Chapter 31
Elina
What the hell is this?I stare down at the birth certificate.
Elianore Celeste Girard Devereaux
Father: Ezekiel Devereaux
Mother: Nora Cecilia Girard
Date of Birth: August 17, 2003
This is obviously me but I’ve never seen this document before in my life. I was born at home, my birth wasn’t registered with theL’Empire des Ombres Nocturnes—there would have been no reason to. This disputes that fact, and a lot of other facts I know about myself. My maman tookLe lien eternelwith the King of Ville de Sang? I sit in stunned silence, trying to absorb all of this. None of it makes any sense.
If grand-mere knew, why had she lied to me for twenty-five years? If she didn’t know, how had maman kept thisa secret? Based on what Sebastien told me, the only way they could have conceived is if they were bound.
I’m suddenly struck by a thought.Oh my god—I’m a bloodline vampire. Bash explained this to me, he did this himself. Any time now, I should begin the transformation to vampire. It was never a matter of me choosing this life or consenting to turn for Bash. It was my destiny the entire time.
I take stock of what I know. I’m in love with Sebastien and I want to bind with him. I am being held captive by a branch of my own family. Nicolas, my cousin, is attempting to get me to bind with him. Based on the information from Sebastien, I can’t inherit since I am a woman, but it seems that Nicolas needs me for something. That somethingdefinitelyhas to do with who I am.
I mourn the fact that I finally learned who my father was, and, in the same instant, learned he is dead. I am just as much an orphan as I was before I had this information.
Everything has changed, and yet, nothing has changed at all. I was going to give up my humanity and walk in the moonlight for Bash, this proves to me that it was the right choice.
I know that Nicolas has left this information for me, but why? What does he want me to do with it? My trust for him has plummeted to a new low, he knew something earth shattering about me which he weaponized for himself.
Knocking on my door to get the attention of whomever is lurking out there, I yell, “I need to see Nicolas.” I hope someone’s out there to hear me.
The lock clicks and the door pushes open, revealing a vampire I don’t recognize.
“I would like to see Nicolas,” I repeat.
“No. He has already dismissed you for the evening.”
“Please just ask if I can meet with him?” I all but beg in front of this stranger.
He pulls the door shut in my face and the tumbler of the lock falls back into place.
Dammit!
Lying flat on my back on the bed, I stare up at the coffered ceiling, reflecting on the absurdity of this situation. I’m Ezekiel Devereaux’s daughter, a princess, if they are still observing the laws. I am being treated as a hostile intruder in this place when I suspect it should belong to me. I have to be weary and watch my back, I do not have friends in this court.
The door swings open and the stranger stands there. “Nicolas says you may attend him, he is in his private quarters,” he tells me with an obvious smirk on his face. Gripping my arm tightly, he hauls me down the hall and around the corner. We enter into a new wing, past the staircase, and there are significantly less doors lining this walkway.
He pauses in front of a set of double doors. “Here you go. He's inside. Good luck.” He laughs joylessly as he pivots and stands at the end of the hall.
I grab the handle, twisting it, and push the door open. As soon as my eyes take in the scene awaiting me, I understand what the vampire found so entertaining. There is a very large—larger than I’ve ever seen—bed in the center of the spacious room. It is heavy and dark. Surrounding it are chairs and lounges full of naked people. In the center of the bed is Nicolas, completely naked and lost in the body of a lithe woman who is sitting astride him, gyrating her hips. I can’t see her face but I can hear her exclamations of pleasure. There are five other naked women in the bed in various states of sex—touching, kissing, performing sex acts on one another.
I am immediately sickened by what is happening.
“Hello, Elina. What brings you to visit this evening? Care to join?” Nicolas pats the bed beside him before returning hishand to the hips of the woman he is engaged with. He watches me, his eyes boring into mine before he flips her over onto all fours and begins to roughly pound into her body, her cries drowning out all the other noise coming from the bed.
Nicolas’s movements become faster and more erratic as he stares straight into my eyes before he cries out and collapses across the woman’s back. I tear my gaze away, feeling sick from the sight.
Nicolas begins to laugh. “See something you like, princess, or did you have another reason for stopping by?” His words and mocking tone are such a sharp contrast to the man who was clearly trying to charm me earlier. Him calling me princess cuts deep, knowing the truth.
“I-uh-I wanted to talk about the folder, but clearly I have interrupted–” I wave my hand in the general direction of the debauchery “–something.”
