Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
KYELLA
The Lords led me back through the throne room to an adjacent private dining room for dinner with the Empress.
In the middle of the room, which featured a gorgeous view of the palace grounds, lay a banquet table full of food and goblets of blood.
The sight had me faltering in my steps and looking at Kolvar in alarm.
I had no idea how to handle a situation like this, where my hunger would be tested so directly.
Kolvar knew I needed blood, but the others didn’t, and my place in this empire was already on the line with the queen. What if this discovery changed her mind on letting me stay? The hunger I felt would prove that I wasn’t normal, and I didn’t want to be someone’s pet again. An oddity.
I was mentally cursing myself for abstaining from the blood in my room.
I should’ve forced myself to drink then so that I could casually pick at the normal food in small bites.
No one would’ve thought twice of my small appetite, I’m sure.
But to have to sit there while they all drank blood? I wasn’t sure I could do this.
“It’ll be okay,” Kolvar assured, but I saw the concern in his hazel eyes.
He wasn’t sure how this would play out either, and he knew full well the weight of this dinner’s impact on the rest of my life.
The Empress pushed from the end chair, spreading her arms in welcome. “Please, have a seat. Thank you for joining me for dinner.” Her eyes landed on me. “Kyella, I hope you find this food to your liking. My chef prepared it all specially for you.”
As we approached our seats, I swore I saw a flash of mirth dancing across her face. I had no idea what was humorous about any of this; I had to be imagining it… Right?
Dakath guided me to the seat directly to the right of the Empress, and I tucked myself in, forcing a smile to my face that hopefully didn’t betray my nerves. “Thank you for your hospitality, Your Majesty. No matter your decision here, I’m thankful to have been treated so well.”
Her eyes fell to the necklace at my throat and narrowed. Ignoring my statement, she asked, “Do you know what flower that is?”
Surprised, I took a moment to respond as I tried to find my words. Tucking a stray strand of hair that tickled my cheek behind my ear, I shook my head. “No. This was my mother’s necklace, but she died while giving birth to me. No one else I’ve met knows the flower.”
The Empress seemed unsurprised by my answer, only serving to further confuse me, and gestured to a plate of meat directly in front of me. “Please, help yourself. I know it might feel odd to eat alone, but it will not offend me.”
Instead of my mouth watering at the sight of the meat, my gaze drifted to her full goblet of the sweet crimson substance I truly desired. My tongue darted out to wet my lip, tasting the sweet flavor of the balm.
Tilting her head inquisitively, she held the goblet out to me, making it clear my hunger had been obvious. “Or is this what you want?”
Kolvar went deathly still next to me, mimicking my posture. My gaze darted to Elijah and Dakath, mirrored faces of confusion twisting their features.
I ignored the hunger that slammed into me full force, swallowing my desire to take the goblet.
“No, why would I want that?” I asked, forcing a laugh like it was a joke.
The room grew tense with silence, and the Empress’s voice turned sharp. “Take a sip, Kyella.”
This couldn’t be happening. Why had I thought I would be able to hide it? Especially from someone who saw everything around her.
My heart hammered so loudly in my chest that I was sure their sensitive hearing would pick up on how nervous I was. Pursing my lips in faux disgust, I winced. “I’d rather not drink blood, Your Majesty.”
With a move so quick even my heightened senses had issues tracking her, the Empress placed the edge of the goblet to my lips.
Before I could protest, the liquid dribbled onto my lips, and the animalistic instinct to provide nourishment for my body overcame me.
Greedily grabbing the goblet, I drained it quickly.
It didn’t taste as good as Kolvar’s blood, but it did serve to quench the hunger stirring in my belly.
I came back to reality after a moment, peeling open my eyes, which had apparently closed in bliss while drinking. The Empress was back in her chair, smiling smugly to herself.
“What just happened?” Dakath demanded. My stomach clenched as I tried to read his expression and figure out how he felt besides stunned.
Elijah was quick to put the pieces together. “Is this why you didn’t let anyone else near her on the journey here? So she could drink blood to recoup her energy?”
“That makes sense. Explains why you appear so healthy after what you went through,” Dakath stated, with almost a clinical yet curious tone, while looking at his own goblet of blood.
