Eli Lazaroff, usually the presider of all of our council meetings, took his place at the stand, in the middle of the dome. He cleared his throat as he faced me. “Your highness…” He bowed his head in reverence and uncomfortably shuffled on his feet. I could tell that he was unsure how to bring up all the issues that had been brewing at The Shade since I had left to rescue Sofia.
“Oh, for crying out loud…” Felix stood to his feet and began walking toward the stand. “May I please take the stand?”
I inwardly groaned as I gave him a go signal with one nod toward Eli, who promptly left the stand to give Felix the platform he was demanding.
“With all due respect, Derek, I need to be straight with you,” he began. “You may be savior of The Shade—none of us can take that away from you. We owe you this kingdom and its establishment. We bled with you and fought alongside you, but how can we continue to serve under your rule when we are uncertain of your loyalties toward not only this kingdom, but to all vampires in general?”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re questioning my loyalty to The Shade and to our kind? Do you not remember the prophecy and how I am to bring our kind true sanctuary? How could I turn my back on vampires when my life’s purpose is to save us?”
“It’s hard for us to believe that you will remain true to this prophecy. Not after you were instrumental in the ruin of The Oasis and the Maslens. Not after you stepped into hunter territory and came out unscathed—just walked away from them without as much as a scratch. Did you or did you not work with the hunters to destroy The Oasis in order to rescue the woman you love?”
It felt like I was being tried for a crime I did not commit—by a subordinate of mine at that. I straightened in my seat, swallowing back my rising temper, shutting my eyes for a moment in order to remember who I was when I was with Sofia. My hands were gripping my seat’s armrests even as I struggled to push away the darkness overtaking me.
“I did not work with the hunters to take down The Oasis. At the time of their attack, I was being held prisoner by Borys Maslen. I was in chains, being tortured. If it weren’t for Sofia, I never would’ve made it out of there.” I deliberately kept out the fact that my very own brother, Lucas, was also there inflicting pain on me. He died during the hunter attack on The Oasis, and despite his hatred toward me, part of me grieved his loss. “Use your common sense please. Why on earth would the hunters ever trust me enough to work with me?”
“Why else would they treat you as a guest in their territory and let you prance out of there alive?” Felix shrugged. “Isn’t it because your beloved Sofia is the daughter of one of the head hunters? She’s the daughter of the notorious leader of the hunters, Reuben, is she not?”
I wet my lips as I grasped for a proper response. “How exactly do you even know of all of this, Felix?”
A tense hush filled the dome when the doors swung open and a prominent figure at The Shade stepped inside.
I’d always known my father as having a flair for the dramatic, but I never could’ve predicted that he’d be back in The Shade before me, and from the reactions of my allies, it seemed they weren’t aware either. Gregor Novak entered the dome, cued by my question, to take his place beside Felix at the stand. “I told him everything, son. It’s your word against mine now.”
“You know that I never worked with the hunters.”
My father shook his head. “I’m not so sure about that. In fact, I haven’t been very sure of your actions as of late. None of us are. You’ve elevated the standing of every human of The Shade. You left the island to save one human girl from the Maslens. You stayed with the hunters for weeks. I think we deserve answers.”
Just like that, reality sank in—not only to me, but to everyone present there. The king of The Shade was now on trial.
CHAPTER 12: SOFIA
Upon my request, Aiden agreed to have Ingrid brought to my suite rather than to have me brought to wherever they were keeping her. I felt safer in my own turf than in hers, and it seemed Aiden felt better with that arrangement too.
“You summoned me?”
Wanting to end the conversation as soon as I possibly could, I got straight to the point. “Why am I immune? What does being ‘the immune’ mean for me?”
She sighed and smiled at me, her eyes looking at me with what almost seemed like affection. She then shrugged her right shoulder. “I don’t know, Sofia. You should be a Maslen, a beautiful nine-year-old vampire, but you’re not and I will never understand why. All I know was that the moment he tasted your blood, Borys has been absolutely obsessed with you.”
“Why? What’s in my blood?”
“I’m curious myself,” she admitted before looking hungrily at my neck. “Perhaps you should let me have a taste so that I could find out for myself?…I’m sorry. Bad joke.” A moment of silence then ensued as she eyed me with what almost looked like longing. “You must have so many questions. How have you been, Sofia? I’ve been overhearing whispers about Derek disappearing…”
A lump formed in my throat at the mention of Derek. I wasn’t sure I wanted to talk to Ingrid—or anyone else for that matter—about him. I ached with longing at the very mention of his name.
“You miss him, don’t you?” Ingrid continued, perhaps realizing that she hit a note with what she had just said. “I understand how you feel.”