Page 80 of Dark Reign

I said nothing because the tattoo stood out above all else. It defined the outfit, my entire look, my life.

The vampire’s mark was forever.

And, with home beginning to feel further and further away … maybe this was forever, too.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Julian

“Keep all responses short and direct,” my father advised. “Say nothing more than what you’re asked. And if anyone gets too bold with his or her questioning, simply dismiss their inquiry and move on to the next.”

I nodded, breathing deeply as the clock above counted down. In mere minutes I would have to face the world, giving them some rendition of the events that unfolded during and after the gala.

“Your mother sends her love,” he added reassuringly. “And you’ll be fine, son.”

It was nice to have his vote of confidence, but I knew he’d only given it because he had no idea what I’d done.

No idea of the law I’d broken just twenty-four hours ago.

I couldn’t look him in the eye now, as he straightened the lapel of my suit.

“You’ll have to give the press their pound of flesh,” he sighed, sharing a few final words of caution.

“There’s no getting around that, but you owe them nothing more. Explain your decision as vaguely as they’ll allow, and then politely bid them farewell.”

“Understood,” I answered, finally daring to meet his gaze again.

With that, he offered a tight smile that made me at least certain he respected the decision to speak for myself if nothing else. I watched as he walked toward William and Jenna, knowing how quickly his respect would fade when, in the coming weeks, he became aware I’d broken a cardinal rule strictly imposed on our people.

The crowd had swelled since I last peered out to observe it. An endless sea of reporters and cameras waited for me. It was going to be a circus and my only solace was that I had the luxury of concealing my deeper sin.

At the thought, I was painfully aware of my brothers’ betrayal—Silas using his abilities to manipulate me without my knowledge, Levi the mastermind behind it all. Their actions were unforgiveable.

And yet, I couldn’t stand the thought of either turning himself in on my behalf. A strange and twisted reality that left me feeling oddly detached from it all. My only concern at the moment was to get through the public flaying—disguised as a press conference—without things going from bad to worse.

A massive shadow cast to my left and I turned. As if I’d conjured them with my thoughts, my brothers all stood there—tall and confident. I looked them over; dressed in finely crafted suits as always, true gentlemen of the monarch. I too had done well to play the part of a poised royal, despite the turmoil I harnessed on the inside. We were masters at putting on a good performance for the sake of the crown. Today was no different.

A flash in my peripheral vision made me mindful of the one or two cameras that were allowed behind the scenes to capture candid moments such as this. Had it not been for the reminder, I would have distanced myself to avoid hearing whatever excuses my two offending brothers conjured overnight. However, the media would have devoured the mere mention of there being discord between us.

So, to keep the hounds off my heels, I did the gentlemanly thing. I smiled and carried on as if nothing was amiss.

“Thanks for showing up,” I muttered, doing my best to conceal the tension in my jaw.

Silas did a less-than-stellar job of hiding his own feelings. Guilt and remorse riddled his expression.

“Ofcoursewe’re here. We’d never think of letting you face this on your own.”

I released a frustrated sigh, praying he wouldn’t say anything else. We’d done our bid to fake it for the world.

“Well, your presence is much appreciated,” I added dismissively. However, Silas completely missed the hint.

“I mulled over our discussion,” he uttered quietly. “Thanks to a good night’s sleep, I’ve come up with a new plan, one we’ve already discussed and while, no, it’s not ideal, we do believe it could fix everything. It’s at least worth considering,” he offered, glancing toward Levi and Roman.

“Stop,” I hissed through clenched teeth. Somehow, I managed to speak quietly as I cut a glare sideways between him and Levi. “I think you two have already done enough, wouldn’t you say?”

When both shoulders stiffened, I masked the tension in them by adjusting my cufflink. It gave me something to focus on other than the growing frustration.

“I understand you’re angry, but we need to talk,” Levi leaned in to murmur. When he reached for my arm, I quickly shrugged from his grasp.

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