Page 61 of Eternally Yours

I didn’t know which part to tell her first, so I went with the short version. “I sired a human who was bitten by one of the Order’s beasts. She became a hybrid, we bloodmate—”

My mother was not one for subtleties, and the terror-stricken gaze frozen over her eyes was enough to make me swallow my words.

“Nicholas Guerra,” she uttered, my name rolling off her tongue like a curse. “You sired a vampire outside our coven laws. Have you any idea what you’ve done?” She clasped the bars of the oculus as she pinned me with reproach.

I turned from her, running an angry hand through my hair. “I had no choice. Loren would’ve died.”

“Don’t you dare use her name here,” she said. “Last time you broke this family’s trust it cost someone their life.”

Straightening, I swung back toward her, my face stiff as a rock. “Yes. And you stood idle. You let my father butcher her. I won’t let Loren suffer the same fate.”

Taken aback, she relaxed her shoulders and released her hold on the bars. “You—You love her?”

“I do.”

My mother’s gaze shot to Cat, who stood in the shadows trying really hard—and failing—to not be seen. Mother must’ve guessed Catherine was complicit in my crimes but said nothing. Shifting her attention back to me, she said, “You can always find love again, Nicholas. You’re still young—”

I slammed my fist against the door and the boom echoed up the walls of the Solaris like a gunshot. She was doing it again. Following my father blindly. Being nothing more than a puppet.

She lurched back, eyes wide.

“There won’t be another,” I ground out through clenched teeth. “I love her, Mother. We’re mated. We are one.” I emphasized the last part in case she hadn’t understood me the first time. “If Loren dies, I die, too. If not through the bond, then—” I glanced at Cat, remembering the dagger she’d offered me. “Then by my own hand. I don’t want to live this eternal life without her.”

She turned to Cat. “Did you know about this?”

“You don’t have to answer her, Catherine,” I warned my friend, fearful she’d end up inside the Solaris with me.

Catherine left the shadows, squaring her shoulders and shooting my mother an indomitable stare. “I helped him.”

I pounded another fist against the door.

“And you can throw me in the hole too, for all I care. I’ve been done with this family for centuries. Who wants an eternity as a slave to this coven?”

My mother didn’t waver. Her regal posture was unbreakable even when challenged. “You’ve always loved my son.”

Catherine’s jaw clenched. She wouldn’t even look at me. “He’s been like a brother to me,” she uttered, her words soft and tinged with sorrow.

“More than a brother, Catherine. And it’s for that reason that I trust your judgment.”

Mother turned toward me. “I know I failed you, Nicholas. When I was bloodmated to your father, the choice was taken from me. It’s the life I was groomed for since I was selected from the human population. But it was not the life I would’ve picked for myself.”

“Mother, I don’t fault you for your decisions. I know that ultimately, my choices are what caused Elizabeth’s death.”

“No. I should’ve done more. I should’ve stopped your father. I won’t make the same mistake again.” Turning toward the back of the hall, she called, “Guards!” When Victoria and Andres marched down to us, my mother added, “Release my son. At once. And tell my darling husband I want a word.”

If there was one thing my father despised above all else, it was being undermined. His reputation and that of his coven mattered above all else, and I’d dishonored our family twice by refusing to fulfill my duty as the next elder. First by not marrying my betrothed, and second, by bloodmating with Loren. Now my mother had overruled his decision to burn me to ash, widening the rift between us.

* * *

Iwas about to bite my nails down to the quick as I waited in the interrogation room—again. This time I’d relented and taken a seat, but my knee was about to gallop away from me if my father didn’t show his face soon.

As if he’d heard my thoughts, the door opened and he strode in. I stood and bowed my head, showing my father that despite our differences—that even though he’d sentenced me to death—I still respected him as my sire.

“Father.”

“Sit,” he said, his voice staid.

Swallowing hard, I did as he asked.

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