Filed to story: Two Vampire Brides (Vera & Lucien) Book PDF Free
“You couldn’t help yourself. The moment you found out she was the Vampire King’s daughter, it’s like you lost every ounce of sense in your head. You’re obsessed.”
“I’m not obsessed,” I said, jaw tightening.
“Then what are you?” she snapped. “Because you sure as hell aren’t mine anymore.”
“I never belonged to you.”
Her face fell for a moment, just enough to sting, but then she snapped back, louder.
“You can’t let her go, can you? Even after everything. Even after she rejected you in front of the entire court!”
I turned and walked away again.
“Don’t walk away from me!” she shouted.
But I did.
Because I couldn’t explain it to her or myself why I felt this way. I couldn’t explain why Vera’s voice haunted my dreams. Not the way my chest burned like a brand where the blood bond used to live. Broken, yes-but still echoing, still thrashing in the hollow space it left behind.
I barely made it three steps into the west wing when I saw my mother, Lady Vela.
Standing in the hallway with a glass of something dark and expensive in her hand, her lips already pulling into that calculating smile I knew too well.
“Lucien,” she said, tilting her head, “how was your… meeting?”
I blew out a breath. “I was thrown out.”
Her eyes widened. “What?”
“I tried to speak with Vera. I didn’t even get past ten words before the guards dragged me out like a common criminal.”
Lady Vela stared at me, stunned for half a heartbeat.
Then her face changed, charged with fury.
“They escorted you out?” she asked coldly. “Publicly?”
I nodded.
“In front of the conclave?”
“Yes.”
She laughed once, short and sharp. “Oh, that girl has grown fangs, hasn’t she?”
“I told you,” I muttered, “she’s changed.”
Lady Vela took a sip from her glass, thoughtful now.
“You know,” she said slowly, “this could be… fixed.”
My brows drew together. “Fixed?”
She smiled.
And I immediately didn’t like the way her eyes glinted when she said, “I have a plan.”
I exhaled, wary. “What kind of plan?”
She stepped closer, her voice dropping low. “Blackmail might not be enough now. We have to kill her.”
The words hit me like ice water.
“What? No,” I said immediately, stepping back. “Absolutely not.”
She laughed, waving her glass like I’d just told a joke.
“I’m serious, Mother.”
“So am I,” she replied, far too calmly. “If we can’t control her, we remove her.”
“She’s the Vampire King’s daughter.”
“All the more reason,” she said. “Do you have any idea what that kind of power means if it falls into the wrong hands? Or worse, stays in hers?”
“She was ours.”
“Not anymore.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “I can’t believe you just said that. You want to assassinate her because I was thrown out? What good will that do?”
She shrugged. “It wouldn’t be difficult. She trusts too easily. You just need to be close enough-“
“I said no.”
Her expression hardened. “Nobody humiliates my children and walks away unscathed.”
“Mother, listen to yourself. You’re talking about murdering the Blood Princess.”
“I’m talking about protecting our bloodline,” she said, her voice deadly quiet. “About protecting our territory. About protecting you.”
“From what?”
“From yourself!” she snapped. “You think I don’t see what’s happening? You think I don’t know you’re destroying yourself over a girl who cast you aside?”
“That’s not-“
“It is exactly what’s happening,” she interrupted. “You’re obsessed with her. You’re making mistakes. You’re compromising everything we’ve built here.”
“I’m trying to fix what I broke.”
“Some things can’t be fixed, Lucien. Some things need to be eliminated.”
I stared at her, horror creeping up my spine. “You’re talking about murder.”
“I’m talking about survival.”
“Whose survival?”
“Ours. The coven’s. The bloodline’s.”
“And if King Aldric finds out?”
She smiled coldly. “He won’t. Not if it’s done right.”
“Done right?” I repeated. “Mother, you’re talking about killing his daughter. His heir. Do you have any idea what that would mean for us? For Shadowmere?”
“It would mean we’re no longer at the mercy of a girl who thinks she’s better than us.”
“She doesn’t think that.”
“Doesn’t she? She had you thrown out like garbage, Lucien. She humiliated you in front of the most powerful vampires in the realm.”
Her words landed like daggers in my stomach.
“That doesn’t justify murder.”
“Doesn’t it?” she asked, tilting her head. “She hurt you. She rejected you. She made you look weak.”
“Because I was weak!”
The words exploded out of me before I could stop them.
Mother’s eyes widened slightly.
“I was weak,” I said again, quieter now. “I let them treat her like she was nothing. I stood by and watched while they broke her down. I chose my reputation over her heart.”
“And now you want to throw away everything for her?”
“I want to make it right.”
“There is no making it right,” she said firmly. “There is only moving forward. And moving forward means removing obstacles.”
“Vera is not an obstacle.”
“She is to you. She’s keeping you from thinking clearly. From seeing what needs to be done.”