Page 83 of Filthy Rich Vampires: For Eternity

“No, I came to see you.” Camila looked her mother directly in the eyes.

“I’m your mother. You can see me anytime,” she said tightly.

I braced myself when I spotted the malevolent gleam in Camila’s eyes. “This is a matter requiring the attention of the entire Council.”

“What do you seek from the Council?” Marcus asked.

Camila’s lips curled into a triumphant smile. “I’ve come to demand the right of primus sanguis.”

There was a collective gasp followed by furious murmuring.

“Primus whatis?” I muttered to Aurelia.

But Camila continued before she could answer, “I’m a married woman with my own children. It is my right to demand first blood.”

“But your children—” Marcus began gently.

“Are alive,” Camila cut them off. “Were they dead, I would have no right to make this demand.”

“Your children died in the fire,” Sabine hissed.

“No, they didn’t.” Camila lifted her chin, her eyes blazing. “You are hiding them, and I will know where they are, Mother. By any means necessary.”

Arguments erupted all around me.

“She’s challenging her mother to be the matriarch of her bloodline: primus sanguis,” Aurelia told me under her breath.

“But to do that...” I recalled how Sabine had risen to become the Rousseaux matriarch. She’d fought and killed Dominic’s mother. But it wouldn’t go that far. Not between a mother and her own child.

“Remember when you slapped Sabine?” Jacqueline murmured under breath. “If Camila wins, she will take charge of the family.”

And even if Julian was disowned, this would rip the rest of his family apart. Apparently, things could get worse. Much, much worse.

“And one of them will be dead?” I didn’t know why I asked. I already knew that Rousseaux women were fully capable of killing each other. Hell, I felt increasingly homicidal the more time I spent with them.

But I couldn’t let it come to this. If we could get both of them alone, we could reason with them. I could make Sabine see that Camila had every right to see her children and make Camila promise not to do anything too crazy. The last part might prove a little bit hard, but I had faith.

“Yes.” Her eyes scanned the room like she was looking for exit routes.

I looked at Camila. She was gazing at her mother, her face unreadable but her eyes hard. A flurry of activity in the corner caught my eye, and I turned to find several vampires in black cloaks bringing a small trove of weapons, from daggers and swords to pistols and bows, into the room.

“They aren’t going to do it here and now, right?” This was happening too fast.

“A challenge before the Council must be resolved before them.” Aurelia grabbed my elbow and began to steer me away from the action.

But I yanked free. There was no way I was going back to my mate and telling him that I’d permitted his mother and sister to kill each other. “I can’t allow this. We need a way to stop Camila. We have to find some way to make her realize that killing Sabine will not help her cause.”

Before I could come up with anything, Selah’s voice rang through the Council chamber. “Camila Drake—”

“Rousseaux,” Camila interrupted. She stood, unflinching in her resolve, before them. “I reclaim my family surname as is my right as eldest female.”

Jacqueline edged closer to us, shaking her head. Her face was pinched with worry. “She never should have agreed to change her name. It’s not how things are done, but Willem...”

She didn’t need to finish that thought. My father didn’t have a strong respect for vampire tradition. In fact, he seemed to want to fuck with it as much as possible. Of course, he would have demanded she become a Drake and not the other way around.

“Wait.” A thought occurred to me. “Does that mean that Julian will take my name when we marry?”

Jacqueline and Aurelia both swiveled toward me, twin looks of disbelief on their face.

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