Xander's POV:

We ate our dinners quicker than usual, it felt.

I finished first, setting my plate on the coffee table and watching her finish off her last couple of bites.

There was a difference in the way she was holding herself.

I never noticed it until now since it was all I'd ever seen from her

No matter how she used to hold herself, her shoulders were always straight. Whether she was just standing, lounging, even leaning forward, her shoulders were always back.

And now as she hovered over her plate, scraping up the remnants with her fork, they fell forward with her.

Like she was just now allowing herself to hunch. To relax completely.

The scent around her was different too.

It was all I could sense from her after her panic and my, well, entirety finally calmed down.

It was... peaceful almost. Not sensing any fear or worry rolling off of her.

A rare occurrence indeed, but this time I was going to make sure that it stuck.

Especially after how she thanked me and the tears she'd only then shown me.

She knew as much as I did how much I meant what I said.

And this look of ease written all over her now... Yeah, I was gonna make sure that stuck too.

A light monetary pressure in my chest was the agreement I needed.

It felt like it had been forever since every part of me was on the same page and acted accordingly when it truly mattered.

It felt nice to finally work with myself again.

To feel like me again.

I had underestimated how freeing that run-in with Layla would be.

Not that it made up for any of the atoning I have yet to do, but it eased my conscience enough to be noticed.

I know that she at least noticed it.

The porcelain clinked against the table as she reached to set her plate beside mine.

"Alright," She sighed out, fully satisfied with her meal, "Spill it."

I found myself smiling as she turned her back to the armrest, staring directly at me for the stories I had promised her while she brought her feet up onto the cushion.

The anticipated curiosity in those wide eyes for the information I would spill if I ever caught sight of her and Layla in the same room again.

"Alright, get comfy," I said, shifting myself to do the same, pausing once her voice rang out.

"Then come here."

I looked at her completely straight face.

Did she just...?

Well... I guess.

There's no way I was just going to say no to that.

She lifted her legs as soon I began to scoot over, glancing at her every second to gauge whether she wanted me to stop or keep going.

Her legs ended up resting with one over the other across my lap, heels falling onto the cushion on the other side of me.

I swallowed through my heart that was beating a little too fast than it should be.

Probably at the fact that she wanted to be close to me now.

That she trusted me.

Although, I did need somewhere to put my hands...

I debated just spreading them back on top of the backrest but that felt awkward.

She wanted to be close, but I still didn't know how comfortable she was with me touching back.

But God how badly I wanted to feel that warmth of hers on my hands again.

My eyes flickered to her again, reading the confusion in hers at my hesitance.

Well, as she said before, if she doesn't like something, she'll tell me.

I lifted my hands from just sitting at my side, and rested them across either side of her knees.

No reaction. Good.

Now get on with the story before she starts to think that you're weird.

"Lady Bronwyn," I began, sighing out the words to gain my thoughts.

There was just... a lot that the family had to deal with and I hadn't yet thought of where to start.

"She married into the title of Lady a little over four hundred years ago, and quickly gave birth to their heir, Adeline, and her second, Evelyn. From there, everything was going well. The city thrived under the new rule and all seemed like it was going well, and that there was nothing but a bright future to come."

I found myself pausing, knowing that what I was about to say had been kept hidden from anyone outside of the family since it happened.

But she had a right to know, I believed.

"But, as it usually goes, a lot more happens behind the facade this royal family put up. Layla never divulged the information to me as to why or how, but without her family's knowledge, the Lady had fallen in love with another man."

Not that I blame her, honestly.

From what I've heard from my parents, the Bronwyn's have rarely had successes in their marriages.

"No one really knows how long she and this man would sneak away under the nose of everyone else, but four decades after the birth of their second daughter, she allowed herself to be pregnant again."

I felt my stomach turn as the words left my mouth.

She had to have known what the consequences of having that child would be.

Royal genes were so sensitive and delicate. So easy to mess up.

And yet so easy not to if you just stuck with your royal counterpart.

