Chapter 30 Aurelia
Aurelia
Iwasn’t quite sleeping. This was a sort of… lulled rest. The world around me felt soft and warm as my mother hugged me, my mind contentedly blank as she hummed her songs to me.
I never imagined this would happen. My mother, coming back to me. It didn’t feel real. None of it did.
“Aurelia,” my mother called sweetly. “It’s time.”
I sat up slowly to look at her. She met me with the sweetest smile and then turned to the gates of our cell. I followed her gaze and gasped.
Vampires were there, pulling at the doors.
The Castle family members. Four of them, slowly peeling the door open and holding out a hand to us.
They came. My people. I thought we were doomed when they all watched us get taken away, but for the first time that day, hope renewed in my chest.
“Vesper and Tate? Cedar?” I asked them in a quiet whisper as I carefully reached for my mother.
“Vesper and Tate are fine,” a woman said. “Cedar…”
“The witch hasn’t been seen, Princess,” a man spoke. “But we have to hurry. He’s distracted by the party, but we don’t know for how much longer. We need to get you out of here.”
I nodded and tried to bring my mother up with me, but she refused.
“Mother—”
“Come back for me,” she said quickly. “I am too weak to move at the pace you need me to.”
Panic rose in me. I couldn’t lose her. Not again. Not when I just got her back.
“Mother, you need to come. I have no idea what they will do to you if they find out—”
“They will do nothing. I am too valuable to them.” She smiled and ran her hand down my cheek. “Go, my sweet child. And remember what I always told you.”
Stay fierce.
I nodded. It pained me to step away, especially so soon after I just got her back, but I forced myself to keep going.
“I promise to come back for you,” I vowed.
“I know you will. I always knew.”
Bloodred tears filled my eyes. Trapped for years, but somehow she always believed in her daughter. I blinked them away and turned to let the others take me away from the dungeon.
“All the guards are with him,” one of them whispered. “They’re likely too few to have them roaming about.”
I nodded but said nothing else. We continued in silence until we came to a fork in the hallway. Right would take me back into the house and the throne room. Left led to the garden.
We went left.
“Thank you,” I said, calling their attention back to me. “For restoring my faith in vampires.”
They paused and turned back to face me.
“We would do anything for you, Princess,” the woman said.
“All we want is your safety,” the man added. “Now, if you—”
I took a step down the right hallway. Their expressions dropped.
“Thank you, but I’m not running away this time,” I whispered. “I couldn’t stand up to my father, but I have to do this.”
“Princess,” the man stepped forward, panic lacing his expression. “Do not call a Royale. It’s too risky in his current state. Please. It could mean—”
“My death,” I finished for him with a sad smile and took another step back. “I know. But I have to. No one else will.”
They started after me, hands raised as if they could stop me. But my mind was made up.
Stay fierce.
I turned on my heel and ran in the opposite direction as fast as I could.
It wasn’t long until I could hear the music and smell the blood. Anger flared to life in me when I smelled Vesper’s. I used it to push away my fear. To fuel me forward.
Pushing through the crowded throne room felt like an out-of-body experience.
People barely looked at me, only moving out of the way when our bodies were almost touching. Moving to the middle of the room, I stared at my brother.
He was enjoying a feeder on the throne. Vesper was kneeling next to him, her wide eyes on me. Tate was next to her, his poor body covered in blood.
“Adrian Castle, I challenge you to a Royale. A fight to the death. You are not worthy of this position. Better yet, you are not worthy of being in this world.”
He pushed the feeder off him, but it was too late. I dug my fangs into my wrist, slicing it open, before letting my blood fall to the ground.
It was the way to start the Royale.
“You kill me, and then what? Take the throne?”
I shook my head.
“Like I said, this family shouldn’t have existed in the first place. I am killing you and bringing the legacy down with me.”
Vesper tried to stand, but Adrian was there, forcing her down with one hand.
He’s going to lose his fucking hand just for daring to touch her.
She was panicking, trying to push against his hold, but even a newborn vampire wasn't a match for the power that was coursing through my brother.
“You always have to ruin everyone's plans, don't you?” he hissed.
I now realized how much my brother had changed since the first moment I saw him in the woods.
