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, thisfreak, 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.
“However,” she said, pausing to take a deep breath. It felt like she was about to drop some heavy information. “Dhampyrs can kill vampyres with their fangs. You possess a special venom within you that will kill one of our kind within moments.”
Holy shit.
A deep rumble came from Kolvar, but I wasn’t positive if it was in surprise or concern. I wouldn’t have blamed him for viewing me differently now.
Humans had always assumed vampyres were the top of the food chain. This changed everything.
“I sense a kind soul within you, Kyella,” the Empress said. “If I had sensed evil, I would have sent you back to Malakai and not given you this information. You are welcome to read the information my family holds on your kind tomorrow, if you’d like.”
“Thank you,” I responded, blinking a few times. “Thank you for telling me the truth and placing your trust in me.”
