A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor (Tempting Monsters 1)

"Because I am not at the top, obviously," Auguste said, grinning.

I ran through them in my head. If Auguste wasn’t, then that meant… "Ah. Amon."

Auguste hummed and nodded. "If I were a millennia or two older, perhaps I could compete," he said, shrugging and laughing at my gasp. "There were never many of his kind, and I'm sure he's considered some sort of royalty—"

"What?!" And here I'd been thinking all that queen talk from Amon was a bit of an exaggeration. "What on earth is he doing—"

Auguste growled and lunged across the water, eyes black and face suddenly hovering before my own. "If Amon says he was waiting for you, believe him, mon coeur."

"But I—I don't really do anything," I said, snorting out a giggle. "I mean, you know, accomplishments and the like."

"You accept," Auguste purred, snatching a kiss from my lips, and then another as he added, "You desire. You are very cute too, have I mentioned? And you taste nice."

"Hm, I think that might be a vampire bias, but thank you. I'll let Amon answer for himself next time. So you're after him?" I asked, pushing the uncomfortable weight of my value out of the conversation. "And then…Jonathon?"

"Mm, Mr. Tanner, I suppose. He's unique, very strong, and his tendency towards sniffing our kind out interests everyone. In a way, our group is a thin pool to study this topic. We are missing a great many options for you."

"I noticed," I teased and laughed as Booker reached down to pinch the side of my breast. "Oh, not you teasing me too!"

I twisted and found him smiling faintly. "Are you fourth then? After Mr. Tanner."

"No. I am made," Booker said, simply.

"Ezra is cursed, which isn't very impressive in the grand scheme of things, especially given the nature of the curse, but technically, it is more than…" Auguste trailed off, studying Booker over my shoulder with a growing frown. "Come to think of it, I'm not a fan of our social chain. And, Booker, I'm very glad to have you with us."

That was sweet, I thought, and I leaned in to kiss Auguste's cheek as Booker grunted out a thanks. "And Birsha?"

"Hmm, he's not very high amongst us all, not in terms of what he is," Auguste said, turning and moving back to his spot on the other end of the tub, taking one of my feet into his hands and massaging the muscles. "He was human, but he's immortal now, by some means. He's not cursed, and he's learned some magic for himself. Probably close to Mr. Tanner. It's what he's built in all these centuries that makes him powerful. Those who owe him favors, those he's destroyed, those who've chosen to ally with him. Rooksgrave could take him on if he were alone, but he never is, and his web far exceeds ours."

"But if we join our web with Le Fleur Noir's and…?" I waved my fingers through the air, deciding I'd better not try and garble out the name of Siobhan's house.

Auguste frowned down at my foot that he was working on, fingers going still and gaze distant. "I don't know what a real battle against Birsha would look like, mon coeur. I hope it doesn't come to that."

I bit my lip, the same worry in Auguste's soft voice finding its way into my heart. Booker squeezed my shoulders and bent his head to rest against the back of mine.

"He won't touch you."

Auguste swallowed, smiling again at last and nodding in agreement, but he didn't offer further assurances. I wasn't sure if it was because he didn't think they were needed, or because he didn't believe them.