The noise from the drama downstairs caught the attention of other people in the house, including Williams, who returned to the house that morning with Roman and Trevor.
He had already gone into one of the rooms to rest his head when he heard the disturbance, and he walked out to catch sight of Trevor and Daniel pushing themselves off the floor.
Just one look at Cody, and the latter began to explain what had just happened.
Roman, on the other hand, was about to step inside his room after speaking with Joan, when he heard the noise.
Pausing his movement, he smelled the air and caught a familiar but unexpected scent, which made him frown when he realized who it belonged to. What was she doing there so early in the morning?
Changing his mind, he headed out of his room and started toward the stairs with the intention of meeting her downstairs. However, she was faster than him as she showed up before he could completely descend the first floor.
“If it isn’t the one and only Roman Gavriel” Irene spoke, one side of her lips lifting higher than the other as a wicked smirk settled on her face.
Roman stopped moving the moment he set his eyes on her, but she didn’t pause her movement. She continued to approach him, climbing step after step until she got to where he stood.
“What are you doing here, Irene?” Roman asked in a serious tone.
“Paying you a compulsory visit since you have decided to evade me.” She answered with a tone that matched his.
“Evade you in what sense?” Roman probed, not sure what she was talking about.
“I see your boys have not been delivering my messages. I have been coming here for days but I have continually met your absence.”
“I didn’t send for you and I’m sure that Liam didn’t either. So enlighten me, Irene, what have you been coming here for?” Roman asked, fixing his irritated gaze on her.
“I received information that your curse has been broken and I came to confirm for myself. Seeing you now, I can tell it’s true. You don’t look disgusted by my presence and…” she moved closer to him, stretching her hand to touch him, “… you are not repulsed by my touch. That can only mean you must have found your mate. Tell me. Where is she?”
Roman’s patience ran razor-thin, stretched taut by Irene’s unyielding presence. Standing before him, she held his gaze, her confidence unshaken.
“I will only ask you one more time. Why are you here?” Roman asked again in a tone that suggested he wasn’t interested in her jokes or small talk.
“Stop talking as if you’ve forgotten your debt. I need you to fulfill your promise to me. That is why I’m here.”
“I made you no promises.”
“You owe me, Roman,” she said softly, running her hand down his chest in an intimate, deliberate gesture. Her voice was honeyed with a dark undertone. “You promised to give me a child, an heir to your throne, whenever your curse finally breaks. It’s time to fulfill that promise.” She tilted her head, studying his face with a maddening intensity.
Roman’s glare was lethal, but Irene merely let out a silent laugh, as if his anger was amusing, nothing more than a trivial obstacle in her path.
Roman opened his mouth to say something, but shut it instantly. He turned his head to look behind him when Joan’s scent came at him stronger than it was earlier, and light footsteps reached his ears.
True to what he suspected, his eyes met with hers, and he didn’t understand the emotion he saw in the green pair. A moment later, he realized she was staring at Irene’s hand, which was still on his body, and he made to step away from the compromising position. But before he could do that, Joan already turned around and walked back to her room.
“It’s the human again.” Irene’s voice echoed, then a frown appeared on her face as she wondered why Roman was acting strangely after Joan made an appearance. “What’s a human doing in your house when you’re supposed to have found your mate? And why are you acting like-”
Before she could finish her question, Roman pushed her hand off his body. His hand moved to grab her neck and he pushed her to one side of the staircase. His eyes burned with fury.
“Keep your nose off my business, and keep yourself away from this vicinity. I owe you nothing. You think I don’t know how you manipulated me with magic to make that promise? I don’t want to hurt you, so do well to save yourself from my wrath.” Roman’s voice, although low, was filled with venom sufficient enough to send chills down the spine of anyone who heard him.
“You can’t hurt me, Roman. I am a priestess, and your mate’s life is tied to mine. If I die by your hand… she dies too. Your precious mate will feel the sting of your choices. Can you really risk that?”
For a moment, Roman’s fingers slackened, the hesitation flickering in his eyes. But just then, a new voice interrupted the tense silence, slicing through it like a blade.
“I’ll kill you myself,” Williams’s voice was calm yet chilling as he appeared at the stairwell, his expression unreadable, his gaze fixed on Irene with a cold certainty. “I gave you the opportunity of a lifetime. You mess it up by manipulating the one you were supposed to help. Yet you walk in here to make demands. What guts.”
“This does not concern you, Williams. This is between-”
“One more word and I’ll show you what it’s like to be at my mercy.” Williams cut her off, his gaze darkening. “I don’t have a mate for you to threaten. Your leverage is useless with me. So think carefully before you make your next move.”
Irene’s confidence faltered, her eyes narrowing as she measured Williams, knowing the danger he posed.
She knew his strength, and knew he wasn’t bluffing. With a tight, reluctant sigh, she took a step to the side, slipping from Roman’s grasp, whose grip had slackened while Williams was talking.
She turned and made her way out without looking at any one of them, her departure a silent but chilling promise that her interference was far from finished.
As the silence settled over the stairwell, Roman and Williams exchanged a long, weighted look.
Roman’s eyes held an accusation, but Williams’s face remained impassive, giving away nothing of his thoughts. Neither man said a word, the tension between them thick.
Finally, without a word, Roman turned and ascended the stairs, his mind already on Joan, wondering how he was going to explain what she’d witnessed.
He was, just now, celebrating how things were gradually becoming less tense between them. Who knew the priestess would show up and bring back all the tension?