18. Aurelia
The chaos of dealing with the prince and the would-be assassination attempt almost made me forget how mundane the cycle of my life was.
Board meeting with Father. Decompress at the club. Save face at the gala.
Over and over again for years and years. The only time anything was worth noting at one of these things was a marriage or, if we were lucky—an affair.
But this time was different. Because this time, I would be the one providing the entertainment.
People were invited from all over to celebrate the engagement. And to put it frankly, I was the chained animal put on display for all to see.
The family took special care in preparing me for this event.
My hair had taken hours to complete and felt heavy on my head with all the diamonds and rubies they pinned throughout the braids that crisscrossed over my head. Of course, they couldn’t skimp on the tiara.
It was my mother’s from when she got engaged. Apparently, it had been a gift from my father to her, but I had a hard time believing my father would have done anything nice for her.
The gown was brand new. I hadn’t even had time to try it on or pick any of the fabrics that went into making it. Father and the stepbitch did that for me. Both of them carefully crafting it with the knowledge that hundreds of vampires would remember the occasion, and me in it.
It was a deep red with velvet accents all around, and luckily it covered most of my skin. A nice pick, though it was hard to move with the way it constricted my chest and arms. I was dressed up like a pretty little doll, ready to be gawked at, while Prince Icas had on a normal suit.
He gets the easy part, of course. No one really came to see him anyway. Just like when I joined the same type of gala in other families, they were just foaming at the mouth for a chance to see some high-profile royals embarrass themselves.
Holding the gala at our palace was nonnegotiable. We had a room reserved for this—multiple, actually. It was the same setup every single time. A large ballroom, decked out in glittering gold, multiple crystal chandeliers, floor-to-ceiling windows that showed our thousands of bright red roses surrounding the palace, and more blood than any vampire could consume in their entire lifetime in both the pitchers and with humans walking around, offering their wrist to whoever wanted.
I recognized a few of them from the blood tasting we had not long before.
Extravagance was the name of the game. My father didn’t want to just tell people that he was a king among vampires—he wanted to show them. He wanted people to leave this place not questioning his wealth or his right to power.
I had blurry memories of when I was a child, when my mother could still quell him. Instead of these lavish balls, we would have small parties in the garden. But only for those we cared for, and most of the party was spent bonding with them, catching up, and just laughing. One of my clearest memories of that time was when I caught my mother laughing at something a family member had said. She threw her head back, her laughter echoing across the garden and drawing all attention to her.
She radiated such happiness, even if no one knew what was happening behind closed doors between her and my father.
That was something I could never live up to. After being locked in the gilded cage for so long, I had lost any softness she had instilled in me. All that was left were the sharp, cracked edges my father left after trying to mold me into what he thought was the perfect daughter.
Strengthening relationships looked different after she died.
If she were here, I wouldn’t have to marry the prince. If she were here, the old men scattered among the crowd wouldn’t look at me and lick their lips as if they knew that no matter what my marriage status was, if they offered a big enough sum, I could be theirs too.
With her, I could be free.
Icas squeezed my arm tightly, bringing me back from my melancholy daydream. His grip was hard enough to bruise, but it would disappear in seconds. I almost wished it didn’t. Almost wished he had broken me down like Elora’s husband did to her so that everyone would see what a disgusting prick he was.
I blinked my eyes rapidly, the two withering vampires in front of us both looking at me. I had forgotten their names, but I did remember the distinct black veins that ran across their faces and necks.
Those weren’t left from too many fun nights on magical drugs. Oftentimes, those would fade and wouldn’t harm the vampire. The ones they had running along their faces were deep-set, painful-looking. Intentional.
They pissed off the witches. It wasn’t often that a vampire got away to tell the tale, but if they did, they usually ended up looking something like that.
All I could think was, They deserved it.
“Sorry,” Icas said. His voice for once actually sounded something like an aristocrat’s. “It’s been quite a night for Princess Aurelia.”
They both gave me smiles that caused my skin to crawl.
“Well, yes, not surprising. The royal women of this age aren’t like their mothers. Spoiled. Disinterested. They should be grateful we still let them attend these things.”
