Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Five- Emperor Franco Centauri Gervais- 164 yrs old Franco sat on his throne, finally back to his old self and feeling better because he threw caution finally to the wind. Of course, he found it trying to listen to their whining and excuses. But the more the people on his list spoke, the longer the list became as they revealed other guilty parties. He really didn’t care anymore, beyond he didn’t want to deal with Tatiana’s mess. So it connected many of her people to the Blood Traitor’s Network. All he could see there being any way that she wasn’t aware of their affiliation or had any other leaning herself. If her mind returned, she would have to face his questioning herself. They found enough things within her rooms to point to her involvement and told of how easily Blood Traitors could enter and exit her suite. Even with Franco’s suspicions were wrong, they came and went too easily from her private spaces to be anything l
“I come bearing news. My dear.” Edith Wolversen entered the house with a big smile on her face and a bottle of blood infused wine and a bottle of wine. “I see. What is it that has you so happy?” Ana asked, delighted with seeing Edith so happy coming back from the latest council sitting. “For one, Magnus is gone for a while. As you know, they recalled him to the Vampiric court. Word came down through the Mage Ambassador and I shouldn’t know any of it. But the rumour mill is as strong as ever. Somehow the Mage Ambassador found out about, you’re fleeing the dungeon and going into hiding. He thought it important enough to have his mate slip me the message during a friendly visit. They’ve sent Magnus for some kind of medical treatment. Now we’re still waiting to hear something official from the Vampiric Empire.” Edith poured them both glasses of wine and handed Ana her glass and toasted. “I know it was disturbing to
George, thankfully, wasn’t just a sword for hire. He’d made a hobby out of various things. One of which was leatherwork. He’d been using it to make a little money and Alpha Wolversen assisted him in discreetly selling it. The local area had a thriving tourist trade and George could now spend hours making very simple things for this. He’d been slowly saving the money that wasn’t used for their upkeep. The money that came from selling a few of the things he’d taken from Ana’s suite in the palace he’d invested for her, and he’d not touched that money. Rather, he had and had invested most of it into land or stocks that he’d been told would stand the test of time. George actually went through a connection who used an oracle for this. The person readily took predictions from a few oracles, and they combed the predictions looking for clues which would point in the direction of where safe investing would be. Then they’d look at prevailing opinions and trend
“I don’t know George. Truly, I can’t read anything into this. Technically, the way I see it is, there is no guarantee for either of us. It’s full of questionable phrases. I have to make the call for our safety rather than going home to meet our death. Until I see anything that says that my father won’t uphold any of the current or future charges.” Adriana sat in bed looking at a slip of folded newsprint. George brought the article with him when he returned home. It hadn’t been easy to gain it without being observed. Tearing out articles from printed material members were granted to read was poor form and considered rude. But George knew there wasn’t much call for this newspaper now as it was weeks old before he’d been able to get this copy. There was very little chance that someone would come looking for it. “You’re willing to hold out for nothing less than amnesty.” George felt relieved that he didn’t need to argue this point with Ana. Though he’d
Franco Gervais sat in his throne room, dealing with the current matters at hand. Several vampires came forward and offered with news of the Blood Traitors Network. Others brought forth information to varying degrees on who had been involved in the poisoning of his Empress and her daughter. It felt like fated played its hand. Lolita had betrayed him and birthed another’s children. One of which betrayed her and killed her. Franco would happily give more credit to fate for Tatiana’s condition now. She’d been attacked by the Blood Traitor who fathered her child. That Blood Traitor died even as he tried to slit Tatiana’s throat and failed. Now Franco struggled to find his only true blood daughter. With Tatiana clinging to life with all expectations that was temporary now as she’d stopped taking blood and food. Dionysius, the innocent one in this, hadn’t stood a chance against the sister she’d idolized. Ordered by Ordered, Edger went to a reporter that hung around
“I can’t believe it. This is news everywhere. I have to take this to Ana. She has to see it right away. She’s waited so long for this to come to pass.” Edith entered the solarium, where she loved to work and maintained an office. Her mate, Allan, sat in a chair, reading through a report. He was the orator to her brains, and they represented the perfect power couple. Edith held several envelopes and waved an opened letter about excitedly as she spoke to her mate. “Are you sure it’s not a setup? Honestly, Edith looks at it. He sent a message directly to you for his daughter?” Allan had a point. Though she knew how the Emperor knew how to get the message to his daughter. She’d told him when she knew he didn’t want to harm her. Edith hadn’t told him where she was or how she knew. Only that someone helped his daughter stay well hidden. “It’s an invitation, love. Well, two invitations. There’s one for us and one for Ana and a life partne
Edith dropped by with correspondence for Ana and waited with her. When Ana looked at the envelopes, she saw her father’s royal seal and her slow heartbeat sped up and she felt like she couldn’t catch her breath. Ana ended up settling into a chair before she fell down and took a moment to compose herself. “It’s from my father and it’s addressed to me. His seal is on both. It’s official correspondence.” “Yes, he entrusted me to find a way to get it to you. Now this one is an official invitation to his mating celebration. But I’m dying to know what’s in this one. So, go on and open it up. Tell me what it says.” “Oh, yes, open it. It’s a good thing he sent an invitation to me, right?” “It could go one of two ways. He wants you to return and be part of the royal house again. Or he wants you back to kill you. We won’t know until you read the letter carefully.” “Read, right? Carefully.
Edith left them finally to study the documents in their hands and discuss what they would do in response to this attempt by her father to reach out to them. “How are we going to respond to this, George? Or Caun, whatever your name is. Goddess, how do I call you? What name do you want me to use? This is all so much. My father took his time, so why do I feel like it’s all so fast? It feels like my mother and Dionysius died only days ago.” Ana couldn’t help but feel like this was off. Like she’d fallen asleep at some point, and this was a dream that would change into a nightmare before she woke up with a kink in her neck. “Hm. Let’s stick with George for now to make things easier on both of us. I think this name change will take a bit to get used to. Actually, I forgot to tell you about the latest rumours going about the club love. Everyone is on pins and needs because there’s word floating around that your father has been discussing