hung low and gray, pressing down on the estate with the weight of an impending storm. The fog from last night had burned off, but the overcast remained, turning everything beyond the glass into muted shades of slate and shadow. The trees along the property line swayed in the rising wind, their bare branches scraping against each other with a sound that carried even through the glass.
Tessa was already sitting at the kitchen table when we strolled in, her plate piled higher than I’d ever seen. She had a piece of bacon halfway to her mouth when she noticed us, and something flickered across her face. It looked like relief mixed with something else. Embarrassment? Anger? It was hard to tell with my sister.
“Well, look who finally decided to join us,” she said, demolishing the piece of bacon with striking dedication.Grease glistened at the corner of her mouth before she wiped it away with the back of her hand.
That was rich, considering she’d spent most of the last forty-eight hours asleep.
“Good morning to you too,” I said instead as I pulled out a chair at the table and flopped down in it. The wood creaked under my weight, and I had to shift to find a comfortable position.
Dominic and Trace quickly took the chairs on either side of me, making themselves close and comfortable even though neither one of them were going to be eating breakfast.
“How did last night go?” asked Gabriel from the far end of the table. His arms were crossed along his chest, his leather jacket pulling at the sleeves.
The question was simple enough, but I managed to overreact just the same.
Mortification immediately shot up my neck and into my cheeks as images flashed through my mind before I could stop them. Dominic’s mouth between my thighs. Trace’s fangs sinking into my breast. The way they’d wrung pleasure from me until I begged and pleaded for them to stop.
My fingers curled around the edge of the table, gripping hard enough that my knuckles went white.
“Any sign of the voices returning?” he continued when I failed to produce an answer. His eyes never left my face, reading every micro-expression as if to siphon my answer before I gave it.
Relieved we weren’t thinking about the same thing, I shook my head and swallowed. “No. Nothing.”
Dominic shifted in his chair beside me, the movement subtle but noticeable. His hand came to rest on the back of my chair, his fingers lightly brushing the nape of my neck justenough to make me shiver. “I’d say the night resolved itself quite thoroughly.”
Jesus. If I could blush any harder than I already was, I would have.
I was never going to survive this house.
Gabriel’s gaze held mine for a beat too long, searching my face with that scrutinizing intensity that made me feel like he could see exactly what had happened in that bedroom. Like he knew precisely why my face was flushed and why I couldn’t quite meet his eyes anymore. A muscle in his jaw ticked once, the only sign of whatever he was thinking.
I sank lower in my chair, suddenly very interested in the eggs Isa was plating. “Need any help over there, Isa?”
“Oh, goodness no,” she said, waving me off as she hurried over with a plate already in hand. Her hair was pulled back into a neat bun with the usual dollop of flour dusting the front of her apron. “You just sit right there and eat while it’s still nice and hot.” She set the dish in front of me—scrambled eggs, bacon, homemade croissants, and what looked like breakfast potatoes tossed with herbs—then shuffled off without waiting for a response.
Steam rose from the eggs in thin, inviting wisps and my stomach sang at the sight of it, loud enough that I was sure all three vampires at the table heard it.
Isa moved on to refill Tessa’s plate next, the serving spoon scraping against the ceramic as she added more potatoes, bacon, and another slice of toast. She didn’t comment, but her eyebrows definitely lifted in surprise as she took in the speed with which my sister was eating.
Yeah, that made two of us.
Tessa shoved another piece of bacon into her mouth, possibly her fifth or sixth, and I found myself watching her. Bite after bite, she chewed without so much as a pause, herattention already moving to the next item on her plate before she’d finished swallowing. She ate with a hunger I’d never seen from her before, almost compulsive in a way that didn’t appear entirely natural.
I was just about to open my mouth and ask her if she swallowed some kind of tapeworm or parasite when she beat me to the punch.
“So, are we going to talk about it?” she asked, her fork pausing halfway to her mouth, her eyes narrowed as they cut around the table. “Or are we just going to sit here and pretend yesterday didn’t happen?”
“Which part?” asked Trace as he sank back in his chair, his legs widening as he dragged his tongue slowly across his lower lip. There was an ease to him this morning that hadn’t been there yesterday, a calm that seemed to come easier when he was close to me, even as his attention stayed fixed on the room.
