Nazreen

Chapter Forty-Eight

The Castle was crawling with threats. With immortals out to get each other. With people of different species that had absolutely no business being in the same room together.

Nazreen could hear the racket coming from inside the ballroom. She wondered if anyone had died yet.

Nazreen had worn short dresses before. She'd worn nothing before too, but not in front of so many people.

In Castle Solum, her dresses touched the floor with long sleeves that covered all of her skin. She found that when everything was covered, there was less for people to look at. Especially when she stood beside the show-stopping Annaliese whose very presence demanded the attention of the room.

Tonight marked the first time that Annaliese had picked out her dress.

Gone were the long sleeves and high necks she was used to.

The stylists had decked her out in an emerald gown with a slitted leg. Nazreen didn't have a lot of boob, but the dress gave off the illusion of a big bust. It was essentially backless, sleeveless, stopping just before the curve of her arse.

How Annaliese strutted along so confidently in these things was a mystery to her.

Already, she longed to shrink up into a hole and hide.

Nazreen wanted to become a shadow.

"How was your night getting railed?" Seth asked, standing way too close to her ear.

Chronos glanced over suspiciously. But the question was, did he care enough to say anything?

"Keep—keep your voice down."

Annaliese was just beside him, talking to him about something or another. He stared for a moment then looked away.

Maybe Evette had already briefed him... but that was unlikely. Chronos didn't keep secrets from the Queen of Blood.

"Well?" Seth probed. "How was it? Did you go dental again? Did you drink God piss? Did you—?"

"It was great, thank you." Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Did Seth not have a single cautious bone in his body? "And no, I didn't drink any God piss. And thanks—thanks so—so much. A uh, a heads up that I'd, that I'd be having an engagement party? That—that would've been nice."

"Oh yeah." Seth staged a wince. "Must've slipped my mind." A second ticked by. "Nope. Actually. Sorry, I did it on purpose. Your Godly boyfriend wouldn't have shagged your brains out if I'd have told you that. You'd have spent the whole night worrying, you wouldn't have had a cheeky drink from your God tap and now you'd be shaking like a leaf. You can thank me with a threesome."

Her cheeks flamed red. She glanced to Chronos again, the werewolf Prince and witch King, just to make sure he wasn't listening.

"Oh looky," Seth nudged her in the ribs. "The fiancé's coming. Quick, hide."

Unfortunately, that fat, weighty ring was back on her finger again, weighing her down. Sebastian Petrov was wading his way down the hall, ready to join them and announce his future King-ship to the people gathered in Veneficus.

Just what I needed today.

How was she supposed to get out of this?

How many times did she have to say she wasn't good at thinking on her feet?

"Sebastian," Annaliese greeted strictly. "I hope your punctuality improves when it comes to meeting my God daughter at the altar."

He wore a suit with crimson red patterns etched across it. His tie was the same shade of red as her engagement ring. He'd made the effort alright. Sebastian wanted to be received as a vampire King. Looking like that, they'd accept him readily.