Chapter 29

ROSE

My head was spinning. I could only focus on Eleanor. She sat, crouched obediently on the king’s cushion, like a show dog. Her blue-green eyes were wide. She looked scared but also curious.

I could hear her heart racing, and I knew everyone else could as well.

How could I have brought her to such a place?

Demetrius was gripping my arm, his fingers digging into my skin. I glared at my mother-in-law as she played with Eleanor’s dark curls. The king watched her, amused.

I was two seconds away from grabbing my daughter and running very far away with her.

“Curious.” King Lucius was grinning at me. “She’s very well behaved, Rose. Does she go to school? Does she enjoy spending time with children her age?”

“She’s homeschooled,” Demetrius replied rapidly.

“Then maybe she would enjoy some playtime with her superiors! Caroline, Jessica, would you like to play with the pet?” The king beamed as two pureblood girls rushed up to him.

They looked the same size as Eleanor but not nearly the same age. They had the typical Night red hair and bright blue eyes—the princesses.

“Grandfather, can we have her?” the one with the short hair asked.

“No!”

“Of course!”

The king and I answered at the same time, and I met his cool gaze with my fiery glare. He chuckled. The young pureblood turned up her nose at me.

“Temporarily.” The king smiled. He grabbed Eleanor’s arm and pulled her up roughly, pushing her toward the two pureblood girls.

“Don’t you dare,” I snarled.

“Go ahead, girls. You can show the pet your new dollhouse. She’ll fit in perfectly.” The king winked at his granddaughters as they rushed off, dragging my human daughter with them.

I watched her leave, my whole body feeling limp. Demetrius rubbed his hand up my back.

“Uncle, Eleanor, she’s not a pet,” he said cautiously.

“Hush, son.” Elizabeth smiled at Demetrius sweetly. He scowled at her.

“Indeed, she isn’t, is she?” The king leaned over in his throne, leaning toward us. “She’s your daughter.”

“Yes, she is.”

“Rose, I must admit. I have always been an admirer. You are the first and only pureblood to ever give birth to twins and survive.” He glanced at Phoenix and Venus, standing stiffly behind us.

“I was very impressed. And proud to call you family. Now, when I heard of you adopting a human child. Well, at first, I thought it was just supposed to be a pet.”

He shrugged. “A daughter, however? Don’t you have enough children already?” He chuckled.

I remained quiet, watching him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Elizabeth murmuring something to Jahan Shahalia, Aleesha’s brother. His dark eyes bore into mine.

Behind him, the Sahalia family stood, mostly all present.

The king stood up swiftly and stepped toward me.

“Rose, when it was brought to my attention that you had indeed adopted this human, as a daughter, as a Mcnoxnoctis, I was frankly disgusted.

“We have had our ways, Rose, and for thousands of years, as many of us can recall. They have served us well. The humans stay in the dark about our existence. We feed on them whenever we like.

“We keep human pets, of course, for easier access. We keep those of our favorite humans that can be turned, and if they survive, can serve us for the rest of their existence.

“But there has never been a human in a vampire family. And I apologize because I had not realized it was necessary to explicitly say,” he scoffed.

“So, I have decided, and we have voted. Adopting humans into the family is hereby illegal and punishable by death.”

His words rang hollow in the hall. In the distance, I could just make out the sound of Eleanor’s lightly beating heart.

I felt Demetrius tensing by my side. I felt Aric hovering behind me, his breath ragged. Even the twins were staring at the king, wide-eyed.

I found myself glancing toward Elizabeth. She looked smug, her eyes watching mine, curling her long fingers around a strand of bright red hair.

I ripped my gaze away and looked back up at the king.

“My lord,” I began.

“This folly ends here,” he said.

“My lord—”

“As you adopted the child before the law passed, you, Rose, are not on trial. And you face no consequences for your actions,” he insisted, giving me a small smile.

“However, I hereby strip Eleanor of the Mcnoxnoctis name. She is not, and frankly, never was, a member of the Mcnoxnoctis clan. Rose, I will give you a chance.

