CHAPTER 61: CHAPTER 61: BEFORE THE FEAST 2

"SO WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?" Grayson asked, his voice rough with barely contained emotion.

Mailah met his eyes, her heart breaking at the hope and fear she saw warring there. "I’m saying that maybe it’s time we stopped looking for miracles and started preparing for reality."

The words sounded like a death sentence, each syllable another nail in the coffin of their optimism.

Grayson’s face went ashen, the color draining from his features as if she’d physically struck him.

Vivienne leaned back in her chair with the satisfaction of a chess master who had just achieved checkmate. "Finally. Someone with sense."

"That doesn’t mean I accept your solution," Mailah continued, her voice gaining strength even as her heart shattered. "I won’t be responsible for innocent deaths. There has to be another way."

"Such as?" Vivienne’s tone carried the patience of someone humoring a child’s fantasy.

Before Mailah could respond, a soft knock interrupted their heated discussion.

The sound was so ordinary, so mundane in contrast to their supernatural dilemma, that all three of them froze as if the simple rap of knuckles against wood had somehow violated the laws of physics.

Mrs. Baker’s voice drifted through the heavy oak door, apologetic and carefully modulated. "I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, but there’s a gentleman here to see you. He’s waiting in the den."

The three of them exchanged glances, the same question reflecting in each pair of eyes like a shared hallucination. Who would visit them at this hour?

Grayson moved toward the door, every line of his body tense. "Did this gentleman provide a name?"

"No, sir," Mrs. Baker replied through the wood. "He simply said he was expected."

Mailah felt ice crystallize in her veins. Expected by whom? And why did that phrase carry undertones of inevitability that made her skin crawl?

Vivienne rose from her chair with fluid elegance, smoothing imaginary wrinkles from her skirt with hands that remained perfectly steady despite the tension in the room. "Well?" she asked, her voice carrying that familiar note of cruel amusement. "Aren’t you going to entertain your guest?"

The dismissal in her tone was unmistakable—whatever crisis they’d been discussing would have to wait.

"Go," Vivienne said, settling back into her chair as if she planned to make herself comfortable in his study indefinitely. "Some conversations are best had without an audience."

Grayson’s hand found the small of her back. The contact was warm and reassuring.

"Come on," he murmured, his breath ghosting across her ear in a way that sent shivers down her spine. "Let’s see who’s brave enough to call on demons in the middle of the night."

They left Vivienne in the study, her presence lingering like smoke even after the door closed behind them.

The hallway stretched before them, illuminated by the soft glow of crystal sconces that cast dancing shadows on the polished marble floors. Their footsteps echoed in the vast space, creating a rhythm that seemed to match the frantic beating of Mailah’s heart.

"Grayson," she said quietly, her voice barely above a whisper in the cavernous corridor. "Mrs. Baker and the other staff—do they know? About what you are, I mean. About the supernatural world?"

He was quiet for so long that she began to think he wouldn’t answer. When he finally spoke, his voice carried a weight that spoke of centuries of carefully maintained secrets.

"Vivienne hired them all," he said, his fingers finding hers in the dim light. "I’ve never questioned her methods, never investigated how she keeps them... compliant. But Mrs. Baker has been here for decades, without asking uncomfortable questions, without ever seeming surprised by the unusual things that happen in this house."

The implications of his words settled over her like a shroud. "You think she’s been enchanted? Or threatened into staying?"

"No," Grayson said quietly, his thumb tracing circles across her knuckles in a gesture that was both comforting and possessive. "I think she knows exactly what I am, what this house harbors, and she chooses to stay anyway. Her loyalty isn’t born from ignorance or coercion—it’s genuine. She’s smart enough to understand the supernatural world exists, and wise enough to know that some secrets are worth keeping."

Mailah absorbed this information, adding it to the growing list of things about her new life that defied normal explanation.

They paused at the entrance to the den, and Grayson’s hand tightened on hers with protective intensity.

With that reassuring touch, he pushed open the heavy doors to the den.

The figure standing with his back to them, silhouetted against the dancing flames looked familiar.

He was tall—nearly as tall as Grayson. His dark gold hair caught the firelight. When he turned at their entrance, Mailah’s breath caught in her throat.

