Page 121 of Disillusioned
Deep umber leather with fraying pages. As familiar as the wry smirk on Piper’s face.
A couple weeks ago Lilac had pulled the written accounts on Daemons, poorly organized and filled with misinformation, from the between the library and the book stacks that sat in her bedchamber—one of which currently propped the balcony doors open. She’d skimmed through the parts her tutors once had her study, using the half truths within them to draw her Accords notes.
The vampire manuscript was the only one she couldn’t find; a thin collection comprised of firsthand observations strung together by several authors.Skin cast in a concerning pallor which improves upon heavy feeding, she recalled reading.Sharp canines that grow with heightened hunger or arousal.Lilac hadn’t laid eyes on it for some time and eventually assumed it had been misplaced somewhere among the shelves.
She immediately recognized it as the book in Piper’s hand. “You were in my library.”
“If only,” Piper snorted. “This book nearly killed me. Again.” She returned to the bed, manuscript in hand. “It was tucked between the bricks to the left of your balcony. I grabbed onto it while climbing up. Almost lost my balance and fell. Was about to chuck it into the fire before recognizing it as one of your books from Rolet and Eugene.” Piper slid back under the duvet. “You know, the ones I had to pretend to aid in tutoring you with in order to read.”
“Yes, I remember. You have access to them now. The entire library,” Lilac said, her entire body buzzing.
“Oh, I know I do.” Piper flipped the book open and skimmed, flipping open to a page past the middle. The top corner of the page had been folded in. She pointed at a tangle of scrawl, a crooked penmanship certainly different from the rest. Her finger landed upon the first word on the page.
“Vampires,” Piper read, her cadence cautious. She’d mostly been taught to read alongside Lilac.“Are are a species of Daemon that participate in the rituals of matri… matri?—”
“Matrimony?” Lilac shot up and snatched the manuscript from Piper, continuing the passage out loud. “Vampyres—” She’d never seen it spelt that way, with ay, before. “—occasionally wish to wed, but the process is often overcomplicated by permissions and hierarchy. This is especially true for rogue or uninformedvampyres who sire their betrothed for the sake of eligibility—or, their spouse for the sake of eternal companionship—only to find their newly-turned lovers distressed and wholly unfamiliar with the feelings of romance once shared, regardless of how deep, with their sire.” The writing grew messy here. There were also several blotches of running ink, as if the parchment had gotten wet in the rain, making the script more difficult to read.
In his bedchamber at the Mine, Garin did say it was against his species’ law to create one’s own mate. She’d never known why, or the consequences; this was why he’d threatened to have Bastion turn her at the inn.
“How horrible,” Piper whispered. “Siring someone you love makes them fall out of love with you? You’d think that’s important to know.”
“Shhh,” Lilac said, scouring the parchment. “In most cases, fledglings become too attached to their sires to even consider claiming loyalty to their partner once they’ve Awakened. This attachment, not to be confused with love, falls within a spectrum between authoritative respect and hapless, utter submission. In a similar fashion to mortal nobility, Vampyres will still insist on marrying to form alliances or bring peace between long-rivalled clans.”
“Clans?” said Piper. “They mean covens, don’t they?”
She flipped through the first half of the manuscript, which contained the studies that were used in her lessons overseen by Rolet. “That’s what Garin and Bastion refer to it as, and so do all the other contributors of this manuscript.” Lilac turned back to the folded page again, continuing on. “For those who persist against the many odds, Vampyric matrimony may serve the purpose of securing a dowry, including estates, claim on hunting land, or gaining rank within the clan—the last, only at the approval of the involved Doyen.”
Doyen.Clan.
Vampyre.
These scrawled notes were obviously written in by someone from another kingdom.When? Lilac wondered.Why?
She didn’t miss the fact that the passage seemed to touch briefly on interspecies marriage. Mortal and vampire. It was a wonder she and Piper had never been prompted to read this section of the manuscript; Rolet had probably thought it unimportant, if not entirely inappropriate to teach the future queen.
Her eyes adjusted quickly as they flew across the remainder of the page. “Despite being the highest order of Sanguinary Rite, a coupling willing to pursue a true Blood Vow is rare. However?—”
Lilac flipped the parchment, where it appeared a new section on blood drinking started, the previous penmanship resumed. It had seemed the section on vampiric matrimony was unfinished. The text she’d read from had stopped abruptly, leaving the last quarter of the page blank—except for a single note at the very bottom, in the same rushed scrawl.
“See‘TheHistories of the Lasting Night.’”
She never recalled reading or encountering such a tome in her library, but she could’ve easily missed it, even with her leisurely research. If she had, she’d remember such a striking book title. Maybe she’d ask John to procure it for her later. “This isn’t Garin’s doing, is it?” Lilac had never seen him write, nor had she read anything he’d written.
Piper ran her fingers over it and sniffed, nostrils flaring. “No. This ink is aged with the parchment. Even those tear stains or whatever they are, those aren’t new. Decades, at least. Maybe a century?”
Lilac started to flip the page again, but decided to fight the temptation to continue on.Garin had been reading the manuscript.A passage onmarriage. She shut it, sliding it beneath her pillow and gritting her teeth.
“Good idea, we won’t get any sleep if we continue. Tomorrow, we will hear the details of your proposition.” Piper chewed on her lower lip, suddenly seeming unsettled. “Do you really think Garin has not at least entertained the thought of asking for your hand? Although he didn’t write those notes, the pages in particular also smell of him.”
“Entertained at most. He was doing his research,” Lilac said, her face hot. Piper definitely heard her heart skip a few beats; the vampire’s brows rose when she doubled down. “He’s been convincing himself that pushing me to marry Maximilian is the best option, as he has been.” She refused to even consider the possibility he’d entertained it, especially when she had alluded to an alliance in the brothel and Garin outright ignored it. “To have me carry through with his intentions.”
“Speaking of intention, Artus came here to frighten you into marrying his grandson using their distant blood as a threat. But you must remember, he was once on your grandfather’s court—theBretoncourt.”
Piper was right. Monarchs were known to keep their enemies close, whether they knew it or not. Even those in denial, as with her parents andthe Le Tallecs. “You believe this would have alienated his family from François?”
“Yes,” said Piper. “Even if he was in denial of it. Marriage to Sinclair is unlikely to save you, and Artus’s family does not have the French influence he implied they do. Yes, he might share their lineage, bu his bloodline nor public denouncement would have affected whether or when France advanced.” Her hand abruptly shot out and snatched Lilac’s fists from beneath the blanket. “You hypocrite,” she hissed.
Lilac glanced down at her own finger nail beds, picked raw. A bead of red bloomed along her pinky nail; wide-eyed, Piper grabbed and brought Lilac’s wrist to her mouth. Lilac shrieked and pulled away in alarm, but not before Piper lapped the droplet of blood off her finger.
