Bloodline Diplomacy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 3) - Lan Chan (thriller books to read .txt) 📗

didn’t mean they actually listened. I was banging my head against a wall trying to get both sides to see reason. We kept going with the lesson until late afternoon. Then it was time to get ready.

Many of the others were now dressed and ready to go. They were gathering in the kitchen. There were other cars in the parking area that I didn’t recognise.

Rachel was absent from the room when I closed the door. I had just planned on wearing something in my limited wardrobe. There was a cream dress box on my bed with a sapphire blue bow around it. I opened it tentatively thinking Kai had done another run to Madame Familiar. But when I read the card, my slack expression softened into a smile.

Dear Lex,

No matter where you are, you will always be one of us. We love you, snark and all.

It was signed by all of my friends. I swiped away the tears and gently unwrapped the dress. It was a shimmering, delicate blue material interspersed with glittery thread. The effect made it appear like a blue sky dusted with starlight. The structure wrapped around and then sort of knotted at my right hip. It was just long enough to touch my knees, but it whispered around my legs and appeared to be floating. I was literally a walking cloud. There were matching sapphire-coloured strappy heels.

I left my hair down but splashed water on my face. When I arrived at the kitchen, everyone else was already waiting. I almost did a double-take when I saw the transformation in Rachel. Her dress was black, of course, but the thin straps and cinched waist softened her lithe figure.

Samantha caught me as I stepped through the doorway. “Remember what I said earlier this evening,” she said. “We really need to present a united front tonight.” Who was she kidding?

My mouth was opening to say something when Jessica stepped up to us. “He’s here,” she said to Samantha. The grand mistress almost bowled me over in her haste to get to the door.

“I take it from her reaction that the he is her husband?” I snarked to Rachel. To my surprise, she rolled her eyes.

“If you could call him that. He spends more time at work than with her.”

If Samantha minded, you couldn’t tell from the way she was smiling as she came back into the room on the arm of a man wearing a tailored dark Italian suit. If that was the look on my face when I was around Kai, I deserved an ass kicking. There was something truly disconcerting about a woman of that age giggling the way she did. When I glanced up to get a look at him properly, my whole body tensed.

I turned my head slowly towards Rachel. There was just enough time to watch her try and smooth out her scowl. “Is that…? I mean, is he...” I couldn’t finish my sentence but Rachel’s unenthusiastic nod confirmed it.

It was like the universe thought of me as a punching bag. Hit after hit. Samantha led her husband towards the middle of the kitchen. “Try not to implode,” Rachel barked in my ear. Easier said than done. Why wouldn’t I be okay with this? I mean, Samantha had only just walked into the room with Ben Cochran. The honourable Benjamin Cochran to us mere Australian citizens. Minister for Environment and Planning. I wouldn’t have known who he was if not for Basil’s collection of newspapers. Samantha was bringing a human politician to the treaty. The supernaturals had no idea what was coming.

The Minister cleared his throat and the room went quiet. He scanned the room and his eyes came to rest on me. There wasn’t really much about him to distinguish him from most other stuffy, middle-aged politicians. At least his slim frame meant he hadn’t given himself over to the good-life. His light brown hair was greying on the sides. He stood only just slightly taller than Samantha. But when I looked into his eyes, they wrinkled at the edges.

“I’m so glad you could all be here,” he said. “For too long we’ve been mistreated by these so-called benefactors. When we were no longer needed they attempted to eradicate us. Well, no more. We will make our demands heard.”

This was followed by enthusiastic clapping. Beside me, Rachel snorted.

“What are we demanding?” I asked.

She looked down at her hands. “They’ve gotten it into their heads that we would all be better off if the general public knew about the supernaturals. He’s going to demand that they reveal themselves.”

I just stood there with my mouth hanging open. “Just like that?”

“Yep.”

“But that’s going to cause mass hysteria.”

“Yep.”

I followed her out the back door towards one of the cars. “What if they refuse?”

She shrugged.

“You don’t agree with this, do you?” I wanted to know.

“Those are our orders.” She slammed the door shut. Sean slid into the driver’s seat. I stood there watching as one by one the others disappeared into the cars. Ashton walked up to me. He opened the back passenger door and waved for me to get in. I did so in a stupor. They were legitimately crazy. Half an hour towards the Grampians, Sean flipped the rear-view mirror so he could get a better look at me.

“You’re very quiet,” he said.

“I told her about the plan,” Rachel explained. Ashton nodded. He regarded me for a second.

“So what’s it going to be?” he asked.

“What’s what going to be?”

“If the time comes. Having you with us would change everything.”

It took me a second to work out what he was asking. When I did, the only thing that stopped me from laughing was the absolute stillness of his face. He was deadly serious. They were preparing for war and they expected me to pick their side. To them, species loyalty was everything. It didn’t matter if the supernaturals had been kind to me.

I zipped my lips and pretended to stare out the window. It was better than