Kolvar and I exchanged panicked looks before I looked back at the Empress to plead my case one final time. She beat me to it, though, raising her hand to stop me. “Child, you need not explain. I’ve already made my decision. You are to stay here in my land. If Malakai wants a war, he’ll get one.”
What?
For a moment, I was speechless, shocked into silence. I wasn’t sure what part of that to be more surprised about—the fact that I didn’t need to explain my need for blood or the fact that she was willing to start a war for me to stay here.
Kolvar let out a loud whoop of excitement as Dakath slid an arm around my shoulder and pressed a kiss to my temple, causing me to blush.
Elijah just sat there, darkened eyes pinned to my face.
I was starting to think that the reason he didn’t like holding my gaze was because of how much emotion he revealed.
There was so much building in the emerald orbs as I saw a flash of relief, heat, and concern all roll through at once in a dizzying effect.
It didn’t help that I was absolutely baffled by the turn of events.
“Is that not what you wanted, Kyella?” the Empress asked when I continued to sit still as a rock.
Swallowing and quickly shaking my head, I tried to explain. “No. I mean—yes. Yes, I want to stay here. I’m just confused how you knew I needed blood and then didn’t want an explanation.”
She chuckled and grabbed a bottle that looked like wine, refilling my goblet with blood while holding my gaze. “I knew what you were from the moment I saw your glowing gold eyes.”
They had been rather gold when I was looking in the vanity mirror, but I’d chalked it up to the lighting.
“And what is she?” Elijah asked, voicing the question pressing all of our minds.
The Empress kept her eyes on me as she answered, “A dhampyr.”
“A dhampyr…” I echoed, rolling the term around on my tongue. “I’ve never heard of that before.”
The three Lords around me echoed my confusion.
“Of course you haven’t,” the Empress mused while filling a goblet for herself and taking a sip.
“It has been quite some time since the last dhampyr was known. They are the result of a union between a male vampyre and a female human, normally ending with the passing of the human mother in birth. The baby takes too much of the mother’s life force in the womb for her to endure after gestation is complete. ”
She was so nonchalant with the information; meanwhile, I was over here trying to not have a panic attack at the knowledge I had single-handedly killed my mother.
I’d already felt so much guilt at her passing away in childbirth, but my father had assured me that it was an unfortunate part of life for some women.
But no. Because I was this anomaly, this freak, I’d killed her.
Even with those thoughts invading my mind, I could only think of one thing to say. “My father wasn’t a vampyre, though.”
He wasn’t. That would’ve been impossible for him to hide for so long.
Empathy shone on the Empress’s face as she reached out to lay a hand on my forearm. “Then he was not your father in genetics, only in your heart, which is arguably a stronger tie. Take solace in knowing he was a father in all the ways that mattered.”
Tears gathered in my eyes. I was struggling to process it all, and felt so weak for it. I would say I was only human, but that wasn’t even true anymore, apparently. Nothing I thought I’d known was true.
“What exactly is a dhampyr? Do they have the same abilities as vampyres?” Elijah asked, thankfully taking the Empress’s attention away from me as I reached up to brush the trails of tears falling down my face.
I was glad he was able to ask the important questions because I wasn’t positive I could form a coherent thought.
The Empress sat back in her chair, taking another sip of blood as Barnabus came flying through the room to land on her shoulder. He nuzzled into her cheek, somehow making me smile through the grief I felt at my identity being stripped away from me.
He was so cute, and I found myself wanting to cuddle him to cheer me up.
“Dhampyrs are always destined to change the fate of the world from their birth. My family has passed down the knowledge of their existence with each generation.” Taking a pause, her eyes landed on me once more.
“Malakai had to have known what you are, Kyella. It is the only explanation for why he treated you like a prized possession, trying to bend you to his will. And it is why I asked if you were worth waging a war over. Your abilities are beyond that of a vampyre.”
My voice trembled as I asked, “How so?”
I wasn’t sure if I could handle any more information, but sticking my head between my legs would get me nowhere. If my entire life had been a lie, then it was time to learn the truth in order to move forward.
“Dhampyrs have the same advanced abilities with sight, hearing, and strength as vampyres.”
That aligned with my experience so far, at least since drinking blood, and I saw Kolvar and Elijah nodding in my peripheral vision. They’d both witnessed that.