Chapter 70

ROSE

I felt like the air had been sucked from my lungs. I raced down the stairs and burst into the tiny kitchen we had long left abandoned. Demetrius was hot on my heels.

“Rose,” he reached for me. I recoiled, hissing at him. He hissed back at me, grabbing my arm and slamming me against the countertops. He pressed himself against me, pinning me in place.

“Demetrius,” I snarled.

“She’s my daughter too,” he snapped back. “I am just as afraid.”

I blinked up at him. “How could you tell him?” I asked gently. Demetrius stepped back, keeping his large palms resting on my upper arm. He traced small circles.

“I had to, Rose. There was no point in hiding it. Eleanor was found alive and well. Obviously, someone helped her. I didn’t want anyone else to be blamed for my actions.”

“All the same…”

Demetrius pursed his lips, his moss-green eyes boring into mine.

“Let’s not worry about me right now,” he suggested.

“I cannot lose her again, Demetrius.” I felt my voice breaking, bloody tears pricking behind my eyes. His arms wrapped about my body tightly.

“I know. We won’t. Aric has her. He will protect her. He always has,” Demetrius reminded me.

“They were always made for each other.”

“Do you think she’ll be happy with this life?”

“It’s the life she chose,” Demetrius insisted. “I think she’ll be happy with us and with Aric. Like she was before.” He pressed his lips to my forehead gently.

“We need to talk about Alexander,” he breathed. I gazed up at him slowly.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I think I know,” a sharp voice snapped from behind me. I turned slowly to face Elizabeth. She leaned against the kitchen doorframe; her clothes soaked in my daughter’s blood.

Her ringlets of red hair were tied back in an intricate braid. Her gaze rose from mine to meet her son’s.

“Mother,” he rasped. “You’re hardly welcome here.” Elizabeth ignored him as she slipped into the room.

“Tell me, son, did you save that human’s life?” she asked bluntly.

“I did. And I would again,” Demetrius answered just as bluntly. Elizabeth pursed her lips.

“You realize the consequences of your actions?” she pushed.

“I knew, and I know them now. She was always worth it.”

“Hardly,” Elizabeth scoffed. Demetrius moved around me slowly, pushing me back so he could face his mother. She eyed him warily. “You’ve pushed us into a corner,” she snapped at him.

“You don’t have to, Mother. You can stay out of this,” he answered. She shook her head.

“No, I cannot. Not when my son is involved. Not when my brother gets involved.”

She was pursing her lips. “Demetrius, your daughters are involved in this as well. Eleanor isn’t the only one at risk. Phoenix can also get hurt,” she cautioned.

“I’m very aware of the situation I have placed my family in, which is why I am taking responsibility, myself, for my actions. No one else.” Demetrius cast me a hard gaze.

“What do you want to get out of this, Demetrius? What does it look like in the end for you?” Elizabeth narrowed her eyes.

“Peace. All of my children safe,” Demetrius answered immediately.

“You know that’s not going to happen. You know your uncle.”

“What are you suggesting, Elizabeth?” I snapped. She pursed her lips and stepped closer toward us.

“I think you know. It might be time.” Her gaze met Demetrius’s. He frowned down at her.

“I don’t think so,” he answered.

“Time for what?” I snapped.

“Time for Demetrius to take the throne,” Elizabeth answered in a low voice, turning to me, her eyes bright crimson. I blinked at her.

“What are you talking about?”

“I decided to give up my personal claim to the throne to marry Damon. I didn’t give it up for my descendants.”

“I’m aware of that,” I snapped at her. “What I wasn’t aware of was that this may have been a planned event?” I gazed up at Demetrius. His lips were pressed into a tight line.

“It was always a possibility. Even since we were born, before William and his sister, who recently passed. Our family is currently stronger than the royal family,” he breathed.

“If we wanted to run them out, it would be the right time.”

“I agree,” Elizabeth nodded slowly.

“Declare war? On your own brother?” I turned to her, and she nodded again.

“What choice do I have if he attacks my son and my grandchildren? I will protect my family, Rose. Just as I always have.” I glared at her.

“You have been consistently trying to murder Eleanor,” I snapped.

“She’s not family,” Elizabeth answered nonchalantly. “She was a threat. As a turned vampire, she’s a pebble in my shoes. But the consequences of your love for her are much greater.”

She cocked her head to one side. “So yes, I am prepared to declare war on my brother’s family in order to keep mine safe.”

I stared at her aghast. “The last royal family war ended in the extermination of the Troy family completely! What’s the plan here? Destroy the Night Family?” I hissed.

Elizabeth shook her head. “Only those who oppose us,” she replied.

Demetrius was pursing his lips.

“Are you considering this?” I asked him.

He gazed down at me. “It was always a possibility,” he repeated. “The Night family weren’t the original royal family. They took it through battle.

“They destroyed the Troy family. The Mcnoxnoctis family can take it the same way. With Angus’s and my claim to the throne, other pureblood families will back us. I’m sure.”

“You’re mad,” I breathed, glaring at my husband.

“It’s always been a possibility,” Elizabeth repeated, her blue eyes wide. “We’ll have to discuss with Angus, of course. Being the firstborn.”

She pursed her lips. “This little human of yours, Rose, she’s hardly the subject anymore. Actions have consequences.

