Aiden’s face reddened, his lips twitching as he obviously tried to reel in his temper. He stood up, his hands gripping the edge of his desk so tightly, his knuckles turned white. “I am nothing like Ingrid. Do not compare me to her. What I did for you, I did because I thought it was the best thing to do. I didn’t want you involved in all this. I wanted you to have a normal, happy life… Something I was deprived of because of the double life I had to live as both a hunter and a businessman.”
I wasn’t in the mood to discuss his shortcomings as a father. “It doesn’t matter. The past is the past. We can’t change it. For now, do you really want to gain my trust?”
He looked relieved and sat back in his seat. “I would do anything to gain your trust, Sofia.”
I raised a brow. “Anything? How about you take me to Derek.”
“I can’t do that and you know it. Even if I could, I wouldn’t know how to find him. I don’t know where the Novak is. He might be at The Shade, but I doubt you’d trust me with that information.”
“So much for anything. Well, if you can’t take me to Derek, then take me to Ingrid. Let me talk to her.”
Aiden gave me a deep look of concern as if he was afraid of what Ingrid could say to me. I realized then that he was trying to protect me from getting hurt by her words. For the first time, I found myself appreciating what it felt like to have a father looking after me. I thought it sad that he could make me feel that way only after a decade. I missed him so much, but it felt like any affection he showed me came too late. At this point, I really just detested how he was butting into my life. Still, I truly hoped that he had my best interest in heart—now and in the past.
“I was never able to control Camilla,” Aiden revealed wistfully. “She had a mind of her own and she was given to a lot of erratic mood swings when we were together. I guess I won’t be able to control you either, will I?”
“You can try, but I think that question is rhetorical.”
“Very well then… I’ll take you to your mother.”
Suddenly I remembered all that I had gone through at The Oasis. Borys’s claws sinking into my thighs, his teeth biting my neck, his hands groping my body… All the while my mother sat back, doing nothing, I swallowed hard. Suddenly, any sense of anticipation I felt about meeting Ingrid faded away and was replaced with pure dread. What exactly am I getting myself into?
CHAPTER 11: DEREK
The Great Dome was the center of all our governmental, judicial and military gatherings. It never failed to remind me of my twin sister, Vivienne, to whom I gave the task of modernizing the dome. She did a brilliant job at it; thus, the place never failed to remind me of her.
At that moment, however, the wave of nostalgia and grief that came with my sister’s passing away at the hands of the hunters wasn’t the only reason I was hesitant to go to the dome. I knew the Elite Council was already waiting there—as I instructed them to. I instinctively knew what I was going to face on arrival: opposition. Truth be told, I was used to that. They weren’t what I was afraid of. Instead, I was afraid of myself, of what I could possibly be capable of doing in case I lost control of my temper.
Neither Sofia nor Vivienne were there to reel me in. Neither of them would be there to remind me that I was capable of goodness. Still, I knew that the council meeting that I had called wasn’t something I could escape from, so when Ashley and Sam, two of Sofia’s closest friends at The Shade, showed up at my penthouse to let me know that Liana instructed them to escort me to the dome, I had no choice but to go.
Thus, I found myself walking along the torch-lit corridors of the Crimson Fortress, climbing up the west tower, standing as high as one hundred and fifty feet. Roofed with pointed cross-arches, the tower was one of the first installments built in the fortress and had already witnessed many battles in defense of the island. The Crimson Fortress, on the other hand, lined the entire island with thick walls and fortified towers.
“What happened, Derek? Where’s Sofia?” Ashley was the youngest vampire at The Shade. She was one of the human teenagers brought for my harem—a sick tradition that somehow developed at The Shade during my four-hundred-year sleep. It involved the abduction of teenagers outside the island to be brought to the Elite as slaves. Among the girls who were brought with Ashley were Sofia and Rosa. Ashley was the only one who willingly chose to be turned into one of us. Still, despite the fact that she was one of my subjects, her sense of familiarity with me never quite left. She never acknowledged me as royalty, but always spoke to me as she would a friend—something I liked about her.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” I answered as I caught sight of the entrance to the dome right ahead of us. I gave Ashley a look before diverting my attention to Sam. “What’s been going on here?”
The two exchanged glances and I could immediately conclude that they were no longer just friends. At least there’s still some good news here. I was aware of Ashley’s affections toward Sam after she blurted out the whole thing to me back at Sofia’s quarters at The Catacombs.
I grinned at both of them as I gave them a knowing nod. Whatever joy I felt for my friends was quickly swept away, however, as I stepped in front of the giant double oak doors of the dome.
A commotion had obviously been happening right before my arrival, but the moment I stepped in, a chilly silence filled the hall. I sped my way toward my seat at the front of the hall.