The Vampire Gift 2: Kingdom of(26)
“She issued the order as our Monarch.” Raul explains. “Yet she grieves as your Mother.”
I scoff. “Do you truly believe that?”
“Yes,” he says. “I do.”
“She hasn’t seen herself as our ‘Mother’ for generations,” I tell him. “Do you know she hasn’t looked me in the eyes, not more than twice, in the last hundred years?”
“She trusted you enough to send you to our Father,” Raul says. “Whatever issues you had in private were not known to me.”
“Issues.” I laugh. “She was always jealous of me, Raul. That’s the real reason I’m stuck down here. I was the one with flair, the one with style. I was the one other vampires looked up to in our coven. Not her.”
“You think that’s enough to arouse her jealousy?” Raul shakes his head. “James, you are so much more self-centered than I thought.”
“What else then?” I demand. “Think of all she’s done. Think of the way she’s ruled us! She’s as vain as any other. More so, in fact! Think of how many jewels, how many precious stones are in her possessions. Think of all the riches she affords herself while denying even the slightest luxuries to the humans!”
“I didn’t know you cared so much about the villagers.”
“I don’t,” I tell him curtly. “I’m just making a point.”
“And yet there’s one you do care about.” Raul steps closer to the bars. “Isn’t there?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
”April.”
I stagger back. Not exactly from shock, but from all the memories that name brings. April in my bed, the night Eleira was taken. April swooning at my side, the very first time I tasted her blood. April, with her little head full of hopes and dreams, which could never come true…
“What about her?” I demand, regaining my composure. “She means nothing to me.”
“Then I guess I shouldn’t tell you that she and Eleira have become the closest of friends. Or that Phillip has taken a liking to her.”
“Phillip? I don’t believe it. He doesn’t care about anything except his computers and books and plants.”
“That’s changed,” Raul tells me, “after Mother made him feed.”
That revelation staggers me. Mother may not approve of Phillip’s choice, but she always looked upon him with respect—respect that was severely lacking in her interactions with me. I never knew why she regarded him so. But as long as it did not affect me, I did not mind. Phillip was always too meek to take advantage of that undue veneration.
“Mother made him feed?” I breathe.
“She made him feed on April’s blood,” Raul emphasizes. “You know what that means.”
“That the girl is dead,” I say stiffly. I shoot down any emotions that try to rise from that acknowledgement. “Did you tell me that to add to my misery? Because as you can see—” I flash my teeth in a malicious smile, “—it didn’t work.”
“April still lives,” Raul says. “Phillip drew on her, and stopped himself before taking the final lethal sip.”
“What?” That truly astounds me. “But he hasn’t tasted human blood in… in centuries!”
“Almost six hundred years,” Raul agrees.
“And April was his first?”
“She was.”
“That’s… astounding.” I can think of no other word. Maybe Mother’s respect for my youngest brother has a basis in reality after all.
“I didn’t come here to mock or ridicule you,” Raul continues. “I just wanted to inform you of what’s going on above. And to reiterate that I will not let Mother turn you into one of The Convicted. Not if there’s anything I can do to stop it.”
Raul shoves his arm through the cell bars and offers his hand to me. “You are my brother, after all. No matter what’s been done in the past, brothers stick together. Always.”
I search his eyes for any sign of disingenuousness… but find none. There is only earnest appeal.
I clasp his hand. “Thank you,” I say, and I genuinely mean it. “Even if you are not successful, your attempt means the world.”
Raul grips my hand tightly. “I don’t mean to fail you, James,” he swears.
Chapter Fourteen
ELEIRA
After having fed in the blood banks, I find myself alone in the new rooms assigned to me, in the highest level of Queen Morgan’s castle.
Raul left me after ensuring I was comfortable. I told him I was.