Romancing The Dead by Tate Hallaway Read Free Book Online Page A

cronies had put an arrow through my thigh. Just seeing that sarcastic smirk again made my leg twinge. Mátyás had Sebastian’s aristocratic features, with irises a shade paler, almost golden. His black hair fell just long enough to be perpetually in front of his eyes. Truth was, Mátyás could have been handsome, if he wasn ’t always so bitter and angry looking.
    Of course, he was cursed to be a teenager forever, so it wasn’t entirely his fault. I imagined it would be pretty miserable to be seventeen for the past hundred and fifty-some years. I would feel a bit more pity for him, if he didn’t have the annoying tendency to refer to me as his daddy’s “chew toy.”
    “Darling Garnet, it’s so very nice to see you alive and well,” he drawled in a way that implied the exact opposite. “Where is dear old papa?”
    “What are you doing here? This isn’t really your kind of scene, is it?”
    Mátyás shrugged, while looking around me for Sebastian. “I stopped by the farm to drop off my things. I noticed the calendar on the fridge. Where is he? We need to talk.”
    “You’re staying at Sebastian’s? For how long?” And, then, as it occurred to me, I added, “You have a key?”
    His smile was toothy as he pulled a ring out of his pocket and jangled it in front of my face. I scratched my chin with the middle finger of my left hand. Yes, juvenile, but something about Mátyás brought out the worst in me. Besides, this way I had the opportunity to both give him the finger and flash the engagement ring. He stared at my ring finger with a look that I could only describe as stricken. “So it is true. Dear God. I think I’m going to be sick.”
    “Nice,” I said.
    Mátyás opened his mouth, no doubt to shoot off another insult, when one of the gardening matrons cleared her throat, surprising us both.
    “Excuse me, Ms. Lacey?” the lady asked, peering at the name badge I’d been given when I first came in. “You’re Mr. Von Traum’s guest tonight, right?” I nodded. “Is there a problem?” she asked. “Is Mr. Von Traum expected to be late?”
    I reached for my cell phone only to remember that I’d smashed it when I tumbled over my bike. “I’m afraid I don’t know,” I told the lady. “The last time I talked to him, he was planning to be here. ” In fact, he’d been the one to remind me not to be late.
    “Mátyás, do you have a phone? Mine’s broken.”
    Without a word, Mátyás pulled a cell out of his suit coat pocket and handed it to me. I dialed Sebastian’s number and got his voice mail. I left him a message reminding him that he was supposed to be here in —I checked the wall clock—three minutes. “This isn’t like him,” I told the gardening lady, as I handed Mátyás’s phone back. “Something must be really wrong.”
    “People have paid for their tickets. The food has been catered,” she said, her voice starting to sound a bit shrill. “There’s nearly a hundred and fifty people here. It’s the best attendance we’ve ever had.”
    My own nerves were starting to jangle. “Sebastian isn’t the sort to just blow this off. Something terrible must have happened. He must have been in a car accident, or . . .”
    “Or, he’s off playing blood sports with another woman,” Mátyás suggested casually. The gardening lady, who had continued to sputter about arrangements that would have to be undone, stopped and stared gape mouthed at Mátyás. Mátyás locked eyes with me. “Or have you asked him to give all that up as part of your new life together? Say, how is that working out for you?”
    “This is not the time, Mátyás. I’m seriously worried about Sebastian.”
    “Should I cancel? Or do you really think he’s just held up?” The lady asked Mátyás, apparently hoping for a better answer from him than what she’d been getting from me.
    “My father is fairly indestructible,” Mátyás reminded me. “Very little keeps him from what he wants .”
    “Maybe you