I swallowed, shaking my head. “Not my silver, it is cursed.”
“What?” he asked carefully.
“My silver cannot be used against Silversmiths. I will never allow it. Rhys’s sword, while lethal, isn’t lethal against my bloodline. I may be naïve and foolish and led by an overactive libido where he is concerned, but I will always protect my family, even from myself.”
“Sneaky, but we expected that already. You do know we read runes, right? We’ve had centuries of boredom to endure, Sunshine. Now, I’m here to escort you to dinner, since you are keeping everyone waiting, which Rhys considers a personal slight since he instructed you to be down shortly… three hours ago.”
“I had to get blood out of my hair, Cole,” I stated icily, moving past him to the door as Nyx followed us down.
“Indeed,” he stated, passing me down the stairs at an inhuman speed as if he needed distance between us.
“That wasn’t weird at all,” Nyx groaned.
We slowly walked down the stairs as the real-life version of the people in the paintings turned, glaring murderously at me. My heart kicked up, thundering against my chest, and I paused as anger and malice slithered over my flesh in warning. My feet wouldn’t move, and everything within me said to run, to get away from them as silent tears pricked my eyes.
“Fuck this!” someone shouted, and I was thrown backward, up the stairs, slamming against the wall to slide down, hitting the ground hard. The male rushed toward me, but Rhys appeared before me as if he’d materialized from thin air. He slammed his fist into the man’s face, sending him toppling down the stairs.
Rhys was slammed against the wall by a small, petite woman, who he lifted, slamming against his knee before he tossed her toward the stairs as well. His eyes turned, holding mine as I remained on the floor, shocked and uncertain what to do.
I started to sit up, but the air moved around us, and Cole slammed into a body before it could reach me. Acyn joined, and together the three formed a wall around me while I fought the urge to crawl into a ball and hide.
Feet became visible past Rhys, and he shouted, the voice coming out in layers. “Enough! I am the alpha. Unless someone wishes to challenge me here and now for my claim, back the fuck off and stand down,” he snarled.
“She’s a Silversmith!” a male voice shouted.
“She is, and she’s mine!”
“She deserves to die for what they did to us. You are the alpha. It falls to you to handle her, and yet you protect her? Why, brother?” another sneered.
“Because she gave me her silver,” Rhys growled, and everyone went silent.
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” the woman asked, groaning. “Now it makes sense. You do realize that others will come to take her, even by force. Have you bred her yet?”
I blinked, shaking my head.
Cole snorted. “Of course, he’s started the process, sister. Luckily, they’re not breeding yet, or we’d be having a much more damaging conversation due to your willingness to throw her around. Now wouldn’t we? See that you don’t do it again, as she is mortal.”
“A mortal Silversmith walks into your lap, hands you her silver, and you question nothing about it?” the woman demanded icily. “Did she ride your cock first before sucking your brains out through its tip? Or did you see her name and believe her words? There are no mortal Silversmiths because we left none alive to breed the little bitch.”
“And yet she carries the curse and controls silver. She stands inside a forge and touches the silver with her pretty delicate fingers, Nyota. In a room that had a temperature of five hundred and ninety degrees. We watched her work for fourteen hours to create a sword, unlike anything I have ever seen. When she gifted it to me, I accepted it for what it was, even though she had no fucking clue what she was doing. She is young, very young, and alone. So, yes, while I question everything about her, I also have ensured that she cannot wield her silver against me.”
“But that means there’s another Silversmith who survived the fires,” she swallowed, her hand pushing Rhys aside to peer down at me. “Eliza?”
“Indeed. Remington is her daughter.”
“The coloring is wrong. Is it dyed?” a man asked. I remained on the floor, staring at Rhys’s feet as they talked about me like I was some rare creature he’d found in the pet store.
“Natural. A rare occurrence maybe, or designed to hide in plain sight. I don’t know yet. Remington took down Laura like she was child’s play, and you and I both know she isn’t. She is powerful and very deadly. And she’s mine now,” Rhys stated, and I lifted my eyes, glaring at him.
I was so not sleeping with him tonight.
“Can we eat now? It’s been a very long time since we’ve had everyone here,” Nyota whined, and Rhys bent down as if to help me up.
I forwent his offered hand, getting to my feet as pain moved up my spine. I reached behind my arm, feeling stickiness as I dropped my hand, kneeling to remove the broken heels while everyone watched.
“Remi,” Rhys groaned, touching my shoulder.
“Get the fuck off of me,” I snapped, glaring at him. “I can manage to get my shoes off, believe it or not, Van Helsing. I did manage to live without you for twenty-one years, and I could have made it to my ascending without you too.” I removed the heels, stepping through the crowd of Van Helsings to walk down the stairs, feeling his angry glare on my spine as I ignored him.
And to think, I’d almost had sex with him! I was nothing more than leverage to wield against his enemies and sit his ass upon some legendary throne of immortals. I was an idiot to come here. In hindsight, I’d had good intentions, but my execution left a lot to be desired. I had just turned twenty-one the week before coming home, and with how things were going, I would be lucky if it weren’t my last.
Chapter Twenty-One
I pushed the food around my plate as the Van Helsings studied me like I was some freak they couldn’t stop gawking over. I kept glancing toward Nyx to make sure I hadn’t grown another head, but she was the only one not looking at me. Rhys snorted, and I slid my stare toward him for a moment before dismissing him.
“Do you know what burning human flesh smells like?” one of the brothers asked, and I lifted my eyes, finding the question directed at me.
“Intimately, yes,” I replied, setting down my fork to reach for the whiskey, downing it as a server raced to refill the glass. “Why? Would you like to set me on fire? It might not end as you’d hope. I’m willing to allow you to try if you’d like. It matters little to me which option you choose.”
“You think I wouldn’t set you on fire?” he countered, studying my face.
“That isn’t what I said,” I stated dismissively. Picking up my fork, I continued pushing around the food that was now little more than mush.
They’d served plates of steaming hot food that, at any other time, I’d have devoured. I didn’t enjoy being the focus of the table, or that they were all exuding vibes that stated how badly they wanted me dead. It was causing my stomach to turn, and an uneasy feeling was rolling through me. I’d also been drinking on an empty stomach, which made me tired and bitchy.