Page 43 of Awakened and Betrayed
A familiar face walks into the room, and his presence brings a reassurance that’d I’d been lacking up until now.
“Ah, there’s one of my mates now. I believe you two have met already?”
I stare at Isla Winifred and just barely manage to keep my jaw from unhinging and my mouth from falling to the floor. Paladin Ender saunters into the room and makes his way to over to us. He snakes an arm around Isla’s waist and kisses her cheek affectionately. She beams up at him, and I’m completely floored by the interaction. I turn to look at Enoch with my bestwhat the fucklook. He shrugs and goes back to scanning the room, unfazed by the affectionate display. Isla is bonded to an elder and the leader of the paladin. Damn, who else is in her coven, Dumbledore?
“It’s nice to see you again, Vinna.” Paladin Ender gives me a friendly nod. “It will be nice to get to know you better and under far friendlier circumstances than last time,” he offers.
I give him a noncommittalhmm,and my eyes find Elder Cleary as he floats around the room speaking to his other guests. I bring my attention back to Paladin Ender and give him a bland smile.
“Friendly would be a nice change, but I’m not holding my breath.”
He chuckles, which for some reason makes me like him even more. I suddenly realize that I’ve just insulted Isla’s mate, and I turn to her ready to receive a glare or some other offended look. I’m surprised when she doesn’t seem bothered at all by my comment. Maybe she didn’t hear me. She’s chatting with Nash about something I don’t follow, and her arm is settled around Paladin Ender’s lower back.
“Thank you for your assistance the other day with my escape,” I tell the scarred and grizzled leader of the paladin.
“It was the least I could do after what happened. I am sorry about what went on that day. It was not the right decision, to do what they did.”
The light of the gilded chandeliers gleams off his snow-white hair and deepens the tan of his skin.
“How are you his compeer? I don’t get any of the samemanipulative prickvibes from you that I get from him. Are you just better at hiding it?”
Nash elbows me in the side, the movement a clear warning. I’m not sure when he tuned-in to the conversation, but apparently, he caught enough of my question to decide I need his censure. Paladin Ender chuckles, and he rubs the hint of five-o’clock shadow on his cheeks.
Before he can offer an answer or tell me to mind my own business, a man in an ascot and tails appears in the doorway and announces that dinner is served. The large group begins to stroll toward the formal dining room, and I find myself once again surrounded by Enoch, Nash, Kallan, and Becket.
I’m guided to a spot just a few seats down from the head of the table, and Kallan pulls out my chair. I sit and watch the twenty-five or so, other guests all settle in comfortably in the enormous dining room. Enoch sits to my left, Becket to my right, and Kallan and Nash bookend our grouping. I watch them sit and adjust their chairs closer to the table and wonder why they aren’t sitting with their families?
I glance around the table again and realize that each of the female casters now sit in the middle of their mates. Isla is seated at the end of the table, Paladin Ender on her left and Elder Cleary on her right. Another man sits next to Paladin Ender, and he and Isla are laughing about something. Nothing about the seating arrangement is lost on me, and I look for a distraction from my rising frustration. I lean toward Enoch and whisper harshly.
“At what point were you going to tell me that Paladin Ender was your second dad?”
He looks down at me, and I can’t tell if he’s feeling chagrin or amusement.
“You didn’t ask,” he merely supplies.
“So, let me get this straight; I’m supposed to supply you with every detail of my existence, but you can’t be bothered to tell me who your family members are? Cool, good to know.”
“It’s not like that. I thought you knew. Everyone knows who my family is.”
Enoch’s statement and the arrogant tone that accompanies it makes me snort.
“Oh, well,sorry. I’m not in the know of who’s who in Solace. My bad.”
“You didn’t ask about us after our run in at the lake?” Becket asks me, inserting himself into the conversation.
“No, I didn’t. Why would I be interested in finding out about a bunch of assholes who just stood by and watched their friends behave like dicks? You think I saw that display of cowardice and thought to myselfooohh,I bet they’re fun to hang out with; I wonder who they are.”
I attempt to sound as shallow as possible as I finish my rant. I take a sip of water from a pretentious crystal goblet, and all I can think about is that I would love to shatter this thing in the middle of the table and walk the fuck out of here. But as much as I hate this situation, I still have to live in this community, and temper tantrums sure as hell aren’t going to solve anything. Elder Cleary stands, and a crescendo of tapping on crystal moves around the table until everyone falls silent.
He smiles, and it’s as if I can see the charisma wafting off of him.
“I speak on behalf of my coven when I say how honored and pleased we are that all of you could join us tonight. This is a rare treat, and we’re thrilled that we could all come together to celebrate our incredible children. So let us raise a glass and toast. To them and their bright futures; where, together, the hope and possibilities are endless.”
Crystal goblets rise all over the table and chants ofhere herework their way around. A glass of water is held firmly in my hand, but I don’t bring it to my lips. That would feel too much like surrender, and that’s just not my style. Light chatter sprinkles the table as servers flood the dining room with plates of fancy food. After a couple of courses have come and gone, I’ve concluded that I am not afine diningkind of girl. I am dying for something that looks edible. If I’m handed one more plate with more artful dollops of reducedwhatever the fuckthan food, I’m going to lose it.
“So, Vinna. How are you finding Solace? I’m sure it must be quite the adjustment from, where was it again…”
The platinum blond woman, who I’m pretty sure is Becket’s mother, turns to her mate and gives him a questioning look.
