22. Aurelia
Iwas going to die.
It became clearer and clearer as the day of my wedding got closer.
I had no plan. At least, not one that would save me.
Vesper’s words had been on a near-constant repeat in my head since she uttered them. Why don’t you kill him?
Why didn’t I kill him? It was a laughable notion to even entertain the thought of me killing someone like him.
She didn’t understand what I went through after my mother’s death. Didn’t understand what he put me through to remind me that he was the one in charge.
My mother told me to stay fierce. That was exactly what I did, until it was beaten and starved out of me.
And most of all, I wanted to live. I didn’t want to escape here as a corpse. I wanted to rule. I wanted to thrive. And nowhere in my mind was risking my life to murder my father a part of that plan.
So I needed something else. I needed to level the playing field.
My last-ditch effort had to have been the most humiliating yet, but I had to do something. Even if it meant relying on that spy.
“They are worse than my father will ever be,” I said to the female vampire who had been a part of my family for the last decade. Eldra was her name, and she came with her husband in search of my mother. She was already dead by the time they arrived, but that didn’t stop them from joining.
They worked in one of Father’s many factories, hardly making ends meet.
Which brought us to our current problem.
“But you are there, princess,” she answered with a kind smile. “We believe in you. Sure, maybe it will be hard in the beginning, but you will be there.”
Bullshit. Maybe if there was even an ounce of truth in her words, there had to have been much more than that belief to have her do something so drastic.
“How much money did he offer you?” I asked, cutting to the chase.
She looked down at the floor, shame crossing her features.
“More than I had ever seen in my life, princess,” she said. “My husband and I, we are tired. We would do anything for you, for your mother…but there are only so many more years we can handle this work.”
I swallowed thickly, trying not to grind my teeth.
Hers was the tenth family I was talking to, and all of them offered something different.
Prince Icas had actually managed to do something right.
Not all the vampires he recruited to his family had been because of the witches, though many of the more powerful ones with money of their own were. The smaller ones were easy.
Money.
Bigger houses.
A chance at a family.
He was giving the people what they wanted. A life. Even if it was a lie, these vampires had been living in such horrid conditions under my father’s reign that they couldn’t help but believe him. Even if there was only a slim chance that what he said would actually come true, they would take it.
And I couldn’t convince them otherwise.
Many had said the same thing. That their loyalty was to me. But when pushed, it became clear what their true desires were.
And it never had anything to do with me.
“I’m sorry, princess,” she said when she noticed my silence. “Really, if there was any other?—”
“I understand,” I retorted with a forced smile. “Please don’t apologize to me.” Even if it means my death. “You’re dismissed.”
She hesitated, looking behind me at where Melia stood, before turning and leaving the back garden where I had all of them meet me.
There were only a few places in the palace where I could get away with these meetings. An overgrown garden, a dried-up fountain, or the edge of the property where the woods were so dense it looked like night even in the middle of the day.
The fountain held too many memories, and if I was caught around the edge of the property, the stepbitches and Prince Icas might try to tell Father it was because I was attempting to run away.
But I was running out of options.
“How many more?” I asked, not turning to Melia. I hated even looking at her, and my hands still itched to cut her throat. Fraternizing with the enemy wasn’t on my bucket list. It was shameful at best, but again, I would do just about anything to get out of the palace alive.
“Fifty-three, princess,” she replied.
I pursed my lips, unable to find the words.
I couldn’t tell what was worse—the anger and helplessness the prince had invoked in me since the gala or how easy it was becoming to accept my death.
I didn’t know how fast the prince’s plan would work. Maybe his father would try to keep me safe from my father for some time. Maybe I would live there with them for months—years—before my father enacted his revenge for stealing from him.
Or, in order to save themselves from war, they might just give me up entirely once he found out.
“Get the guards to bring the car,” I ordered her.
She shifted behind me, her pause calling my attention to her. She was looking at her hands as they wrung the cloth of her dress.
“They will kill you even sooner if you try to leave,” she whispered.
I couldn’t stop the smirk from pulling at my lips. Is she done acting now?
“I’m not leaving,” I said. “I have a party tonight. One last one before I get married. Father and the others must know how important keeping these relationships is, no?”
She didn’t fight me on it, even if it looked like she wanted to. Probably remembering what I was going to do to her the other night before Vesper walked in.
Her gift weighed heavily on my chest, hidden under my clothes.
I wasn’t truly mad that there was a witch in my palace. It would have been stupid to think there weren’t any. But Vesper knew them, and if she knew them…
I almost wish she’d just grow some balls and end me herself.
