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Mother stood with Mira, protected by Silas and Henry. She must know that Alistair was dead, but the only emotion that simmered in her lavender eyes was relief and love as she watched me stride towards my destiny with my head lifted high.
A king in my own right, ready to battle to the death for what I loved.
The room watched with varying expressions of resentment and rage as I stepped onto the dais before Julius, my father’s daywalking ring drawing every eye.
Julius hissed, “Alistair’s ashes are blowing over the mountains as we speak and you dare traipse through here with a smile, Alexei? You should be ashamed, begging for a merciful sentence.”
A chuckle of undisguised amusement fell past my smirking lips. The role of the Prince of Pleasure suited me well as I collapsed onto my father’s throne, my limbs outstretched in casual aloofness, while other lords hissed their disapproval.
“The way I see it, you have two options,” I intoned as the room quieted. “One path leads you to ruin as you all fight for dominance over a crown that is slowly descending into destruction through our failings to adapt to our evolving world.”
I angled my head at Julius, who visibly seethed at my arrogance.
“The other path would certainly be uncomfortable and an adjustment for all, but it could mean the difference between our extinction and another couple of centuries in control of our own destiny. For that future to prevail, we need to leave my father’s ways in the past, where they belong.”
Heavy silence followed my proclamation before the vampires erupted in arguments and outcries for justice. Julius watched me with a calculated gleam in his cold eyes, while Seraphina crept to his side, whispering low into his ear.
Julius regained his footing and spat at my feet with disdain. “Your father’s ring on your hand is a mockery of his legacy. We cannot allow our laws to be broken if we wish to retain order, not even for the prince.” He turned to the others beguilingly. “Surely, you can see the necessity of a quick trial and execution before we deal with the witches.”
Disquiet grew between the vampires.
I stood, abandoning the ruse of my past self and allowing the male I had become in my years in New Orleans to return to the fore. “I know you all have questions. That you feel my actions tonight somehow were an act of disloyalty to my family and our people. But Alistair gave me no choice. He would have led us to our doom out of a fear that had taken root inside him like a disease.”
Julius gave a sarcastic guffaw. “Is that your defense, Alexei? You killed our king because he was rightfully concerned about the changing hierarchy in our world? And yet you still believe you’re the right choice to take his reign when you love one of those disgusting creatures who sought our doom tonight?”
“My mate has nothing to do with this conversation,” I bit out. “If anyone is to blame for the witches’ attack, it is Alistair and Trystan who enflamed tensions between our two people.”
“Mate?” a vampire questioned with a lifted brow.
I turned to Maximus, who led the Paris Court, with a chagrined smile. “No one was more surprised by that turn of events than me.”
I took a deep breath as I considered a possible future that could sway them into bending the law this once.
“My time in exile taught me much,” I said. “Cities where creatures work in harmony against human discovery thrive compared to cities who do not. We could build something new together.”
“Build what exactly, Alexei?” Maximus asked, his hand on his chin in contemplation.
I shrugged, though my tension remained. “Giving more power to individual courts. Look at how the witches run—they have their High Priests or Priestesses, but they don’t answer to anyone but their own unless they risk detection from mortals. Perhaps it’s time we learned a thing or two from them.”
The room grew deathly silent.
“And who will be our king who presides over such liberties?” Julius sneered. “Surely not you, who has proven your disloyalty to our people time and time again.”
“Have I not proven my strength?” I asked with a curious brow. “Last I recall, it was my blade that severed Alistair’s head. Hell, we could make Mira our queen, with my mother and I acting as her advisors until she is ready to lead.”
Maximus’s lips quirked. “If what Alexei proposes is true, such leadership will only be necessary in the direst of circumstances.”
Luca Castillo came to stand beside Maximus, his smile earnest as he looked at me with approval. “Perhaps an appointed group of vampires, not unlike your New Orleans Council, would be more à propos. We police our own, so no court grows too… unruly.”
At his lifted brow, I nodded fervently. “Precisely.”
My mother stepped past Henry and Silas’s protective hold, her voice rising through the room. “Our hold will remain in the castle, and we will meet annually to discuss the courts and any issues we have with creatures or mortals.”
“Willingly offering your home to us deviant fools?” Maximus grinned at her conspiratorially. “My, how much you’ve changed, Mariana.”
Her eyes twinkled.
The Parisian vampire nodded his acceptance. “Then I vote for this new order, allowing Alexei to remain as the New Orleans lord, should he wish it so.”
