“I’m sorry about interrupting your privacy, but I’ve been struggling with this news for several days now. I know there’s no way George would have received this bit of information out here, so I’ve brought it to you.”Edith hated this and wasn’t sure how much, if any, of it she should tell Ana. “Promise me you’ll stay here and not try to return just yet. It might sound like it’s safe, but right now it’s not.” Ana sat in the great room of the cottage the next evening and patiently waited for Edith to get through everything she had to say. Ana knew would ease the she-wolf’s mind of guilt, regret, and responsibility. “It’s fine. I’m coming to terms with the idea that I might never go back. Now what’s the new from the palace? What did you glean while you were there?” “One, you’re well and truly in a better place. Those people are the worst sort of vampires I have ever met. And I am not talking about all the overindulging in blood drinki
‘You have one minute to explain exactly what you mean by that? I thought my father requested you to take me from there. Didn’t he? Did you mate with me like that out of some plot for self preservation? What do you mean I’m the only biological daughter? My father has three daughters.” “Ana, calm down right now. First, your father charged me with getting you out of there. He never told me who he thought I might be blood related to. But he made it clear to me that Tatiana and Dionysius were both the daughters of a stable master who’d been charged to teach the empress to ride. He didn’t know until recently for certain, but by then he’d claimed them as his and couldn’t take that back. You were an accident for the empress, and you are his only daughter. Look at you, you’re the female personification of him. Right down to the raging temper. Calm down, love. As for mating with my fated life partner, to save my life is a foolish idea. I did it because I had
- A Month Later - “Your eminence, the ambassador, received the necessary security while her visit with you. Before and after you met with her, and I can assure you of that. I briefed her on everything you wished me to and made sure she understood it all. She is far from a stupid woman. That, I can assure you, is a fact. She won’t allow Princess Adriana to do anything foolish or self destructive.” Edger stood before the emperor in his official office with most of the advisors gone for the day. They were finally able to speak between themselves about matters no one else needed or could hear. Franco sighed heavily. “Fine, that’s one daughter, safe and out of the way. But what about the one that wants to be my heir?” He hated to say his eldest daughter’s name. Somehow, the fact she’d been pregnant leaked out into the general court gossip mill. Now his image became related to the idea that he couldn’t control his wild daughters. Adriana
Ana could get used to this existence. Not having to worry about who looked over her shoulder and made up a story about what she did that played fast and loose with the facts, if they used any. She oddly missed her sisters and mother. But she wondered how much of that came from missing her routine and the expected familiarity rather than actual love. No one, not even Tatiana, deserved to be attacked twice. But why would she want to work with the Blood Traitors? That Ana couldn’t understand. They were against everything that she lived for. Everything she’d been raised to do. Ana knew of all three daughters she was the one that would have been expected to join the Blood Traitors in some effort to rebel. Was that what Tatiana tried to do? Join them to rebel. Well, she couldn’t have made things worse for herself than doing that. If what the grapevine of gossip and news coming out of the palace, her father now carried o
One Month Later -Magnus Lioness stood before the empty throne of the emperor within the grand presentation room. The place was loud and packed with whispering people. He would never understand how much noise it could generate from so many people all whispering among themselves. It felt like it became amplified as the very whispers bounced off every ornate surface within the large room. As if, they had designed the space for the emperor to hear everything that everyone said within the space no matter where they stood.They all waited to see the emperor as he’d summoned them all to be here. Magnus received a personal summons and a guard to escort him back here. No mention of why the emperor wished to speak with him. Magnus thought he’d been summoned so that the emperor could praise his efforts. He’d been busy correcting everything his silly daughter insisted on enacting.The female took it upon herself to make friends with their enemies and put her nose in other species’ business. She’
George set the human back near where he’d found him. His mind missing his time with George and his wallet a little fuller. George fed from him and made sure the male human didn’t suffer unnecessarily for being his meal. The money wasn’t much, but the blood meant survival for Adriana and himself. Once the human was safely back among his kind, George moved on to do the same thing himself. He entered a small social club. There weren’t many of these and from the outside, it looked like a private men’s club. Which it was, for male vampires, that is. With a front where a few male humans could smoke, drink, read, and converse with each other. But there was an entirely different space for George’s kind where they could do the same thing. It all had to be done quietly. With prohibition in action until a few years ago. The idea of men drinking with each other kept most of these humans keen on the public, not being aware of what went on within these walls. Oth
“The Crown Princess actually tried to hold an audience while her father lay recovering from the poison. She didn’t truly mourn her mother or sister at all. During the audience, she had her guards force Princess Adriana to stand before her and tried to get her to incriminate herself in the poisoning attempt and murders. Now this is where it gets interested. Not only did Princess Adriana not incriminate herself, she accused Princess Tatiana. Now, after this, it all goes downhill for Princess Tatiana, and I think she will not recover from this when it gets out.” The accuracy of the rumours impressed George. He couldn’t help but wonder if Edger had something to do with them. It seemed the rumours fit together so well, like someone went around with a list of connected rumours and told different ones to various people to see which one’s stuck, which vampire couldn’t hold their tongue, and then sat back to watch the public learn of them and feed into the search for the truth. “Well, if you
George listened within the darkened private club. Two older vampires comparing notes about what they knew about the situation and how much they had it wrong.“That happened after someone left a dead cat within her private suites for her to find when she arrived at the NARC’s new facility. Clearly, someone was out to kill her before they attacked the rest of the family. Someone murdered her personal lady’s maid, and they left her body in the sun. Whoever did it left a hungry dog in her private offices. I suspect they framed her for all of this because she wouldn’t die. Now, someone else has come forward to say what? The emperor’s private secretary worked with Princess Adriana’s bodyguard. They what? Suspected the two worked together to formulate a plan to release Princess Adriana from the dungeons.” He made his tone and inflection match the inflammatory nature of his gossip mongering. “Really. That is what they are saying? The emperor’s secretary helping the renegade