The jab was unexpected and enough to cause my insides to broil with fury. It didn’t help that the humiliation and anger from forcing myself to my knees in front of Icas still resided in my body, just waiting for the opportune moment to come out.
“How dare you?—”
Icas shut me up by pulling me closer, his grip on my hip hard enough to leave another set of bruises. “We won’t bother you any longer, gentlemen. Thank you for the chat. I’ll follow up with you later about what we can do about those witches.”
His promise to them made them entirely ignore what I was about to say. I let him pull me off to the side before I launched into my questioning.
“What we can do about the witches?” I asked in a hushed tone.
The witches were not to be messed with, every vampire knew that. They had the power to destroy us. Every single one of us, if they amassed enough people. And they were known to travel in close-knit covens, tighter than any vampire family out there. So if you fucked with one, the rest would come.
He gave me a look before flagging down a waiter with crystal flutes of blood.
“Yes, Aurelia, what we can do,” he said and sent a smile to the waiter after snagging a drink for himself only. “You think all I want out of this marriage is your blood and body?”
The flames of anger licked at my insides. All he wants? He said it like my body, my entire fucking soul, wasn’t sold to him to be a sex slave whose only purpose was to be passed around and shoot out an heir that could do what he failed.
“You told me your father wanted?—”
“You know, you were right about one thing,” he interrupted, leaning close. The music was loud, loud enough to drown out any conversations around us besides our own. “If my father thinks he can use me to get back at your father for a decades-old revenge, he has another thing coming.”
I stole something from him. Father’s voice ran throughout my mind. A sick feeling twisted my stomach.
“Are you suicidal?” I hissed. “Not only are you trying to piss off two vampire kings but also waging a war with the witches over something that was hardly their fault to begin wi?—”
“Not me,” he said, slipping an arm over my shoulder before turning us straight to look at the man of the hour—my father. He was sitting on his throne at the very back of the room. The platform he was on was elevated and gave him a clear view of what was happening at the party. My stepmother was at his side, chatting with a guest, but Father seemed woefully disinterested. His eyes were searching the crowd…until they came to us. “Name goes a long way here, darling.”
Not for the first time, fear clawed at my heart.
“War with the witches will bring you nothing,” I whispered.
He let out a huff of a laugh.
“They started it,” he said, rolling his shoulders to stand straight. “Those little parties you go to, the ones where you whore yourself out?—”
“Watch yourself,” I growled, stepping closer to him. I looked around us, hoping no one heard him. While the parties were not totally secret, they weren’t something we discussed out in the open.
“The drugs were laced, princess,” he said. My eyes snapped to him just in time to catch his wicked grin. “That’s right. Instead of giving you a high, they just about killed a handful of extremely powerful vampires. In my mind, that calls for retaliation.”
But from him? What gives him the right? Not only that, but he wasn’t a savior on a white horse riding into town to save everyone. His motives were corrupted and just as ugly as his dead heart.
“Is that why you tried to get in?” I asked.
He let out a huff. “Let’s call it a happy accident,” he replied before taking another sip of his blood. “You still don’t get it, do you?”
I looked to him for an answer but was interrupted as he waved down another couple in the sea of vampires. Smile for the people, Aurelia.
It was torture having to act like I was enjoying what he was putting me through, but with the weight of my father’s eyes on me the entire time, I couldn’t help but play my part. Laugh when I was supposed to. Insert a well-timed information snippet. Charm them. The works, until they were tired of us.
But the entire time, I couldn’t get what he said out of my mind.
He is going to get me killed.
Prince Icas had grown up much like me, in the comfort of his father’s money. But all that did was give him the illusion that he could do anything. I, on the other hand, knew that he was walking a dangerous line, and he wouldn’t be the only one to pay.
If he was using my father’s name to wage a war on the witches, there would be no saving myself. It didn’t matter that the drugs were laced—as horrible as it was, we all knew it was a risk. Working with witches always carried the same risks, just as it did when they worked with vampires.
But none of us could survive an all-out war.
Maybe I can use this. Instead of falling victim to his plan, maybe I could tell Father. Maybe it would be the key that I needed to finally get rid of this god-awful man.
