Chapter 4

I’d just finished saying my good-byes to Braedon, my grandparents, and Gwendoline when Geo entered the room. My heart ached at the sight of him. I longed for a few private moments with him before I left, but I knew it wasn’t going to happen. Since my grandmother’s discovery of our little tryst, we’d been given no opportunity to be alone together. I couldn’t complain about their actions being old fashioned since the laws of the New World Order also required couple supervision in order to avoid unwanted pregnancies that might result in poor genetics.  It’s just that after having been free to be intimate with both of my sexy vampires, it was overwhelmingly confining and -in my opinion- a little ridiculous for my grandparents to insist upon supervising us after the damage was already done.

I looked around the room and tried to determine if anyone, other than me, could feel the tension that radiated between Luthias and Geo, but they seemed oblivious.  My heart wrenched to think that I was the cause of the obvious wedge forming between two wonderful brothers.  From what I’d learned through conversations with Gwendoline, and the brothers themselves, they had a close and impenetrable bond between them since they were young boys.  Luthias even requested Geo turn him into a vampire so they wouldn’t be separated. A person or thing had never come between them like I’d managed to do.  What made it worse was that I saw no way of solving it without driving that wedge even deeper.  The brother I didn’t select would resent the one I did.

I found myself hoping Luthias would find someone to turn his affection toward.

To my surprise, for the first time since my sordid encounter with her on my wedding night with Charles, I wished for Abigail.  She may have acted abominably on Charles’s behalf that fateful night, but she’d also been Luthias’s lover for several centuries.  I was certain the only reasons Luthias turned to me was because Abigail wasn’t around. I’d also created a bond between us as a result of giving him a significant amount of my blood when I thought he was dying from the wounds he received while battling Charles’s vampires after they invaded Verso with the aid of their magic man and then Luthias having to give me some of his because I gave him too much.  Abigail was a blonde bomb shell. I was considered attractive with my sleek, dark blonde hair that cascaded down my back, straight aristocratic nose, and deep brown, almond shaped eyes, but I seriously doubted I’d be picked above her in a beauty contest. She was the closest thing to perfect that I’d ever encountered, either in person or during the rare times when I was allowed to surf the internet.  If she was back in the picture, I questioned how long Luthias would be vying for my attention; especially now that he knew he wasn’t Braedon’s father.

“So you are off then?” Geo asked as he approached me with both hands extended. I shook my head to indicate ‘yes’, but my throat felt too constricted with emotion to allow me to speak the word.  I slipped my slender hands into his larger, stronger ones and felt a surge of electrifying energy rush up my arms and then through my torso as he squeezed my hands in an effort to convey what he couldn’t say in front of everyone.  He closed his eyes and said softly, “You will be safe with Luthias.”

“I know,” I replied as I felt his grip on my hands loosen. “I’ll do my best to put things in order quickly.”

“Make sure you do it in a way that will stick,” he said firmly.  “Word came.  There is a rival for your throne.  We neglected to plan on that.”

“When?  Who?” I asked with a little panic in my voice.

“I received word less than an hour ago.  Since I’m not familiar with those vampires, I don’t recognize the name, but perhaps Luthias will,” he said as he looked in his brother’s direction for the first time.  “His name is Pierre Blaise.”

“He’s well known and liked amongst his people,” Luthias mused.  “He could create a problem for us if we don’t get him on our side.”

“Why wouldn’t he be on our side?” I asked.

“He hates mutants,” Luthias replied.

“As do I,” I said softly.

“They are none of our favorites, but we need them so it’s important we work with them and not kill them off,” Geo said aggressively.

“That’s true, brother,” Luthias agreed.  “I’ll do my best to smooth things over as soon as we arrive.”

“What do you mean?” I asked hesitantly. “What do you have to smooth over when we get there?”

“Our reception might not be the most gracious. Pierre was Prince Vogel’s right-hand man.  He disapproved of your marriage and won’t approve of you inheriting the right to the throne; especially since you’ve been widowed longer than you were married,” Luthias explained. “He probably wants it for himself.”

“He can have it,” I said briskly.  “Why don’t you just make friends with him and leave me out of this?  I don’t want to be their queen.”

“We talked of this already. Not only do we need ye to be their queen in order to assure things go the way we planned,” Gwendoline interjected firmly from across the room, “but I won’t have ye denying my grandson his birth right.”

“How can it be his birthright when he’s not Charles’s son?” I asked with exasperation. 

