I half listened as I processed that. Though I had no idea what an end cascade was.
The major bluff in Sundulus’s play was only known to the siblings and select few others—that I was certain of. Mr Ringly’s subdivision deal was meant to go south, but Kyros appeared deadly serious as he continued speaking of pulling in their council and finance contacts to inhibit development approval.
I guess that’s where compelled humans—like my grandmother’s friends—came in. The clans used them to facilitate and intercept deals. To influence the un-compelled human population against the opposition. Any free and uncoerced human could sign a contract, I assumed.
“Present your reports to the strategy teams by 1:00 a.m.” Kyros finished.
He was flooded by a crowd of vampires.
This time I watched.
Some were his seconds. Others, I assumed, were the heads of the various teams, but I didn’t know what those teams were.
“Time for your part,” Angelica murmured in my ear. “This way, please, Miss Le Spyre.”
I adjusted my lilac jumpsuit, pulling the large silver buckle of the belt cinching my waist back into the middle.
This was it.
Time to see how my masterplan worked in reality. Perhaps I hadn’t completed the fourth blood exchange yet, but I was on Level 66. I’d expected that to take months, not days.
Thank you, King Julius—fucking douchebucket.
Following behind Angelica, I entered the glass chamber that I recalled Kyros exiting on my first visit to this level. There were twelve seats and twelve tablets.
“How do the meetings work?” I asked.
She gestured to a seat at one end of the rectangle table. I wasn’t sitting opposite Kyros. That had to be a wife-mate thing. Whether Angelica was in the ongoing midst of her matchmaking game, or Kyros was playing a force-Basilia-to-be-my-wench game, I wasn’t playing.
“Kyros and his seconds meet here. You’ve visited the other chamber where the princes and princesses meet. The rest of the rooms are for our various teams. My team is house acquisition—which is where I must go presently. Good luck, Basilia.”
I saluted her and received the ghost of a smile before she swayed out of the room.
A quick peek through my lashes told me Kyros was still in the middle of the gradually thinning crowd.
Marching to my wife seat, I dragged it around to one of the long edges of the table and shoved the five seats already there down to fit mine in. I stretched across the table to grab the tablet.
The seat opposite Kyros was now bare.
Perfect.
I sat as men and women entered the room. I recognised a few from the cafeteria on Level 50 and my infrequent visits up here. Conrad was the sandy blond from the first night I discovered Vissimo. He called Kyros by name, so they had to be close.
Tonight, every one of them wore a scowl. Subtle, but present. And aimed at me.
Goodie. What was up their buttholes?
Kyros entered.
I tried—fuck, I really tried—to keep my libido under wraps. Why I still tried, I had no idea. My mouth bobbed at the sight of his perfectly tailored navy-blue suit, my rich man complex working at full power.
Seriously the greatest irony of my life.
At this point, part of me wanted to have sex with him to just know once and for all. Kyros was right; most of the allure had to be the suspense of not knowing how good—or terrible—sex between us would be.
The ache from the last two months was almost painful. I’d dismissed a one-night thing with him because he was possessive as hell. Now, that didn’t deter me so much, maybe because I was already in this circus for life. There was no running away. Kyros had to learn to control his alpha tendencies—that was a certainty—but my choices had narrowed drastically with the three exchanges.
My body wanted him. The bond wanted him.
Acutely.
With increasing desperation.
Fuck. Tommy would legit disown me if I entered his pants.
Kyros crossed to where I sat, sweeping back one side of his form-hugging jacket to slip a hand in his trouser pocket.
He stopped next to me, and I met his hard eyes.
What are you pissy about?
He jerked my chair back and lifted me—seat and all—depositing me at the head of the table again.
“I’m not sitting here,” I hissed at him. “It means something.”
Kyros spun my chair around and leaned over me, one hand on the high back over my head. “It means you’re my true mate. Sit here, Basilia. Or sit on my lap. Which would you prefer?”
His response shocked me. Was he taking his father’s advice to heart? Or was this a don’t mess with me on Level 66 thing? I could tell from the satisfaction radiating from him through our bond that he enjoyed my startled response.
“In that case.” I flipped open the case containing my reading glasses. Sliding the thick black frames on, I said huskily, “I choose your lap.”
Dark lust spiked me.
Kyros was a sucker for my specs. I tilted my head, feeling my wing-woman hair slither over my shoulder. A shadow fell across his green gaze and his hands settled on my hips.
“Uh, sir?”
We both glanced at a dark brunette woman located two seats from Kyros’s chair.
He replied, “Danielle.”
“This is an important day in the game, sir, as you said yourself. I worry that having Miss Le Spyre on your lap will impair our ability to yield the best result.”
The other seconds murmured their agreement.
I smirked at their interference.
“Noted.” Kyros’s hands slipped from my hips as he straightened. “Today, you’ll remain here.”
No one missed the slight emphasis he put on today. The air around me cooled as the vampire left to take his seat. Discontent thrummed through him hard and fast. More anger too. I hadn’t seen him since meeting his father. I’d assumed things would carry on almost the same.
Apparently not. That put a major stick in my plans.
First things first.
I cleared my throat, scanning the ten occupants of the table—excluding myself and their boss. “Would someone like to explain why you’re all scowling at me?”
Kyros’s head snapped up as he sat. His gaze whipped to each of the seconds’ faces in turn. Which, of course, were now smoothed of everything.
“Is there a problem?” Kyros asked them in a low voice.
Most shook their heads. Conrad answered.
“Old concerns rising again, Kyros,” he said. “You admitted that focusing around Miss Le Spyre is harder. We’re worried about the potential negative effect of having her in this room.”
I really hoped there was a negative effect. Then I’d fuck Clan Sundulus simply by sitting here. After meeting Julius, I wanted him to lose nearly as bad as Fyrlia.
Before Kyros could reply, I shot in. “You’re aware that King Julius requested I be here?”
Conrad nodded, lips pressed together.
Definitely not my biggest fan.
“Do you usually question King Julius’s wisdom?”
He paled, as did several around the table. Yeah, the king gave me the willies too.
I leaned back and crossed my legs. “Don’t worry your heads over the choices of your superiors. The main distraction so far to a solid strategy has been your unsought-after interference.”
The words hung heavy, made heavier by Kyros’s blatant admiration through our bond. It was all bravado. If his father was in the room, none of those words would have left my mouth.