Molten amber eyes with gold flecks. Eyes that glowed with their own internal light, beautiful and terrible and utterly inhuman. Eyes she’d seen before, in a dream that had felt more real than waking life.

"Kieran," Grayson breathed, and the name carried such a complex mixture of emotions that Mailah couldn’t begin to parse them all.

Kieran smiled, and the expression was both charming and predatory. "Hello, Grayson. You’re looking... remarkably well for someone who’s supposed to be dying."

His gaze shifted to Mailah, and she felt the weight of his attention like a physical touch. Those golden eyes seemed to see straight through her, cataloging her fears and desires with uncomfortable precision.

Just like in that dream.

"And you," he continued, his voice carrying an accent she couldn’t place but that sounded like honey poured over steel, "It’s nice to see outside the dream realm."

Mailah froze, speechless. To see the other incubus who had tried to kill her—it was like a nightmare made flesh.

"Kieran," Grayson said again, and this time the name carried a clear warning. "What are you doing here?"

"Can’t a fellow incubus visit another without ulterior motives?" Kieran asked with mock innocence, settling himself into one of the leather armchairs as if he owned the place. "Though I have to admit, the rumors about your impending dissolution were quite concerning."

"What do you want?" Grayson’s voice had dropped to a dangerous rumble, and Mailah could feel the tension coiling through his body like a loaded spring.

"A proposition," Kieran replied easily, completely unruffled by Grayson’s obvious hostility. "One that could solve all your problems while giving us something we’ve wanted for centuries."

He leaned forward in his chair, his golden eyes catching the firelight as they moved between Grayson and Mailah. "What if I told you there was a way to save your life and protect your lovely human—all in one elegant solution?"

The words fell into the room like stones into still water, creating ripples of possibility that both thrilled and terrified.

Mailah felt Grayson go completely still beside her, his breathing so controlled it might have stopped entirely.

"I’d say I don’t trust you," Grayson replied carefully. "Why would you help me?"

Kieran’s smile was all teeth and sharp edges. "Tell me, Grayson, are you happy living as a pale shadow of what you were meant to be? Content to waste away in this gilded prison?"

The questions landed with the force of a punch, and Mailah watched Grayson struggle with emotions that were clearly centuries in the making. There was pain in his expression, and longing, and an anger so deep it seemed to have carved permanent channels in his soul.

"What exactly are you proposing?" she heard herself ask, even as every instinct screamed that she shouldn’t want to know the answer.

Kieran’s attention shifted to her with laser focus, and his smile became something genuinely warm for the first time since they’d entered the room. "Direct. I like that. Very well—I’m proposing a mutually beneficial arrangement. I help Grayson learn to feed properly without killing his partner, and in return, he assists me with my... business ventures in the human world."

Mailah watched Grayson’s jaw harden visibly, the muscles in his face turning to granite as understanding flickered in his eyes. Whatever Kieran’s business involved, it was clearly something that went against every principle Grayson had been clinging to.

Kieran’s gaze settled on Mailah with unmistakable significance, and she felt a chill run down her spine as she wondered what exactly this mysterious business entailed.

What kind of enterprises would an incubus run in the human world? And why did the thought of Grayson’s involvement make her stomach twist with dread?

The unspoken weight of the promise pressed in on both of them, seductive and terrifying in equal measure.

Mailah felt the weight of impossible choices settling on her shoulders like a lead blanket, but now there seemed to be a glimmer of hope—if they could trust Kieran’s offer.

Grayson stood silent for a long moment, his jaw working as he processed the proposition.

Mailah could practically see the war raging behind his eyes—the desperate need to survive warring against whatever moral objections he had to Kieran’s mysterious business dealings.

Finally, his shoulders sagged almost imperceptibly, and when he spoke, his voice carried the weight of defeat and resignation. "Fine."

The single word dropped into the room like a stone into deep water, sending ripples through something fragile between them.

Whatever line Grayson had just crossed, whatever compromise he’d just made, she sensed it was huge.

And in the dancing firelight, Kieran’s golden eyes gleamed with triumph and satisfaction, as if he’d been waiting centuries for exactly this moment of surrender.