Masquerade (Vampires Realm Series Book 7) (Reading Sample) by Felicity Heaton (reading fiction txt) 📕

The basement guards’ quarters, the rest rooms there, and the armoury had produced no results. She hadn’t sensed her men or Vivek there. No trace of their scent lingered in the air, which meant they hadn’t been there in at least an hour. The grounds had held a hint of Vivek’s scent, but Seth had explained that for her. Regardless of what Seth thought, Vivek had been out there at some point this evening, although that didn’t mean he had patrolled as ordered.

Sophis closed her eyes and focused her senses. It was difficult to pick out a specific scent in the mansion. There were so many people coming and going because of the masquerade preparations that the scents all swirled together into one blanketing smell of roses and vampire blood.

If she were older, she would have been able to pick through the scents until she found Vivek’s masculine smell of strong blood and warm aftershave. She was on the wrong side of one hundred for that sort of skill though. Picking him out of a crowd was beyond her.

She tipped her head up and drew in a deep breath anyway on the off chance that she might detect him. The smell of roses choked her senses. Useless.

Was he on this floor? There were areas where those of their rank could go, reception rooms they could use if they wished, but Vivek rarely went there.

They had become some of her favourite places for that reason alone.

Sophis turned to face the door on the opposite side of the room to the one she had just exited. It was one of the few remaining places to check. She crossed the entrance hall and entered the elegant green reception room. None of her men were among the guards relaxing on the deep forest green antique couches around the large fireplace or those playing card games on the polished wooden tables towards the back of the room. The smell of flowers lessened and something sparked on her senses as she approached the next reception room, her favourite one where she loved to relax with a good book and find some peace.

Vivek.

She ducked to one side when the dark wooden door opened and two guards walked out, and curled her fingers around the edge of it to stop it from closing. Instead of entering the pale blue drawing room that acted as a library for the guards of the bloodline, she remained tucked behind the door, listening in. Her senses pinpointed Vivek and several other soldiers. She recognised some of them, had studied the feel of them on her senses so she could pick them out during battle and quickly relay orders or check whether they needed assistance. Her three missing men. Disappointment lurched through her, its taste bitter in her throat and on the back of her tongue.

Sophis drew in another deep breath, needing it to retain control and stop herself from storming into the room and giving Vivek a piece of her mind. Her senses stretched out and she was familiar enough with the room to be able to picture where Vivek was.

That was her favourite armchair and he probably knew it. He was here on purpose, to show her that he knew her innermost feelings and how much pleasure that place brought her, and he was going to ruin it for her. Demon. She cursed him under her breath and tried to see who else was present in the room. Several males judging by their scent, and also a female or two. Some were seated further away from Vivek and his group, towards the double doors far to her right, where crammed bookcases lined the walls. Vivek was closer to her, seated near the elegant white marble fireplace in the cluster of dark blue upholstered antique armchairs and sofas that stood on the expansive ornate blue and gold Chinese rug.

“We should probably go,” a deep voice said, gravelly with Czech accented English, and she recognised him as one of the younger guards assigned to her group.

“Perhaps you should run along and return to your mistress,” Vivek said, his voice low and teasing, his Russian-edged words filled with amusement that tore at Sophis. She wanted to shut him out and not listen, not hear the things he had to say about her because they would only worsen the pain she felt whenever she thought about how much Vivek had changed in these past ten years and how much his behaviour hurt her. “She is no doubt wondering where you have gone and if you do not return to her soon, she will run crying to Commander Tynan. Although, I thought you had all come here because you wanted to be part of my squad? I only accept strong guards who can think for themselves, not younglings who turn tail and run.”

Sophis gripped the door, her claws extending and pressing into the wood.

Not only was he trying to get her dropped from the guard but he was stealing her men too. She growled low enough that no one would hear her, venting her anger in the only way possible without open confrontation and violence.

His sexism was nothing new to her. She had endured such snide and horrible behaviour from others in the past, especially during the time when she had been working her way up the ranks. It wasn’t often that a female was elevated to her level within the guard but it had happened before, and it would happen again, regardless of what the males in the house of Venia thought about it.

