Page 30 of No One’s Daughter

​The one prophesied about.

​Most vampires liked to believe it would be a male, but a small number of us had always believed it had to be a woman. Because only a woman could break the chain of cruelty under which vampire society currently existed under.

​Valerius clearly knew something was adrift, perhaps he felt the change in energy at her awakening—I’d heard that some powerful true borns were capable of it—and he was looking for her. Who knew what he knew—secrets ran deep in that family.

​“Fuck!” My boot connected sharply with the leg of the table, the impact running out through the room, metal vibrating faintly in response.

​“You need to calm down,” Marlette said, her voice steady, as she moved to lean her hands against the edge of the table, grounding herself in a way I clearly couldn’t. “And we need to get rid of her.”

​“No.” The word came out too quickly. Too certain.

​She stilled. “No?”

​I turned to face her. “Don’t you see it?” I said, my voice lower. “The black hair, the blue eyes, the fucking aura she gives off—”

​I stopped myself short, but it didn’t matter. She was already looking at me differently, the pieces shifting into place as recognition dawned.

​Slowly, her expression changed, and I knew then that she too saw it. I wasn’t imagining it.

​“She can’t be,” she said.

​The same words.

​“But what if she is?”

​Silence fell between us, thick and immediate. Marlette and I looked at each other, the truth weighing on us.

​She was a true born, not turned, not made. Born. Rare didn’t begin to cover it. Not to mention it was obvious where her lineage lay, meaning there was no doubt Valerius’s motive for finding her wasn’t good. If one of them had been hidden for all this time, there had to be a reason for it. Someone else had believed in her too and made sure she wouldn’t be found until she came of age. That alone was enough for me to believe she could change everything.

​But it wasn’t lost on me that if she was who I believed her to be, then she was a blood daughter of my literal enemies. Though I had to admit, it made sense, that family had been in charge for centuries for a reason—they were the strongest. Perhaps the fight really needed to come from within.

None of what came next would be easy.

​Marlette’s expression tightened. “I don’t like this, Davien.”

​“We don’t have any other choice. If she really is who we think she is then she could change everything."

​“I don’t know, if what she says is true, then she thought she was human just days ago. She’s unprepared, untrained and we don’t even know if she holds any power. She doesn’t even understand what she is.”

​“Not yet.”

​I hated how easily I believed in her, she was so naive, innocent even. Yet at the same time, she was alive in a way others could only long for. Her aura was undeniable, I’d been alive long enough now to know what dormant power felt like. It was there, I was sure of it, just beneath the surface. She just needed to access it, and who knew how powerful she’d truly be.

​“And if she never does?” she pressed. “If what she is now is all she'll ever be?”

​I shook my head once, sharp, dismissive. “It isn’t.”

​It couldn’t be.

​“And what if,” she began, her voice more hushed. “What if she is exactly who you think she is, except that they’ve had her this whole time and she’s a spy.”

​I shook my head. “No,” I said. “No, that doesn’t make sense. What would be her purpose here? She’d be far more likely married off to some high lord. What reason would they have had to keep her birth a secret in the first place. Besides, her reactions are too natural, too naïve. She’s so unlike any other vampire I’ve ever met, there’s no way she was brought up around them.”

​Marlette exhaled quietly, but she didn’t argue.

​“I know someone,” I said, already moving again, my thoughts racing ahead of me. “Someone not tied to the Ninth. Discrete. They can test her blood—confirm it.”

​Marlette shook her head “I don’t know.”