“As we discussed on several occasions, vampire laws are different than human laws.” she said in a snippy manner that I knew was because she’d already explained this to me more than once and thought it unnecessary to go over it again. “Your marriage consummation was witnessed; therefore, ye rightfully hold the crown. Because he came from the womb of a rightful queen, he automatically inherits.  It has nothing to do with genetics and everything to do with hierarchy.”

“Then I don’t understand how Pierre can try to claim leadership,” I said flatly. “Just where does he stand in the chain of command that makes him think he can usurp me?”

“He was Charles’s chief advisor,” Geo said.  “His duties were like Luthias’s are here in Verso. Now that Charles is gone and you are absent, he stepped in to rule. He’s had a taste of ruling and doesn’t want to stop.”

“I see,” I mused. “How am I supposed to stop him? I mean... if he was advising and basically ruling right beside Charles and his people are used to him, how do you expect me to waltz in there and usurp his position?  They’ve never even set eyes on me.”

“Vampires are very respectful of laws and traditions,” Luthias said softly.  “Most of them, anyway.”

“There were too many witnesses to your wedding and consummation for any of them to be able to deny your position,” Geo said flatly.

I found it irritating that Geo could be so calm and level with his voice when speaking about my horrific wedding night. Every time I thought of the pain and indignation I suffered -both physically and emotionally- as he stood amongst the onlookers, my stomach churned.  I reasoned with myself that his hands were tied.  Helping me would have pitted him against a few dozen vampires within the room.  He stole me away at his earliest opportunity. Even so, the irrational side of me wouldn’t let go of the fact that he didn’t become my knight in shining armor and save me from the experience.  I loved him, but admittedly, I harbored angst about several occurrences of which Geo was involved; starting with the fact that he fetched me from my grandparent’s loving home and delivered me to my evil mother under false pretenses.  It didn’t matter that, at the time, I was a means to an end and he cared nothing for humans.  That one action changed the course of my life permanently.  The actions that followed simply complicated it even more.

These things weren’t something I thought about often, but they did surface now and again on occasions when I found myself irritated with something he’d said or done.  Remembering the many occasions I’d witnessed my grandparents bickering, I assumed it was simply a normal part of being in a relationship and I’d tuck my feelings away without a second thought. After all, I was sure there are things about me that irritated him as well.

“We should go,” Luthias said softly. “I’ll wait outside while you two say good-bye.”

“How long will we be gone?” I whispered to Geo as I watched Luthias leave the room from the corner of my eye.

“That depends upon you,” he replied.  “I’m hoping you will put everything in order quickly and then meet me at your mother’s kingdom.”

“Are you going there ahead of me?” I asked with surprise. 

“I need to get back before they suspect it was me who stole you away,” he explained.

“They don’t know?” I mused.

“I left a few of my people behind to make believable excuses for why I’m not there,” he said. “They may suspect, but those who knew for certain perished during the battles.”

“I don’t like the idea of you mixing with that bunch,” I groaned.  “What if one of them infects you?”

“I mixed with them for two years before I was sent to find you,” he assured me.  “I managed to carve a fairly authoritative position within the structure of things.  It will come in handy when you return; especially since they know I was the one who went to fetch you by Sybil’s command.”

“Do they know about us?” I asked.

“There may be one or two, but I doubt it,” he said thoughtfully. “It’s a good question, though.  I’ll be sure to fish around and eliminate anyone who might be able to give us away before you arrive.”

“Eliminate?” I gasped; after which I remembered that we were discussing the abominable mutant-vampires so I nodded my head and added, “Good.”

“You need to go,” he whispered as he kissed me gently on the lips.

“I don’t want to go,” I sighed, “but there seems no way out of it.” I stroked his cheek gently and pushed the hair above his ears toward the back of his head with my fingertips.  “Okay. I’m gone.  I’ll see you soon though.”

“None too soon for me, my love,” he said softly before turning to leave.

I stood in place and waited for him to turn around to look at me one more time.  If he did, I was sure I’d run into his arms and hold him so tight he wouldn’t be able to break free.  I didn’t want to leave him.  My heart hurt from the thought of it. To my mixture of relief and disappointment, he didn’t turn.  Instead, he squared his shoulders and held his head high as he strode steadily out of the house.  He stopped and spoke briefly with Luthias before shaking his hand and walking off in the same direction Gwendoline always went when she needed to be alone.

I watched him through the window until he disappeared into the grove of trees. I took a deep breath, squared my own shoulders, and held my chin up high as I went to join Luthias.