It would be much more entertaining than waiting for the others to do it. But every time she was near me, she kept giving me that face. The one that told me she didn’t actually want to be there. That she longed to do something other than sink a knife into my chest.
And then she had to go and give me that fucking present.
It was probably the most thoughtful thing anyone has ever given me. Maybe even more so than the animal it came from.
It made me want to keep her. Made me wish that somehow I could stay in the palace with Vesper at my side, keeping her tied to me until the end of her short human life.
She was so…uncontrollable.
I thought I prided myself on being the uncontrollable one, playing my father while truly doing whatever I wanted.
But it was her. I might have been able to order her around on occasion, but there was no telling what she would do.
And I love it. I wanted to control that side of her.
My hand wrapped around the feather that heated softly against my skin.
One more try. One more try, and maybe I’ll still have the chance to bind her to me forever.
I was surprised they even let me leave the compound. With the little mouse, especially.
I half expected them to stop me right before I got into the car, but I guess all of them knew just how important it was that I kept up appearances.
“Don’t assume that I’ll give you a repeat performance,” Vesper said, crossing her arms over her chest and sending me a look.
She had been cautious since that night, never letting her words hold too much venom, her eyes always watching for my reaction.
How much does she know?
Apparently enough to ask me if I truly was going to die…but could she tell how close I was to utterly failing?
I had been able to pull myself out of almost every problem I’d had up until the moment the prince cornered me at the gala. But I was floundering and desperately trying to hold on to whatever sanity I had, even though it was hanging by a very thin, worn thread.
“Oh come on,” I said, dropping my voice into a low purr. “Don’t try and pretend like you aren’t salivating at the idea of tasting my cunt again.”
As if to prove my point, she swallowed thickly. The smallest coat of pink stained her cheeks.
Ah, how I wish to keep you for just a bit longer.
She had been such a refreshing break in the constant downpour that had been my life. With her, I didn’t have to think about the prince or my duties to the palace.
I was just existing. And what a relief it was to just be.
“Is this a part of your plan?” she asked, doubt heavy in her voice. “I didn’t expect us to go to another one of these with your wedding so close.”
“Don’t remind me,” I said with a scowl. “But yes. It’s a part of my…plan.”
More like a final effort. I wished I had any semblance of a plan.
“Please tell me it doesn’t involve that daddy vampire.” The word “daddy” was coated in disgust.
For the first time in days, I let out a real laugh. But instead of lifting the immeasurable weight off my chest, it just made it tighter. Like it was a reminder that this might be the last time I ever let out such a genuine laugh ever again.
The car came to a stop, and I gave her a halfhearted smile before stepping out.
No, it wasn’t the daddy vampire. It was another vampire entirely. One more powerful than him, and one who could kill me in a second.
And she was waiting for me, right at the entrance.
It had taken more than a few bribes to get the human guards to send a message to her, but it worked.
Atlas Nox stood before me in all her glory. Long black hair was pinned at the sides and flowed down her back. Her usually hazel eyes had just a hint of red in them. And her full lips were pulled into a smirk.
She wore a black button-up that dipped low on her chest with matching black pants topped with a bloodred coat with black swirls meticulously sewn in. I think I even caught some small jewels shimmering in the dim light.
She didn’t partake in families like most vampires of her status did. Instead, she decided to keep them as small clans, but had them dispersed around the country. Something reminiscent of the past. No one truly knew how many people pledged their allegiance to her or how big her army could get.
That was a part of her power.
I was lucky to even catch her in this part of the country.
Her face lit up as I came closer, and in an instant, her arms were around me, pulling me to her. I inhaled deeply, letting myself find even just the littlest bit of comfort in her embrace.
“Aurelia! How long has it been? You look stunning as usual.”
“Atlas,” I greeted and pulled away with a smile. “I would have gotten in contact sooner if I could have.”
Her hands squeezed my shoulders.
“Yes, well, I know your father is—oh, who are you?” Her attention was immediately pulled to Vesper as she walked up behind us.
“A guard,” she answered, though there was a tone to her voice that Atlas caught right away. In an instant, the happy-go-lucky version she had shown was gone, and in its place was a stare that made even my skin crawl.
“A plaything,” I corrected her, and placed my hand on Atlas’s hip. “Shall we?”
She gave Vesper a lingering glance before nodding and plastering another one of those brilliant smiles on her face.
“After you, my love.”