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“I am grateful for it,” I said, although that was only partially true.
She ran her hand over her knee, taking the chair across from mine. Laveniuess’ and Jaiunere took their seats either side of her. “It is more a gift for others. You are a healer, sent to take away pain. A light bringer.”
I forced a smile.
Jaiunere leaned forward, his tone light. “You are allowed to both love and dislike it.”
I flushed and clasped my hands in my lap. “I have spent most of my life building a barrier against others’ emotions,” I admitted, shame creeping through me as I felt the rejection of such a god given gift.
Laveniuess spoke, his voice commanding attention. “It is normal to desire to rid yourself of a gift to humanity if it causes you pain. However, it is up to you what you choose to embrace, Seraphina.”
I sucked in a deep breath, squinting at the sun’s rays. “You are nothing like I thought you’d be,” I said, my gaze passing over each of them.
Vaneria touched her clavicle, and I couldn’t help but glance at her perfect chest and neck, just admiring the beauty in her. I moved my gaze to meet her starlit eyes, a smile forming over my face. She opened her mouth, tilting her head. “So, Seraphina, tell us, what has become of our beloved Sanmorte and your father.”
“You don’t know?” I asked. “I apologize, I just mean, I thought you knew everything happening in our world.”
Laveniuess shook his head, the muscles in his shoulders tightening as he sat back. “We have existed in this plane, far from the world we once inhabited, for many centuries now.”
Sadness laced Jaiunere’s soft features. “We have been distant from our descendants, cut off from our physical forms.”
My eyebrows pinched downward. “Excuse me for my ignorance, but I see you in your physical forms now.”
Jaiunere chuckled, a sound as light as the breeze passing through us. “All this is an illusion we have created for your comfort.”
“Oh.” I touched the back of my neck, my stomach knotting. “Thank you.” I looked at Vaneria, her question of Sanmorte playing in my mind. I was unsure how to answer, because there was nothing good about the vampire kingdom.
The sky darkened as concern threaded through Vaneria’s expression. “I command you to speak the truth, Seraphina.”
“From what I have learned in history books,” I explained, recalling the origin stories, and what Draven had told me about the gods anointing the kings of vampires. “You chose our bloodline, and one before ours, to instill a fairness and control to the creatures your sister created. Is that correct?” I asked, unsure if what I had been told was true.
Vaneria answered, “Yes.”
“I’m sorry to tell you this, but we have failed you all.”
“How so?” Vaneria asked.
I hesitated to find the words. Sanmorte was a place of deceit and unleashed terror. “I’m not from Sanmorte. I was born there, but I grew up in a different kingdom. Only recently did I return and… it’s terrifying.”
Vaneria gestured for me to continue. “Please, tell us everything. We only know about your birth. Whenever any royal is born from your bloodline, we can feel it, but we know nothing beyond that.”
“There’s…a lot to say.”
Vaneria understood and approached me. Softly, she placed her fingertips against my temples, closing her eyes. I felt her presence run through me like a river. It took me a minute to realize she was in my head, seeing everything I did. She flicked through the chapters of my life, as if she were reading a book.
Every suppressed emotion came to the surface the deeper she dove into my subconscious. The vampires destroying the guild flitted into my mind. My head ached as she forced me to remember it all in painful detail.
I was taken back to Draven protecting me, leading me through tunnels until he was taken by one of the creatures. Then Sebastian stealing me away, and every moment that lingered between us after. She skimmed over those moments, only pausing at the details of our conversations regarding Sanmorte. Pictures formed in my mind of the dead mortal on the streets in the City of Nightmares, the auction rooms where I was sold to Hamza, and the aniccipere, devouring souls.
Everything fell into slow motion. The blood dens, the castle, my mom as a vampire, the feeding room. Even the stench of the bodies burning in the courtyard seemed to materialize, sending the smell into my nostrils.
Vaneria experienced it alongside me, while her brothers watched. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she let go of my head, and my eyes snapped open.
Laveniuess was the first to speak. “What did you see, sister?”
She lowered her long lashes, stepping back. “The world has fallen into darkness.” Then, closing the distance between her and her brothers, she showed them what she took from my mind, and before I could part my lips to utter a word, they’d decided what to do. “Seraphina,” Vaneria said softly. “I have seen your heart, and we have chosen you for what will come next.”
Goosebumps spread over my arms and neck as she uttered the words I would never forget.
