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But I didn’t think it would be. I wasn’t sure if I could forgive me if the situation was reversed.
We all ate quietly through lunch and Inez seemed ready to tackle the next part, staring at her drink as if she wished it was booze maybe.
“I thought everything was over after that night,” I told Inez when it was clear she wanted me to continue. “I honestly forgot about it and the crazy story. I stayed away from covens, but there was still the odd chance to run into someone and there was always gossip. Nothing ever made the rounds about a princess born of regular vampires.
“I think part of me thought maybe he made the whole story up as an excuse to bail on a bad mating. It happens.” I shrugged as I focused on my own plate, nervous for her reaction. “Then I saw him again. Years later. Like fifteen years later. He didn’t remember me at first though and I understood it was the drink.
“He was different though. Beaten down. Defeated more so than he had been that drunken night. I asked him what happened and he said everything backfired. That his taking off had helped his mate’s narrative instead of people seeing it was crazy. Also that his son had stepped up in the wrong way. That he was terrified of the greed his son had in his heart.
“He said his daughter had been confirmed by a court as a princess, but the son wanted Marvin to help him get the real power. That women were dumb and the mom was a mess, but he’d trained the daughter as she should be. Marvin was horrified. You need to know that your father was completely horrified and trying to figure out what to do.”
“Did you help him?” she asked.
I swallowed loudly. “I meant to. I was going to but—”
“Emil killed him first,” Kristof sighed.
I nodded. “I was in the middle of something important. I had something time-sensitive I was handling for people not to fuck with. I promised Marvin that I would help him. I even told him my real age and name. He was relieved. I asked him to give me three days to finish what I was doing and I’d be back and I would help him.
“I went back. It wasn’t even four days. Three and a half maybe? My flight was delayed, but it wasn’t that long,” I rambled, panic that she would never forgive me clawing at me. “He was gone. His hotel room cleaned out. I asked and the front desk was pissed because he took off without paying the bill. I said there had been an emergency and I paid it.
“They promised to contact me if they heard from him and even alerted local police because of the lies I told that I was worried someone had hurt him. I had no idea at that point, thinking he’d gotten scared. It wasn’t like I came back to a crime scene. But he’d been scared enough that I knew something bad was going on, and I went to find his son and mate.
“I tracked them for over a year, no one whispering about them even if they were apparently meeting with courts and covens. I don’t know, but no one at the Velius household knew their whereabouts or Marvin’s. I had spoken to them several times and was honest that I thought something was wrong. I finally found Emil in Delhi of all places.”
Several people cursed and I nodded.
“I’m confused. What does that matter?” Inez asked, glancing between everyone.
“It’s where the first cases of outbreak were reported,” Matilda explained. “We didn’t know it was corrupted at the time. It was said to be a biological outbreak, very contagious.”
“And the Indian government completely botched everything,” Cerdic added. “They lied about knowing it was more. They lied about containing it. It’s why India was hit so ridiculously hard by everyone. There’s not really any India left from the way it was bombed.”
I nodded. “I was there when it all started and for the chaos. But right before, I caught Emil and used my gift on him to tell me the truth. About Marvin. His mother. This princess who was born of normal vampires.”
“Is it time to switch to hard booze?” Inez chuckled darkly.
I ran my tongue over my teeth and let out another long breath. “I don’t know if I could hear this sober if it was about me.”
“The men in my life who were banned from booze can have a pass for today,” Inez declared as she stood. “Matilda, do you want old scotch again or whatever you liked?”
“Whatever you want is fine with me, love,” she said gently, going by her and giving her a hug. “How about some of that fun moonshine you liked? I’m sure Nick could make it sparkling something and all the yummy for you?”
“How bad was it really?” Kristof asked once Inez and Matilda were out of the room.
I swallowed loudly and met his gaze. “It was like watching the start of our sick houses. There was so much evil spread so far and wide because of my house and all of them so vile, but I used to wonder—how did it start? Was this always the root of us, and maybe our house was a champion of Erebus’s offspring?”
“I used to wonder the same of mine,” Kristof admitted, neither of us ever having said it out loud before but knowing the other felt the same.
“But now I know it was like what I saw with Inez’s mother and brother. One sick in the heart and mentally ill woman eaten by jealousy of her own daughter and the truly evil and sadistic person who pushed her around to get what he wanted.”
“He could never have made the moves as Inez’s brother. No princess would have listened to a common vampire, brother of a princess or not. Even if he’d been a noble and trying to set up alliances or talk—none of them would have listened,” Sebastian muttered. “No, not with the coven structure. But a mother of a princess? That’s a position to respect.”
“Because they all used to rule,” Winston said. “But if it was a new line or miracle…” He shook his head and muttered about people being fucking disgusting.
Yeah, exactly how I felt for sure.
“I’m good,” Jaxon muttered when someone offered him booze. “I still feel like ass and—can someone ask Nick for like some soup or—”
