Page 77 of Depths of Desire
“Luna,” Renzo says sharply, but I can’t respond.
Am I seeing the actual creatures behind the auras I’ve been able to see all my life? Is this a byproduct of the curse of my birth? Just one more bone to pick with my mother, damn her. It’s too much. I shut my eyes, trying not to pass out. My knees give, just slightly.
“Fuck,” Renzo growls. That’s the last thing I hear.
When I open my eyes again, we’re inside a small room with stone walls, thick with age and authority. It feels like a castle. Like something ancient is watching. I press a hand to the cold wall to steady myself. Where the hell am I? And how the hell do I survive this without Nico?
“S-sorry,” I mumble. “It’s all just so…overwhelming.”
Luca nods and offers me a chair. I sit down gratefully.
“This is what’s going to happen,” Renzo starts. Luca shoots him a look, but Renzo ignores him. “We don’t have time to be gentle. In about five minutes, we’re going to walk into that room and face the council. There are five vampire kings on the council. They will hear testimony from Malrick and his representative, and then testimony from our side. Then they will vote on the outcome. It’s not unlike a human courtroom except there are five judges and no jury.” Renzo, who had been standing over me, finally takes a seat in the chair in front of me. “You need to prepare yourself. Your parents will be witnesses for Malrick.”
The room swims in my vision. My stomach drops to my knees and my queasiness comes back with a roar. I close my eyes, but it just makes things worse. I open them again and put a hand to my mouth.
Luca puts a garbage can close to me. “Just in case,” he says, but not without pity.
I clear my throat. “Will…will the kings ask me questions?”
“It’s a possibility. It’s hard to tell. There aren’t the same set of rules for these things as in human court so it’s hard to know exactly what will happen. I will represent you and Nico. Luca will sit with us in support and so will my father. We are not without power in this setting and I believe that will be taken into account. If it was only Malrick and he had no witnesses, I think it would be dismissed.”
“But…my parents.” The two people I should have been able to count on to protect me. Parents who would throw me away. There was a special place in hell for them.Does it make me a bad daughter that I personally want to send them there?Probably, but I was beyond giving a fuck.
Renzo hesitates but nods. “Yes, your parents.”
There was a loud banging on the door. Luca answered it and murmured something to whoever was outside. Then he shut the door and nodded at Renzo.
“It’s time,” Renzo says as he stands. He offers a hand to help me out of my seat. “I’m sorry my brother is not here to help you through this. I truly am. I will make sure he understands how unacceptable that is.”
I nod mostly because my mouth has gone completely dry, making a verbal reply impossible. Luca opens the door, and I follow Renzo out into the hallway and then into the council’s chamber. My heart is hammering against my rib cage. If I could run, I would. But there’s no way my legs will hold me. I’m having a hard enough time walking.
I can’t believe I have to go through with this. Vampire kings, magickal creatures…it’s all so far beyond real that I have no words left. And the fact that Nico left me to face this on my own. Left me to go find some other woman while I’m forced to fend for myself…I’m not sure there’s enough forgiveness in the world to get me over this one.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“It’s been a long time, Mother. Somehow,how have you beenfeels… inadequate.” The words leave my mouth, cold and stiff, as I stare at the woman who gave birth to me. The woman I searched the world for. The woman I should’ve run from.
I thought I’d feel joy. Relief. Maybe even love, if I still had that in me where she was concerned. Instead, all I feel is dread. A slow, crawling bitterness rises in the back of my throat like bile. Anger sharpens in my chest, like a snake coiling into itself, ready to strike. This is what betrayal tastes like. What humiliation feels like. Not a knife in the back—something worse. Something quieter.
“Nico,” she says, voice low and graceful, as if we’re sharing afternoon tea. Her eyes rake over me. “You’re as handsome as ever. It is lovely to see you.” She extends her hand, palm tilted down expectantly, as if waiting for me to kiss the back of her hand like some courtly son.
I don’t move.
“You’ve been alive this entire time,” I say, my voice low, shaking with fury. “And you never bothered to tell me. To tell any of us. Forgive me if I don’t say it’s lovely to see you, too.”
She shrugs, the gesture elegant and dismissive, like I’ve just accused her of something as trivial as making a poor fashion choice, instead of choosing to abandon her family. “It was for the best, dear. Vampires and magickal creatures alike can be so… judgmental. If I’d told you I was alive, you’d have suffered. You might have been cast out. As it is, you’ve done extraordinarily well. Well respected. Wealthy. Powerful. I fail to see why you’re upset. You were better off with me presumed dead. I didn’t want to burden you or your brothers.”
It dawned on me that my situation wasn’t so different than Luna’s. A parent incapable, or unwilling, to make a decision based on anyone but themselves. A bark of hollow laughter escapes my lips.
“You really believe that garbage? That you did this for us?” My hands curl into fists. “You disappeared because your power grab failed, and you were too humiliated to face the consequences. If you’d shown your face, you’d have landed in prison.”
Her smile is slight. Serpentine. “Well, there is that I suppose.” Another shrug. “We all have our… flaws.”
“Flaws?” I step forward, fury thundering in my ears. “People were killed because of you. You led followers into battle and let them die for a fantasy. And when it all crumbled, you didn’t take responsibility. You ran. That’s not a flaw, that’s a crime.”
She sighs, slowly and theatrically, like I’m a particularly dim child failing to understand her brilliance. But her eyes—those eyes I inherited—glint like broken glass. Cold. Dangerous.
“I let you find me, Nico. That alone should make you grateful. You’ve been searching for so long.”