Back then, he looked like a normal vampire, and I could see the resemblance between us and our father.
Now? He looked more like a beast. His eyes sharper, double fangs sticking out of his mouth, long-clawed hands.
He was turning into something I didn't recognize.
“You think you're so important, and that all your feelings come before everyone else’s, hm?” He stood. “You don't even think about what's good for the kingdom. You missed my announcement, but this isn't for me. This is for the world. For vampires. I'm starting a war with all of them.”
My heart fell to the floor. My eyes shifted to Vesper, and the dread in them told me everything I needed to know.
“This whole time you've been searching for a purpose after Daddy refused to name you heir,” I said as I took one step forward. “You want to make yourself important. You want your name to go down in history to make up for the fact that our father didn't love you.”
He let out a growl.
“He never loved you either.”
I let out a laugh. “Unlike you, I spent my entire life here. Do you think that is new information to me? More importantly, do you think I care?”
People were making way for us, slowly moving to the sides of the throne room so that they weren't impeding the Royale.
I wanted to look at them. Wanted them to see the person that was going to take down this monster. But I didn't dare because he was suddenly in front of me, his hand grabbing my neck.
His grip was so hard and fierce that he easily picked me up off the floor, holding me up. His claws pricked my skin, drawing blood.
I struggled against him, grabbing his wrist to try to push him away, but he just smiled as if he found my struggle amusing.
“I had big plans for you.”
“You're not the only one,” I spat. “But you will be the last.”
I buried my hands in his hair, pulling with all my might, and then used what little leverage I had to ram my knee into his face. He underestimated me, and it was enough to catch him off guard.
In his shock, he let me go, and I used my chance to lunge at him and throw him to the ground, grabbing the crown off his head and stabbing it into his face.
He let out a yell, his hand catching my wrist and prying me away. Pain shot through me, his force almost enough to break my bones. I could feel them threatening to crack beneath his hold.
Something was happening in the bond, a trickle of an idea, just enough to call my attention to…
“Aurelia!”
It was the only warning I had before Vesper threw the Castle family sword at me with an almost incomprehensible speed.
I grabbed it in midair and, without hesitation, brought it down straight into his chest.
My brother's eyes widened. His mouth opened, disgusting, dark blood pouring out of it. I couldn't help but feel it was my mother's and all those other vampires he had stolen from. That was why it smelled so disgusting and looked rotten.
He shocked me by laughing. A full-force, crazed laugh that showed just how far gone he was.
“You really don't get it, do you?” His hand shook as he pulled the sword out of his chest without so much as a flinch, and then he sent me spiraling.
I turned around and got to my feet, trying to get some space between us, but he pierced my dress with the blade, stopping me in my tracks. I was quick enough to rip it and scurried back, missing a blow that would've meant his fist in my face.
I punched him, but he blocked it before it even got close. He was like a machine. Blood was pouring from his face and chest, but there was no stopping him.
“You can't kill me,” he growled and grabbed the corset of my dress. “But now, because of your idiotic actions, I have to kill you. Can't say that I'm sorry.”
My chest heated. I could smell magic as it shot through the air.
“What the—”
Light burst from underneath my dress, and my brother was sent flying backwards.
The necklace Vesper gave me. The one with the bird feather she used Cedar’s magic to create.
It saved me.
I ran forward, grabbing the sword that was embedded into the ground. My brother was already getting up, but Vesper was there, wrapping her arms around him and immobilizing him.
“The heart,” she yelled. “Go for the heart!”
But I hesitated. Because she was standing right behind him, and I was afraid that if I plunged it into his chest, she would be the one who would take the brunt of the attack.
That moment of hesitation cost me everything.
He smirked, seeing my dilemma, and pushed Vesper off right before he came at me and knocked the sword away like it was a silly little toy. Then his clawed hand was there, his target right in my chest.
My heart.
He was moving faster than I'd ever seen him, but time still slowed for me.
I'm going to die here.
I knew it was a possibility, but nothing could prepare me for it. Or for the anguish I felt knowing I would leave Vesper and Cedar in this world alone.
What will happen to them?
Will they try to attack him? Will he kill them too?
I looked at Vesper. Realizing her heartbroken gaze would be the last thing I saw only made it that much more unbearable.