are fighting this demon and your problem occurs?”
He would die, and that would be the end of it.
“I will not let you go alone.”
For a moment, Grave thought Antoine had been talking to him, but then he looked at the brunet male and found him staring at his brother, his dark eyebrows drawn down into a determined frown and blue eyes daring Snow to refuse.
Snow huffed. “What about Sera… and the babe?”
Grave could only stare at Antoine as the male looked down at his feet, reeling from what Snow had announced. Antoine had a child and he hadn’t informed the family. If he had, word would have filtered down to him. What reason could Antoine have for keeping the child a secret?
“You have offspring?” he said and Antoine looked across at him.
“A baby girl, and she is none of your business.”
That was rich considering his cousins were determined to get their noses firmly stuck into his private business. What came around, went around. If they wanted to probe into his life, he would probe into theirs.
“Did you inform the family?” He stepped around the desk, directly into line with Antoine.
The look that crossed his face confirmed his suspicions had been correct and Antoine had kept the birth from them.
“Why not?” He ventured a step towards him, curious now. The birth of a child was something to celebrate.
“Sera is elite.” It was Snow who spoke, but Grave couldn’t take his eyes off Antoine as that sank in.
Antoine had muddied their bloodline by mating with an elite vampire, one born of a turned human.
Or worse.
“No… you did not.” He didn’t need to say anymore. The guilty look on Antoine’s face was answer enough.
Antoine hadn’t mated with a vampire born of a turned human parent. He had mated with a turned human.
What was the world coming to?
“Millennia of our family being born of pure blood and you dare to tarnish our name with such a mating?” Grave curled his fingers into fists to stop himself from grabbing Antoine and shaking an answer out of him.
Their family had been held aloft for generations, respected by all, even the other aristocrats.
He could feel it all crumbling around him as he stared at Antoine in disbelief.
“Pure blood that has given us nothing but grief, Grave. Remember that.” Snow stepped in front of Antoine, shielding his younger brother with his formidable build, and Grave looked up into his eyes.
Red ringed them, a reminder that he didn’t need.
He knew first-hand the terrible result of their family’s determination to keep the bloodline pure.
Bloodlust.
The fire that had set alight his blood dwindled and died as he looked at his cousins and thought about everything. His reaction to discovering the mother of Antoine’s child was a turned human was wrong to a degree, a knee-jerk response that was the result of everything his parents and relatives had bred into him during his upbringing, hammering it into his head that keeping the bloodline pure was the most important thing in the world.
His cousins were right.
It wasn’t.
His sister still might have been in his life if it wasn’t for bloodlust. His parents. His uncle. His aunt. Everything he had lost, he had lost it because of that terrible disease.
For the first time in his life, he felt it was a bad thing. Purity had brought them nothing but grief.
Gods, who was he to judge anyway?
He had mated with a phantom.
It was all the more reason to keep it from his family. If they knew… he didn’t want to think about it.
They’d all had the same ideas bred into them, all of them raised to believe that muddying their bloodline was tantamount to a sin.
How would Bastian react if he knew what Grave had done?
“If I do not go with you… it is too dangerous for you to go, Snow.” Antoine’s deep voice, softly laced with worry and affection, pulled Grave from his thoughts.
His younger cousin placed a hand on Snow’s shoulder and Snow turned his head towards him, looking down at him as
He would die, and that would be the end of it.
“I will not let you go alone.”
For a moment, Grave thought Antoine had been talking to him, but then he looked at the brunet male and found him staring at his brother, his dark eyebrows drawn down into a determined frown and blue eyes daring Snow to refuse.
Snow huffed. “What about Sera… and the babe?”
Grave could only stare at Antoine as the male looked down at his feet, reeling from what Snow had announced. Antoine had a child and he hadn’t informed the family. If he had, word would have filtered down to him. What reason could Antoine have for keeping the child a secret?
“You have offspring?” he said and Antoine looked across at him.
“A baby girl, and she is none of your business.”
That was rich considering his cousins were determined to get their noses firmly stuck into his private business. What came around, went around. If they wanted to probe into his life, he would probe into theirs.
“Did you inform the family?” He stepped around the desk, directly into line with Antoine.
The look that crossed his face confirmed his suspicions had been correct and Antoine had kept the birth from them.
“Why not?” He ventured a step towards him, curious now. The birth of a child was something to celebrate.
“Sera is elite.” It was Snow who spoke, but Grave couldn’t take his eyes off Antoine as that sank in.
Antoine had muddied their bloodline by mating with an elite vampire, one born of a turned human.
Or worse.
“No… you did not.” He didn’t need to say anymore. The guilty look on Antoine’s face was answer enough.
Antoine hadn’t mated with a vampire born of a turned human parent. He had mated with a turned human.
What was the world coming to?
“Millennia of our family being born of pure blood and you dare to tarnish our name with such a mating?” Grave curled his fingers into fists to stop himself from grabbing Antoine and shaking an answer out of him.
Their family had been held aloft for generations, respected by all, even the other aristocrats.
He could feel it all crumbling around him as he stared at Antoine in disbelief.
“Pure blood that has given us nothing but grief, Grave. Remember that.” Snow stepped in front of Antoine, shielding his younger brother with his formidable build, and Grave looked up into his eyes.
Red ringed them, a reminder that he didn’t need.
He knew first-hand the terrible result of their family’s determination to keep the bloodline pure.
Bloodlust.
The fire that had set alight his blood dwindled and died as he looked at his cousins and thought about everything. His reaction to discovering the mother of Antoine’s child was a turned human was wrong to a degree, a knee-jerk response that was the result of everything his parents and relatives had bred into him during his upbringing, hammering it into his head that keeping the bloodline pure was the most important thing in the world.
His cousins were right.
It wasn’t.
His sister still might have been in his life if it wasn’t for bloodlust. His parents. His uncle. His aunt. Everything he had lost, he had lost it because of that terrible disease.
For the first time in his life, he felt it was a bad thing. Purity had brought them nothing but grief.
Gods, who was he to judge anyway?
He had mated with a phantom.
It was all the more reason to keep it from his family. If they knew… he didn’t want to think about it.
They’d all had the same ideas bred into them, all of them raised to believe that muddying their bloodline was tantamount to a sin.
How would Bastian react if he knew what Grave had done?
“If I do not go with you… it is too dangerous for you to go, Snow.” Antoine’s deep voice, softly laced with worry and affection, pulled Grave from his thoughts.
His younger cousin placed a hand on Snow’s shoulder and Snow turned his head towards him, looking down at him as
Similar Books
