Dorian cleared his throat and stood, disrupting my answer, which was good considering I wasn’t positive I exactly had one ready for him. “We need to go see the king. He summoned us to the throne room, apparently, and we were expected to go there once you woke up. As much as I would love to put it off, I think it may be best if we went. After all, if he really is your father, I wouldn't want to make a bad…”
He trailed off at the no doubt alarmed expression I was offering him. You know, for him insinuating that I had a father whose opinion that they needed to worry about. Something that was bullshit. Obviously.
Swallowing, I spoke up. “What am I supposed to wear? Where did you get those slick-looking uniforms? I don’t have one of those.”
The guys exchanged a quick look before Abel hedged out, “They are guard outfits.”
No shit.
No really, that was becoming increasingly obvious to me the more I looked at them. For a moment I was able to ignore why they would be in guard outfits and instead stared at their insanely sexy chests that were underneath fitted long-sleeve black shirts. It was possible I had a bit of a thing for chests, or maybe they just happened to have really fantastic muscular built ones?
My eyes moved over the rest of the outfit. The tight shirt was paired with dark military cargo pants and combat boots. Honestly, I had no idea why, but the outfit was totally turning me on. You know, I was feeling a bit stupid, because here I was, the literal Queen of the Dead, and I hadn't thought to come up with a group uniform? Maybe they should wear this forever. I was a huge fan. Although, I also loved their individual styles, so maybe not. But wearing these uniforms one time in bed wouldn’t be a bad idea, though.
“And you are deciding to wear uniforms now because…” I questioned, hoping they would give me any answer other than the one I assumed.
Maybe they were wearing it because they started a bowling team? Really, Narc? A fucking bowling team? That was what my exhausted brain had come up with? I was totally off my game tonight. At least I hadn’t said that out loud.
“You did.” Dorian flashed a charming smile that made me scowl.
“No, we were given uniforms for the guard of the heir to the—”
Turning on my toes, I walked back towards the bathroom, hoping to find that instead of a robe appearing, I would find something useful like a closet or some shit. I wish I could tell you I was ready to accept the reality of what they were saying, but let's be honest—it was a lot to ask a woman to accept that not only did her father literally exist somewhere in this building but that he recognized her. Like where have you been, pop? Oh, and then on top of that, I was supposed to be some goddamn heir to a demonic throne?
Right. Okay. Cool.
Such bullshit.
My eyes scanned the bathroom until I found a dark doorway that I neared curiously. I pulled it open and smiled, finding a closet. Can we say convenient? As I began to search through the dark material at the start of the room, I wondered if any of this stuff would actually fit me.
Hey, even if it didn't fit perfectly, at least it would be better than wearing a robe to meet my absent father. Right? My fingers ran across the expensive materials until I found a small black dress that appeared to be fairly comfortable. Pulling it down from the shelf, I laid it on a velvet couch while stripping off my robe.
Muttering an annoying curse at my lack of undergarments, I slipped on the dress so that it rested in a straight line against my cleavage. It was black silk that fit my body like a second skin, showing off my new tattoos while falling to the floor, making me look far taller than I actually was. A slit against my left leg crawled up my thigh, and along each side a red dragon rested, its jewelled eyes looking up at me.
It was a legitimately stunning dress, and considering I couldn’t seem to find my combat boots anywhere, I slipped on a pair of strappy heels that finished off the wicked look. I would promptly be putting my boots back on when I could find them, but until then, this made me feel pretty damn badass.
“Anyone know where my boots are?”
All of them snapped their gazes towards me, making me flush a bit as a heated look seemed to pass over each of their faces.
“I don’t like that dress,” Alaric growled, looking grumpy as fuck and a bit adorable. He totally did like the dress, by the way. I could see the outline of his very hard cock pressing against his combat pants, proving my point.
Plus, I had learned pretty damn quick that just because Alaric didn’t like something didn’t mean it didn’t look fantastic. Abel offered him an eye roll and motioned for me to take his hand, which I did happily as Declan looked over me for a prolonged moment before humming something under his breath, making my center tighten in anticipation. Dorian pulled up on my other side, intertwining our fingers as we made our way towards the door, ready to face whatever was out there.
I had no idea what was waiting for us, but I knew that I could handle it with my boys at my side.
5
Narcissa
Or I could end up in full freak out mode. I was worried that was where this was going.
I mean, sure, I felt stronger with my boys here. But did that stop me from freaking out because I was meeting my completely absent up until now father? No, of course it fucking didn’t. I swallowed, squeezing both Abel’s and Dorian’s hands on either side of me. I could hear Alaric and Declan behind me talking quietly. I wasn’t positive that spelled anything good, because the two of them were a bit intense right now.
It didn’t help that I missed Zachariah, Raphael, and even Shadow right now. Don’t get me wrong, I was goddamn thrilled that most of my men were here, but I never felt completely at home unless we were all together.
It made me hopeful about our future, that I felt such a strong connection even in the absence of one another for a few hours. Did they feel the same way? I had to believe that they did, just like I had to believe I knew where this was heading next.
If I was right, I was so fucking excited it was unreal. I mean... Dorian had a ring that all the guys knew about. For me. Holy shit.
“Hey, Dorian?” I turned to him slightly. “Are Zachariah and Raphael okay?”
His eyes heated slightly, going towards my lips before smiling with a wicked heat. “Okay? Sure. Livid? Absolutely. Raphael is particularly mad at me because I refused to take him down here with me. I had a feeling Declan would be alright since he’s not really alive to begin with, but Raphi not so much. And Zachariah was already distracted, to say the least. Although, if I had to presume, his magic wouldn’t fare well off the realm it’s attached to.”
My head snapped back towards Declan, his eyes moving up from my ass with a smirk. “Wait, is he serious? Are you not alive?”
The Irish demi-god shrugged. “I mean, I was alive once, but when you are around long enough you become immortal in the truest sense of the word. I will never die due to age, and it would be fucking hard to kill me, but of course, if anyone wants to try…”
I scowled at his joke, making his eyes warm as I looked back to Dorian. “So Zachariah can’t come down here, for sure?” Yeah, I missed him. Could you tell?
“Not positive, but he also doesn’t know I’m down here yet.” Why did I find it so sexy that Zachariah was off torturing my enemies? I loved that shit.