Page 71 of Eternal Captive

So I needed something else. I needed to level the playing field.

My last-ditch effort had to have been the most humiliating yet, but I had to dosomething.Even if it meant relying on that spy.

“They are worse than my father will ever be,” I said to the female vampire who had been a part of my family for the last decade. Eldra was her name, and she came with her husband in search of my mother. She was already dead by the time they arrived, but that didn’t stop them from joining.

They worked in one of Father’s many factories, hardly making ends meet.

Which brought us to our current problem.

“Butyouare there, princess,” she answered with a kind smile. “We believe inyou. Sure, maybe it will be hard in the beginning, but you will be there.”

Bullshit.Maybe if there was even an ounce of truth in her words, there had to have been much more than that belief to have her do something so drastic.

“How much money did he offer you?” I asked, cutting to the chase.

She looked down at the floor, shame crossing her features.

“More than I had ever seen in my life, princess,” she said. “My husband and I, we are tired. We would do anything for you, for your mother…but there are only so many more years we can handle this work.”

I swallowed thickly, trying not to grind my teeth.

Hers was the tenth family I was talking to, and all of them offered something different.

Prince Icas had actually managed to do something right.

Not all the vampires he recruited to his family had been because of the witches, though many of the more powerful ones with money of their own were. The smaller ones were easy.

Money.

Bigger houses.

A chance at a family.

He was giving the people what they wanted.A life.Even if it was a lie, these vampires had been living in such horrid conditions under my father’s reign that they couldn’t help but believe him. Even if there was only a slim chance that what he said would actually come true, they would take it.

And I couldn’t convince them otherwise.

Many had said the same thing. That their loyalty was to me. But when pushed, it became clear what their true desires were.

And it never had anything to do with me.

“I’m sorry, princess,” she said when she noticed my silence. “Really, if there was any other?—”

“I understand,” I retorted with a forced smile. “Please don’t apologize to me.”Even if it means my death.“You’re dismissed.”

She hesitated, looking behind me at where Melia stood, before turning and leaving the back garden where I had all of them meet me.

There were only a few places in the palace where I could get away with these meetings. An overgrown garden, a dried-up fountain, or the edge of the property where the woods were so dense it looked like night even in the middle of the day.

The fountain held too many memories, and if I was caught around the edge of the property, the stepbitches and Prince Icas might try to tell Father it was because I was attempting to run away.

But I was running out of options.

“How many more?” I asked, not turning to Melia. I hated even looking at her, and my hands still itched to cut her throat. Fraternizing with the enemy wasn’t on my bucket list. It was shameful at best, but again, I would do just about anything to get out of the palace alive.

“Fifty-three, princess,” she replied.

I pursed my lips, unable to find the words.

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