Page 34 of Queen of Darkness
He paused, shaking his head, very obviously reliving the memories.
“What happened?” I pressed, sensing that now was the time to pry, to push for answers. I had to keep him talking now that he’d started. If I gave up, it would be impossible for him to start again.
“Then, we hatched the most ambitious plan yet, and I helped put her on the throne of Madrigal,” he said hauntingly. “I made her queen.”
“What?” I gasped. “But how could you? She’s insane.”
Aaron looked at me, his normally bright eyes dulled with shame. “Love, mostly. I wanted the best for her. She also wasn’t the woman she is now. Just like I’m not the man I am now. Power changed her. Warped her.”
“You should have stopped her.” The comment slid out before I’d had a chance to think about it. I tried to backpedal, but his response was practically instantaneous.
His eyes burned with blue fury. “Don’t you think Itried?” he growled. “We ruled together for nearly two centuries. That’s how long it took me to discover she’d gone insane with power. She’d begun working in the background, eliminating her rivals, making it look like accidents. Others were busy killing the low-level female vampires. Haunting the shadows and alleys. All to ensure that she would be able to rule forever, with no one to challenge her.”
“He fight,” Drakul rumbled, interrupting. “Lose.”
“Thank you for the reminder,” Aaron said with boundless dry sarcasm. “Yes. When I found out what she was doing, I confronted her. I tried to stop her. Even fight her. I failed.”
“That’s when you came back here?” I asked.
“You make it sound like it was my choice,” he said. “I didn’t ‘come back.’ I was unleashed on the people of this region. After Elenia spent months torturing me with a lack of blood, turning me feral until I was out of my mind, she let me go near one of the towns.”
I stared in horror. “Oh, god. But how did nobody find out?”
“They covered it up,” Aaron said heavily. “Drakul and a few others. They created the persona of Vlad the Impaler. All my victims were dead before they were impaled. Dead from my own hands as I fed on them.”
“A cover-up,” I whispered, stunned.
“It took me nearly thirty years to gather myself,” Aaron said, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table. “Three decades and countless innocent deaths. All because of her.”
“Not Alaine fault,” Drakul stated, eyes flaring bigger. “Not fault.”
“I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want to kill them.”
He looked up at me, my heart breaking slightly at the haunted look on his face. I’d never seen him like that, so open and vulnerable, exposed. He was always the composed one, who had his head on straight. Never really letting emotions guide him. It was the opposite of the Aaron I had in front of me.
“I know you didn’t,” I said, sensing that he was looking for forgiveness from me. “Especially knowing what I know now about you.”
“I don’t want the title they bestowed on me. And I don’t want the name originally given to me,” he growled. “That person is dead. I stand apart from vampires. I might be one, but I am not one of hers. I’ve spent six centuries trying to create a name for myself to prove that.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I understand better now. I do.”
“Can you forgive me?” he whispered.
“I’m not sure there’s anything for metoforgive. This was all before my time. You were tortured, turned into a creature not of your own making, not by your own hand. You’ve dealt with centuries of guilt and done your best to make amends for it. I’m not sure anyone could ask more of you, Aaron.”
“I can,” he growled.
“Maybe. Maybe not.” I smirked at a memory.
“What?”
“Oh, nothing. I was just remembering something. Now that I know she’s the ‘other woman’ that people have mentioned when they see me with you.”
“What is it you remember?” he asked.
I grinned. “Zeus likes me better than her.”
Aaron stared at me. “That’swhat you took from all this? That he likes you better?”