Part of her wanted to go into the room and remind Vivek that the Law Keeper of their bloodline, the highest echelon of guard and the position many of them aspired to achieve, was female. Marise was strong and powerful, and deserved her position as the representative of the Venia, the one who upheld the laws of the seven pure bloodlines in their name. Sophis looked up to her and fought to be as strong as she was. Marise was a sign that a woman could achieve anything they set their heart on, regardless of what some men believed. It was because of her that Sophis had the strength to endure everything that Vivek threw at her and wouldn’t surrender her dream. She was strong and able, led her squad by example and followed the rules herself. She was the epitome of a good leader and one worthy of her position. She would keep working to prove that until even Vivek couldn’t deny it.

“You saw what happened the other week during patrol,” he said and the contents of his report echoed around her mind.

Her resolve faltered and her anger and disappointment turned back towards herself. She clung to the door, leaning on it for support, weak as she thought about everything that had happened. She had wanted so desperately to fight and prove that she was strong and worthy of her position, and she had only proven that she was still rash and a youngling in some ways. She hated that she had shown that side of herself to her team and to Vivek. She had given him a reason to believe her weak and unworthy of her captaincy, and that was something she despised with all of her heart, not because he would use it against her but because she had wanted him to believe in her, to have faith in her skills as he had ten years ago, and now he wouldn’t.

“You want to be in a real man’s squad, not hanging on the skirt of a female. Is that not so?”

Those words sent the fire in her blood to her heart. It consumed her, burning away the last threads of her restraint and releasing all of the pain she held locked in her heart, hurt that she felt whenever she thought about Vivek. She couldn’t stop herself from stepping out into the open. Her dark brown eyes widened when she spotted Vivek sitting on her favourite armchair in the middle of the room, surrounded by his squad and the three men belonging to hers, and with a woman seated on his lap. Sophis recognised the neat chignon of blonde hair and the slender curvaceous outline before the woman had even turned her face away from Vivek to look at the others.

She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

It was Ella draped all over Vivek, sitting on his thigh with her feet tucked between his black-clad legs, her fingers running through the longer lengths of his messy short dark hair. Her friend smiled, as though in agreement with what he had said, and Sophis’s heart stung over the betrayal. How many times had Ella supported her when she had griped about Vivek and his treatment of her? Ella had agreed with everything she had said about him and his sexist ways, and now she was sitting on his lap, staring at him with adoring eyes. Ella brushed her fingers across his cheek. He smiled at her.

Was he so absorbed in Ella that his guard was down?

The others had sensed her presence, and her anger judging by how they had backed away from Vivek, leaving him open to attack. The three males from her squad were staring at their boots, huddled close together as though there was safety in numbers. She would deal with them later. After she had given Vivek that piece of her mind reserved for him.

Sophis growled, crossed the expansive room in a flash, and grabbed Vivek by the short stand-up collar of his black military-style uniform jacket. She twisted it in her grip and tore him from the blue velvet armchair, sending Ella toppling off his lap as she forced him to stand and dragged him towards her.

His hazel eyes met hers, cool and calm, unflustered by her assault.

“I’ve had enough of you.” Her words came out evenly despite the anger sweeping like liquid wildfire through her veins.

He smiled slowly, his sensual dusky lips bowing into it. Amusement shimmered in his eyes as he looked down into hers.

It didn’t fool Sophis. The tight lines bracketing his mouth and the tautness of his neck muscles warned her of his anger long before the emotion began to roll off him in tangible waves that told her to back down or accept the consequences.

Doubt settled in her mind. Right now, she wasn’t strong enough to beat him and she didn’t have any proof to lay at his feet should he demand to know what had her so riled. She was overreacting again, pinning all of the anger that should have been directed at herself on him instead. She had accused and sentenced him in one breath and she had to go through with what she had started.

“Why did you say those things in your report?” It seemed like the safest of her reasons to mention. He couldn’t deny it at least.

“Why did I tell the truth in a report to my commander?”

When he said it like that, Sophis couldn’t hold his gaze, no matter how hard she tried. Her eyes darted to his chest and the heat of shame engulfed and incinerated the anger in her heart, turning it to ashes. Vivek was right. He had only told the truth, a requirement when filing a report. What reason did he have to lie for her? None at all.

“If you want to prove that you are not weak or a liability, then do so,” Vivek said and her eyes widened.

Was he challenging her?

She raised her gaze to meet his. His intense hazel eyes gave nothing away, no sign of his feelings or any hint of the meaning behind his words. The banked flames of her anger sparked back into life, fanned to a fierce roar in her heart by the challenge he had issued and the desire to prove