I took in the pain that entered his eyes and watched it vanish before I could investigate it further. His cocky grin slipped back into place, and he stepped closer, running his finger over my cheek.
“Careful, Silversmith,” Cole said huskily, as if hurting him had turned him on. “I consider that foreplay, and after smelling your arousal, I’m officially fucking interested in you. You smell fucking addictive, and I like addictive things. Especially when they come in such a pretty package,” he chuckled. Pulling me against him, he lowered his forehead to rest against mine. “I’m going to have you one way or another, Sunshine. Do hurry up and let Rhys down gently, yeah?”
“Go to hell,” I whispered, pushing Cole away from me, even though he didn’t budge.
“Enough! We’ll be late,” Rhys said from beside me. I followed the knights out of the front door, listening as Rhys grabbed Cole’s arm. “Take the hint, asshole. She isn’t interested. After your little fucking stunt, we’ll have to pick another brother to seduce her, so that we can finish this. Stop working against me and start working with me if you want revenge against the Silversmiths.”
I didn’t hear what else was said as I crawled into the limo, finding Nyx waiting for me. She smiled, holding out strawberries and a flute of champagne.
“It’s the good stuff, taste it!” she smiled, dropping it in the bucket as she took in the anger burning in my eyes.
“We have to get out of here, Nyx,” I whispered, barely loud enough that it was audible to my own ears.
“Fucking try it, Silversmith,” Acyn chuckled, peering around Nyx, where she sat on his lap, gulping down champagne. “You gave Rhys your silver. He owns you now. Welcome to the world of immortals, where every good deed gets you fucked harder than the last one.” His nose lifted, and his pierced eyebrow brushed against his hairline. “You already get fucked hard, sweetheart?” he asked, narrowing his eyes on Cole, who climbed into the car, sporting a black eye, his lip freshly cut open. Rhys sat beside me, peering over at Acyn, who grimaced at the black eye Rhys now wore too. “Bloody hell,” he growled. “Choose a cock, sweetheart, and ride it already. I can’t endure another pussy war like the last one.”
“I choose neither,” I snorted as the door shut, and we started down the driveway.
Chapter Fifteen
The bar was empty, other than the few men who sat around a large table set in the center of what I assumed was the dancefloor, considering the lights around the area. Rhys walked me to a chair, pulling it out as he waited for me to sit, pushing me closer to the table before sitting beside me at the head of it.
Men, and I use that term loosely, turned to take in my features. Their stares burned my flesh with the intensity of the way they studied me. Only a few females had joined, and they looked me over with ridicule and boredom, as if I belonged on the bottom of their stiletto heels instead of at the table with them.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to House Van Helsing sanctuary.” Rhys placed a card on the table, and one by one, the creatures around it reached for it to sign. They passed the card around, silently handing it back to Rhys with everyone’s signature.
“Really, Van Helsing? What game are you playing? This… child is not a Silversmith. Her coloring is all wrong, and she is rather… mundane. I’ve seen prettier creatures in the back of a whorehouse.” I turned, studying the cold persona of the woman that spoke. Violet eyes narrowed on me as she smiled, tilting her head. “You couldn’t even pass her off to newborns as a Silversmith.”
“I agree. She lacks, well, everything that would mark her house,” another woman stated, her eyes smiling as they took in the frown playing on my face.
“If you wanted me here to fuck me, Rhys, I assure you, you didn’t need the others. I rather enjoy your cock enough to come willingly,” a woman stated, heels clicking over the floor as she reached the table. Placing her blood-red nails on his shoulder, she leaned over, kissing his cheek. “I have missed you while I’ve been away, Love.”
“Sit down, Eloisa. I didn’t call you here to fuck,” Rhys stated, his eyes turning to lock with mine. “I assure you, Remington is indeed a Silversmith, and full-blooded at that.”
“That’s impossible, darling. She doesn’t even have the telltale markings of a Silversmith. Her hair, while gaudy, is naturally red. Her eyes are also not hidden beneath contacts. Witch, maybe. Silversmith, not a chance in Hades’ whorehouse. And I should know, I’ve visited it often enough over the centuries.” Eloisa grabbed my face, turning my cheek, and I yanked back, glaring up at her as she narrowed her eyes. “She looks like Roslyn, or at least her eyes do,” she said breathlessly, gripping my chin until it ached.
“Indeed, she does,” Rhys agreed. “She is her niece, after all.”
“That’s impossible, and you know it. We helped you murder the Silversmiths, Van Helsing. All of us jeopardized everything to help you find justice for your mother and your brothers’ wives and children. There are no full-blooded Silversmiths left alive.”
My stomach clenched as Cole snorted, and Acyn joined him, turning cold eyes on me. Acyn lifted his hands and folded them on the table, staring at me as he spoke. “I’m aware of what you all sacrificed and placed on the line after the Silversmiths murdered my mother, and hunted down my children like animals, butchering my wife and leaving her womb outside her body with my dead, unborn son rotting inside. This girl is a full-blooded Silversmith, and that’s a fucking problem for everyone. She’s mortal. That means there’s a full-blooded mother who birthed her into this world running around out there somewhere,” Acyn hissed, holding my gaze.
Rhys placed the blade I’d made onto the table, and everyone stood, looking at the craftsmanship. “Lucky for us, Remington wasn’t taught much about the war between our bloodlines before she ran away from Elizabeth,” Rhys stated, and everyone turned to look at him before examining me once more. “She made this sword and gifted me her silver.”
“You accepted it? Was she forced? If she was, it’s invalid. Do you intend to offer her your protection? Elizabeth was the best Silversmith they ever produced, born of a pure lineage. Her children were always stronger than the others, and you think to claim this girl in the ancient ways of their line? You’ve gone mad, Van Helsing.”
“How so, Griselda? I claimed the strongest Silversmith I have ever encountered. By claiming Remington, I have ensured that she can never raise silver against me or my house. Look at her work and tell me that it isn’t better than anything Elizabeth or Roslyn ever created in their lifetime. But even better than that, I was shown exactly how a Silversmith creates their silver. In fact, my brothers and my knights also watched her crafting the blade before you.”
“And what did you learn?” Griselda asked, her eyes lowering to hold mine.
“That the Silversmiths probably sacrificed their staff and their own children to escape the fire, which I assure you, they could have lived through easily. Remington worked for fourteen hours in a room where the heat was five hundred degrees, and yet the room burned hotter due to the forge where she worked. It reached five hundred and ninety degrees, and her body temperature during that time reached a full seven hundred degrees.”