“If you insist on raising her, she will be forcibly taken from you and killed, and you will have to face criminal consequences. If, however, you decide to kill her or turn her, it’s up to you.

“You and your family will face no consequences.”

I felt like my breath had left my lungs. I stared up at him. My heart had started beating. I could feel it. I could hear it pounding loudly in my chest, and I knew everyone else could as well.

Demetrius’s grip on my arm had lost all strength. I heard him muttering behind me.

“So Rose, what will you do?” Elizabeth asked, her voice loud, light, and playful. I turned to glare at her, my rage rising faster than my tears.

I ripped myself away from Demetrius and launched myself at my mother-in-law, screaming. I lost all my senses. My only focus was on tearing her throat out.

I landed on top of her, and we toppled to the ground. I felt her long nails scratching me, and we rolled, and she clamped her fangs down on my shoulder.

I let out a scream and punched her in the face. The shock was enough to make her lose her grip. She rolled away from me, snarling. I could hear her heart beating, and I could hear mine.

I could feel the scratches on my arm, my burning, the wound on my shoulder burning.

We didn’t get to continue our fight. Demetrius was by my side, pinning my arms behind my body, pulling me away. Elizabeth stood up, wiping the blood from her mouth with the back of her hand.

Her brother, the king, stood by her side. His eyes were squinting, focusing on me.

My chest was heaving, my heart racing. I could barely compute Demetrius’s words or Phoenix and Venus begging me to calm down.

The other purebloods in the room shuffled uneasily, glancing at me, wondering, I knew, if I was as crazy as my mother had been.

“Calm down, both of you,” the king snarled, giving his sister a long look. He turned back to me.

“Quite the foolish attack, Rose,” he said dryly. “Attacking a royal family member, no less, I’m getting the feeling you have no respect for your traditions.”

“Banish me,” I said quickly. “Banish me. I will leave with Eleanor. You’ll never see me again.”

“Mother, no!” Venus grabbed my arm, her eyes wide.

“Hush, Rose,” Demetrius murmured, still pinning my arms back, holding me against him.

I ignored them. “Let me leave with her, and you’ll never see us again,” I said again.

King Lucius pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a loud breath.

“Rose, dear Rose. I’m afraid that’s not acceptable. Not for me, not for your family.”

“Please, my lord. I’m begging you!”

“Do ~not~ beg for the life of a putrid human!” he snarled at me. “If I must repeat myself, I will. You can give up the human here, tonight.

“Or—and if you defy me, I can assure you, your punishment will be anything but kind—you can try to walk out of here with that human. You will not make it out. Neither will the rest of your family.”

I could no longer breathe.

“Mother.” It was Venus. She moved to place a hand on my shoulder. Her eyes were wide and bright crimson.

“You know what to do,” Phoenix murmured. I looked into the eyes of my daughters. They stared back up at me, red blood tears brimming, slowly tracing down their cheeks.

Aric stood back; his gaze focused on the floor. I could feel the rage radiating from his body.

“Uncle,” Demetrius stepped forward, loosening his grip on me. “Could I ask a favor? Could we possibly, have one more night with our...with the human?”

The king scowled. “No,” he snapped.

Demetrius glanced back at me, his eyes wide, his face ashen.

“Rose.” His voice was a whisper. I shook my head. How could he ask me to do that? How could he when I knew he loved her just as much as I did?

“I will not—”

I was cut off by the bloodcurdling scream that echoed in the halls above. The scent of sweet, tangy, warm blood reached our noses at the same time.

Eleanor!

I moved the fastest, leaping over Demetrius, flying past the king. I was upstairs within seconds, slamming a door down.

I stepped into the room, pushed from behind by Demetrius, Aric, Elizabeth, and the king.

Before us, on the round pink rug, Eleanor sat with the youngest princess, whose jaw was clamped tightly around Eleanor’s wrist. Her blood dripped onto the rug as the princess drank from her.