Gypsy Rising

She glances at the camera, her jaw ticking, before she forces her eyes to meet mine again. “The shifter better be there within the next thirty minutes, or you’ll be in breach of your sanctuary contract. Five families won’t be enough to keep me from tearing it down very fucking legally.”

She leans forward, and the cameras intentionally move back as if she’s silently requested as much.

“I was content to let you pretend to be important for a little longer just to appease my mother and her useless spawn, Violet Carmine,” she says, as she gives me a grin I’m sure should scare the living shit out of me.

It would have. Five months ago. Probably. Hell, it may still. I usually have delayed reactions, due to my mother’s put-a-pin-in-it conditioning that has been getting really loaded down with an excess of pins lately.

Wreak Havoc starts playing over the outdoor speakers, and Anna shoots me a wink.

“Very well,” Idun says when I just continue to stare at her, unfazed, not giving her the fear she craves so much. “Tell your shifter her pain could have just been over with a quick death, but you fought really hard for what comes next. Tell your entire House that, Violet Carmine. Or let them watch it later,” she adds, gesturing to the camera.

I was supposed to get to enjoy this day. I was supposed to get some quality sleep that was actually supposed to have already come. Seems like there’s always something holding me back from my shiny, barely-used bed.

“Don’t worry about my House, Idun. It’s not your problem. You’re only here because they quit watching Idun TV one week ago when I broke up with them over this particular prisoner, and I’m sure you’re very aware of that.”

Her eyes deaden, mostly because I’m calling her out, and all the visiting alphas who know her will have that ‘ahhh, gotcha’ moment they’ve been waiting on to find out why she’s really here to begin with.

“Everyone thinks she’s unpredictable,” Anna drawls as she measures Idun with a cold, assessing eye. “Really, she’s just a basic, hostile bitch.”

Idun actually slants a gaze toward Anna, almost acknowledging a ghost, but stops just short of looking directly at her.

“Anyone carrying salt?” Idun asks with an angry, forced smile. “Ghosts really shouldn’t have any influence over the dead. Your dead brother is the one who started this downward spiral of family feuds, after all. He wanted his mummy in the grave with him, sold my family false information, and then ran and gave her family much worse information. Or didn’t your mother mention that?”

Ah, lovely. I knew there’d be a lot of these punch-her-with-the-past-revelation jabs. All of which are irrelevant to me, since I no longer give two shits about their complicated, never-ending history.

It’s become clear there are too many details to their story, because everyone is conniving, competitive, and far too messy.

“You should probably go if I have to be there so soon,” is all I say. “Everyone who hates a Portocale will be tuned in to your show to see how you put me in my place with a nameless shifter as a proxy.”

She just rolls her eyes, pretending to still be above it all.

“Very well, Violet. I wanted to show mercy. Everyone, including the four of them, will remember that. Ask Arion what he’d do to a vampire who lived for centuries unregistered, was taken prisoner for being unregistered as a mercy, and then cried sanctuary inside his girl toy’s home after registering to escape imprisonment. We’re not humans. We don’t game the system when it benefits us, or the world erupts into disease and ends.”

I almost react. Almost.

Idun doesn’t even know that Ivannah was pregnant…

That means Arion has zero leaks inside his home, and I have zero leaks inside this one. For now.

His eyes are on me, like he’s silently willing me not to be an idiot right now. Oh, shit. Now I want to piss myself. I’ve been walking Jasper around, thinking she already knew Ivannah was pregnant.

“Arion doesn’t have a vampire to discuss at current. I personally find all this counterproductive, since you get your pound of flesh. Why are we arguing? The law isn’t being broken, and we’re not circumventing punishment. Run along, Idun. Quit trying to stall and make me late, when it’s being recorded for all to see,” I deflect like a fucking boss—sort of…in a way…I think.

Arion makes a tense sound, as he glares at me, and I hear the bars slowly raising in the house before she’s even gone. Emit has likely forced someone to break the safety protocol just so he can come watch as well.

It’s like unbuckling your seatbelt when you’re a mile from the house.

Idun’s eyes move there like she’s trying to provoke my fear at last, but I sense Emit walking out, hearing the bars quickly lowering again. It’s fingerprint activated, and he’s not cleared to use it.

She doesn’t say anything else as she turns and walks away, and I continue holding my breath, worried my knees will collapse out from under me before I’m in a safe place.

I lock those weak knees in place, using Shera’s notes on faking it for just a little longer. I know the bars are probably pointless against her supposed power, but I guess that’s to be determined, given all the changes I’ve made in her once uninterrupted line of power.

“Oh,” Idun says, smiling brightly as she turns around and opens the book she’s marked with her finger, like she’s been waiting for this part. “Ask your girl toy what article-one, section-two, addendum fifteen is. She’s not very bright, but most Simpletons aren’t. Just remember I did try.”