“Don't spoil the fun, Vesper. I'm just teasing. I can find them myself.”
A wave of relief shot through me.Thank Krae she’s not going to push it.
“Atlas.” Her tone was sharp, forcing all attention back to her. “You may have been exiled from our family, but it seems you still have the brazen confidence you once had.”
A tremor of shock went through the whole group, landing right in my chest. Only when Atlas clicked her tongue and tilted her head to the side to meet my gaze did I realize that she wasn't looking down because she was scared of Kyan.
She’s mad.
I knew the rumors about Atlas coming from a royal family, but we had never discussed it. This was something new altogether, even if not totally unexpected for me.
There was shock from both Cedar and Vesper in my bond, but their eyes were on me. Like I had been keeping something from them, when, in reality, I had just guessed.
Looking at Kyan and Atlas now, it was almost laughable that anyone was oblivious to this. The ridiculously long hair, their love for jewels, and their attitude all matched. The only real thing we needed to figure out was why she got exiled in the first place.
Them being so harsh with her accepting new people into her clan also made sense now.
“There are no rules against me taking an indentured servant,” Atlas told her. “We made a deal. We saw it through. That was it.”
Kyan pushed herself from the throne and walked slowly down to Atlas, who, this time, met the vampire ruler dead-on, a low growl forming in her chest.
“Cute,” she said with a smirk, and in the blink of an eye, she had Atlas on the ground, her face pressed into the rune on the floor. “You have embarrassed us by going around me so blatantly, and for that we have some changes to make.”
She pulled Atlas up by her hair. From my position, I could see droplets of dark vampire blood fall to the ground.
“I have ignored the complaints that you have been running wild without someone to tie you down. Both clans and families alike were worried. Too much power, too many vampires, zero ties. I think it's time we fixed that.”
Tied by marriage.
Kyan let her go and smoothly got up and walked straight to the Leclair family. I thought she was going to grab Charlotte.After all, Atlas had told me she only got Vesper because she promised to date Charlotte.
They would've been a good pairing.
But she went straight to the black sheep of the family instead.
The girl stepped back, obviously shocked that the royal was standing right in front of her. Luckily for her, Kyan only smiled at her and held out her hand.
Hesitantly, the girl gave it to her.
“Rose Leclair,” she said in a purr. “So adequately named.”
She brushed her hand down the side of Rose’s face, the one with the scars.
My heart twisted at the look of embarrassment that spread across Rose's face. Kyan was being extra mean but disguising it as flattery, without fooling anyone.
“I hereby declare that Rose Leclair and Atlas Nox are to be wed. But because Atlas has been so disgracefully exiled from the family, there won’t be any royal customs, nor will Rose be accepted into the family. Instead, Rose Leclair will join your coven and rule by your side. Any objections?”
She looked back specifically at Atlas for this one. But instead, it was Rose and Charlotte Leclair’s father who spoke up.
“We are honored, Your Majesty. Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine a marriage hand-picked by Your Majesty. Though Charlotte is a clearly better option for Atlas. Rose is nothing more than a weak human mutt that has cursed our bloodline?—”
“Careful, Leclair, or I may think you consider yourself above me. Did you mean to correct me?”
“No, never. I apologize. I only meant?—”
“That your daughter, the one you fostered with your own lascivious ways, is not good enough for an exile of the royal family?”
Answering that question would be digging his own grave, and he seemed to know it, so he mumbled a quick apology and stepped back. If I wasn’t so worried about Vesper, I might have found this whole thing laughable.
