Behind him were two vampire guards in their uniforms, awaiting my command, their hands over their hearts in respect.
“Your Majesty.” Elio bowed. “It’s so good to see you.”
He wore his uniform of green leaf-brocade jacket, white lace shirt, green leather pants, and emerald choker at his slender neck.
Where I’d once beckoned him into my arms, I now moved back a step, my body rejecting a man I once found solace in. He was a beautiful creature, for sure, but now he left me cold.
He’d shot at Paris and Medusa. Yes, I knew his bullets were meant for the executioner when he’d been enemy number one, but he could’ve hurt my serpent friend. By rights, I should have him arrested and thrown into the dungeons.
Elio kept his head bowed. “From the bottom of my heart, I apologize for my actions.” He went to his knees, rocking back and forth with his hands clasped. “I did it for you. I saw Paris alive when he should’ve been dead and I…I thought he was going to hurt you.” He sniffled, his eyes closed. “I was so afraid.”
I didn’t have time for this. “I understand, Elio. But you have been reckless.”
His gaze found mine, tears running down his cheeks. “I have no right to beg for forgiveness.”
“Then don’t.”
My response surprised him, his mouth hanging open.
“I’m in no mood, Elio,” I said, my tone as cold as the ocean breeze. “I have enough to worry about, which doesn’t include your sniveling.”
“Maj—”
A surge of fury propelled me forward. “Stand up.”
My fingers itched to wrap themselves around his throat, to punish his windpipe. Take away his capacity to suck up, make him bleed, relish in him choking for air while I squeezed.
He obeyed, wisely keeping his mouth shut, imploring me with his big hazel eyes to show him mercy. Yet that was my problem, wasn’t it? Being too lenient. Like my passiveness with the rebel vampires currently locked up below, and with a deity who’d killed my brother and somehow drove me into this world.
Violent urges sloshed inside me, searching for a crack to seep through. But I held them back, giving the command for the guards to arrest him.
“Majesty!” the elf squeaked.
The vampires seized him in seconds, bending his arms behind his back.
“Lock him up,” I commanded. “I’ll deal with him later.”
They did as I asked, Elio sobbing as they took him away.
The elf had been loyal to me for so long, always here to offer his comfort.
I recalled my brother speaking fondly of his closest friends, a shard of memory glinting in my mind.
“It’s important to surround yourself with loyalty,” he’d said one night in the forests of Selene Haven. Snow crunched underfoot as we walked, winter’s touch in its full, chilly glory.
A returned memory, one that didn’t need Paris to sing for me to see.
His long blond hair billowed in the wind, his keen scarlet eyes constantly searching the trees for the humans we hunted for blood and to keep our realm safe.
Such a wicked race, a plague on my home world, born of shadows and cruelty.
“Why are you telling me this?” I’d asked, that version of me long dead.
A more hopeful vampire. More carefree. More vulnerable, especially when it came to matters of the heart.
Brushing the memory aside, I summoned Vaughn to me. A loyal friend through and through. One of the few people I could trust, other than Medusa and Layla.
Layla’s dead because of Paris…