I just needed to wait. Just needed to get more information. I can do that.
The chess game he was playing continued for what felt like hours. We moved across the room, mingling and chatting, until the center of the room cleared for the dancing.
It wasn’t until then that I finally got a glimpse of how fucked his plan truly was and how bad it was for me.
“You’re not the only one who’s had trouble with them lately,” Icas said as we were all pushed to the sides of the room so couples could dance. The sound of the live band filtered out the conversation from prying ears. But not mine.
“All I wanted was a little taste, really,” the woman pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. “How was I supposed to know he was high-ranking in the coven? And it’s not like I would have killed him if they didn’t show up.”
I grimaced at her words. Disgusting. How she even cornered a witch was a miracle, but actually killing one and escaping before the rest of their coven got involved?
Something else was going on here.
“We’ll take care of it,” Icas told her as he held me closer, his grip bruising my shoulder. “Consider it a wedding gift. To the family.”
Family. My family. I recognized the woman. I had seen her around the table at my father’s gatherings previously.
Her bloodred lips twisted into a sinister smirk.
“Keep treating me this well, and I’ll have no choice but to stick around longer.”
Icas let out a laugh that chilled me to my bones. “Well, you’re not the only one. Many people have already pledged their loyalty to Aurelia here. Where she goes, so do they. You’ll be in good company.”
Blood rushed to my ears, drowning out the music and voices around me. My feet became unsteady. And quicker than ever, the fire that was burning at my insides became an inferno.
My family. My mother’s.
Were they really going to follow me? They couldn’t. This wasn’t in the plan. Father made it very clear that there would be no transfer of people.
He was stealing them. Getting on their good side with false promises and using my name for it.
Not even my name—my mother’s. That’s why they stuck around. Many of them making it clear even at our engagement announcement.
My mother’s black-veined face hit me like a ton of bricks, reminding me just how much she gave up for them. For me.
Can I truly let them go like this? Knowing what he will do to them? Knowing they will turn into nothing but his slaves? Knowing that when Father finds out, there will be an all-out war between the families?
He wouldn’t take this lightly.
Henry, the man with a weak knee who gave me a chance to end it all, would never make it. The vampires who had nothing to their name, being taxed into poverty, could offer nothing to him…What would he even do with them besides making them work off their “debts” to his family?
No.
I pushed him away. He had the audacity to look shocked.
“Aurelia—”
“He’ll kill you,” I warned. “You think just because you’ve concocted some batshit crazy plan, he won’t see you are stealing our people?”
He placed his hands on his hips, puffed his chest, and gave me a sinister grin.
“They’re coming for you, princess,” he cooed. “You’re the one who’s stealing your own people. And right under daddy’s nose.”
“I never?—”
“You didn’t have to. Not when we have the next best thing,” he said. He turned his head to the side just as a person strolled up to him. Melia. She stood by his side and bowed her head to him. “I think the princess is tired, don’t you? Take her to her room.”
She merely nodded and lifted her gaze to meet mine. The shock of it was like a slap in the face. Since when did she ever listen to him?
My eyes darted to my stepmother, who was still by Father’s side at the head of the room. This time, it was her who looked at us. Her smile chilled me to my core.
She’s going to get me killed.
The puzzle pieces started to click into place, each painting a more gruesome picture of what they had done right under my nose.
“You’d get your own wife killed?” I spat, turning back to him. The dress felt too tight. It constricted my movements and my breath. The longer it stayed on me, the more panicked I got.
“You’re not my wife yet,” he said with a shrug. “You made that very clear when you refused my blood bond. It could have saved you from all this, Aurelia.”
He didn’t get his way with me, so he decided to just…get me killed instead? But, of course, not before he could get what he needed out of me.
For once, the prince had outwitted me, and I could think of nothing other than the need to slaughter him.
But my hands were tied. I needed to retreat. Needed to get out of the stifling ballroom before I caused even more of a scene.
I needed to escape.
I backed away, running into the sides of the vampires around us. He tried to follow, but I held up my hand and turned away from him, beelining to the door.