“Yours did when you took her in. Lucius’s did when he sentenced her to be turned, and Demetrius’s did when he decided to save her.

“I’ll not mention the folly that has apparently overtaken my grandson’s mind. Actions have unfolded, now come the consequences of threatening my family.” Her eyes glowed bright crimson.

“You’re mad. You’re both barking mad,” I snapped.

“Rose, it makes sense,” Demetrius breathed, his hand pressing down on my shoulder gently. “We can make sure all our children are well. Phoenix is in a precarious situation.”

“I’m well aware of the situation my daughter is in,” I hissed at him.

“I’m fully aware of the wildcard that is the prince Alexander, but I cannot fathom how you insist that to keep our family safe, we have to declare war on the royal family? It’s nonsensical, Demetrius.”

“It makes more sense than any of his other actions these past decades,” Elizabeth simpered. I glared at her.

“I’ll talk to Angus,” Demetrius murmured. “Mother, could you talk to Aleesha and Eloise? They won’t have anything to do with us at his moment, I assume. But they are family.

“Rose, my dear, I need you to talk to your sister. The Blake family has been scorned unjustly since your mother’s passing. It’s time to right that.”

“She wasn’t mad,” I agreed softly. “She was a revolutionary.”

“And so are you, Rose.” Elizabeth gave me the smallest smile. “Eleanor was your form of revolution. I know that. Come with me.”

She looped her arm through mine and pulled me to the side while Demetrius slipped out of the small kitchen to search for his brother.

“He told me about Romulus,” I told her.

She arched her brows and nodded. “I knew he would.”

She cocked her head to one side. “I understand what you felt, what you feel about that human Rose. I felt the same. Imagine my pain when he betrayed me, came to kill me.

“I didn’t want you or my family to go through that. Humans are our prey, nothing more. There is a balance that we must uphold, and we stay hidden, we take our share, we let them thrive.

“We watch them, and we control their population. They can kill us, Rose. They have the power of daylight. We have no business being ~family~ with them.”

“Eleanor is different,” I replied, exasperated.

“I know you think she is. But she’s human, like the rest of them. Destructive, violent, disgusting creatures.”

“All the same, Elizabeth, you forced my hand. You made your decision with him, but you didn’t give me the opportunity to make mine.

“A twenty-first-century orphan was never going to turn out the same as a fourth-century Roman emperor. You should have known.”

“I know humans, Rose. I’ve known two thousand years of humans. They’re all the same,” she replied, her blue eyes meeting mine calmly. We stared at each other.

“You should have known I would have fought for you like you fight for your sons,” I breathed.

“I was testing your bond with her. It was stronger than I expected.”

“That’s sick, Elizabeth.”

“Adopting humans is sick, Rose,” she countered.

“Is she safe from you now? Now that she’s a vampire?”

“If she survives the turn, you mean?” she snickered. “She’s not especially strong. But if she survives, yes, she’ll be safe from me. Aric, though, will have some explaining to do.”

She frowned deeply. “He has so much potential. Potential to be king. A turned vampire could never be queen.”

“If that opportunity is given to them, they will make their decision together,” I answered. She pursed her lips.

“Aric will be given the opportunity, Rose. Most of the pureblood families already trust him more than they do Alexander. William hasn’t shown his face in society for fifty years.

“The Night family is weak right now, Rose.”

“Lucius is your brother,” I murmured. “You refused the throne.”

“Lucius would understand. I’d be surprised if he wasn’t thinking the same thing. That’s half the reason he wanted to match Phoenix with Alexander, to bring peace.

“Shame the young couple isn’t at peace,” she breathed.

At that moment, Phoenix and Alexander stormed down the stairs and flew by the door, oblivious to our conversation.

“I don’t want to put my children at risk, Elizabeth.”

“They’re all adults now, Rose. It’ll be their decision.”

“Elizabeth, I think you’re just as destructive as your father was destroying the Troys,” I murmured. She shrugged.

“Power is always taken through blood, Rose,” she smiled at me. “Come, let’s have a drink and talk to your sister.” She guided me out of the kitchen and out into the yard.

The party was raging. Grace and James were dancing around a small human, caged in their arms, as they drank from her.

Drunk vampires flew from the river to the castle to the barn. A group of humans huddled in one corner.

Elizabeth led me to Damon, lounging on a settee, a human curled up in a ball on the ground next to him.

“Rose, pleasure. I saw the human escape. Without her life, though,” Damon said with a chuckle, his deep moss-green eyes sparkled.

“Damon.” I cocked my head. “I hope you’re enjoying the festivities.”

“Always.” He gave me a bloody grin.

“Lizzie, my dear, I have kept your new blood bag from the others. It was difficult. He smells so delectable.” He winked at his wife, holding up the arm of the human curled at his feet.

“Thank you, my love.” She grabbed the human and hauled him to his feet. He was a young man, tall, with light brown skin and a mop of dark hair. His blood trickling down his chest was mouthwatering.

“I’ve had a weakness for this particular specimen since New York.” Elizabeth grinned at me, pushing the man’s head back and sinking her fangs into his neck.

The human stared at me, his face scrunched up in pain, his eyes boring into mine. Such a peculiar and unusual shade, forest green, flecked with blue and lined with black.

I would recognize them anywhere—Eleanor’s eyes.