Lady Bronwyn wasn't born into royalty, the knowledge of royal biology is only kept between us, so maybe no one told her.

Or maybe that's just what I wanted to think.

Otherwise choosing to have kids with this other man was just a cruel testament of her love to him.

"With that other guy's kid?" Doe spoke up, the look on her face showing me that she was already engrossed.

I nodded.

"Lucien was born not long after, everyone believing that the kid was Lord Bronwyn's kid since there was no reason to think anything else. The signs proving otherwise didn't start showing themselves in Lucien until Layla was born only a year later, another child that wasn't the Lord's."

I guess Lady Bronwyn believed that she had gotten away with it until then.

I sank back into the cushions with a sigh, staring up at the roof while my fingertips idly rubbed against her legs.

"The thing with royal kids is that there's a system to them. Each child born from a royal has a set amount of that gene that connects them deeper to the power in our instincts, and it decreases with each kid born. By the fourth kid, it's almost too little to even count."

As a second-born heir myself, I think I just empathized with this too much.

"Our bodies are created in the womb specifically to be able to handle that set amount and nothing more. So when Lucien was born, he was consecutively the third born on his royal mother's side and the firstborn to his father's. But since the royal gene was present, and it dominates most other things, there's a part of his biology convinced that he's the true heir."

This poor kid...

"The 'set amount' he was born with as a third-born overflowed with the part of him that's a first-born, and his body fights him constantly trying to decide which one to be, forcing the power of an heir into a body that will never be able to handle it."

I wish I knew more details. I've always wanted to ask, but it just never felt... appropriate.

"With Layla, it's a little different. Being both the second and fourth, it's not nearly as bad, but she struggles with it differently. I don't know why the vampiric side of her works this way, but instead of constantly fighting it like her brother does, her vampirism just simply rarely if ever agrees with her unless she's had fresh blood," according to her. there's no back and forth fight to try to get it to work, it just simply doesn't no matter what she tries, "Without it, she can't do much. Her advanced senses are rendered useless, and her speed and strength can only be used a few seconds per day."

"Is that why hiding from her worked? And that time you told me to pretend to be asleep?"

My head rolled to the side to face her as she pieced all of this together.

I'm glad she was understanding. I know that vampirism, especially the royal kind, can be confusing, and I wanted to make sure that I was explaining it correctly.

"As well as overpower her strength," I added.

Her face contorted for a half-second at the memory of that.

"So uh, what happened to the lady then?" She pressed.

"After the signs of his struggle started to show in Lucien after Layla was born, I guess Lord Bronwyn figured out what his suffering stemmed from," My eyes returned to the roof, "Usually in such a case, the children would be killed. Both as a twisted mercy to the vampires that shouldn't have had to live in those conditions, and because if word got out, the royal family's reputation would be shredded down into nothing."

It was the main reason why male heirs never slept around with female vampires.

With the chance that the female would purposefully keep the child, either trapping the prince into marriage or leaving him to figure out how to rid the world of the broken heir to be.

It was a sick game to try and play and one that neither me nor Nico ever wanted to risk.

"But since the city had already celebrated the birth of Layla and Lucien, Lord Bronwyn was stuck. He had to keep them alive and keep the guise that they were his to save himself from his own downfall. It still came in a different way when less than a month later, Lady Bronwyn fled."

"Fled?!" Doe started, her tone showing me that she was very invested, "She just up and left?!"

"Indeed she did, leaving him with two infants that weren't his. No one knows where she ran off to. Lords and Ladies cant physically leave their territory until the title gets passed on, so she has to be hiding somewhere in the city. Lord Brownyn has every resource necessary to hunt her down, but he just never has."

The air fell quiet as what I knew came to its end, head falling back down towards her.

Her brows pressed together as she let it all sink in.

"Damn. Well, yeah, I can see why that would be important not to be shared with others," she remarked.

I shrugged, "It's all up to her on whether or not it gets shared,"

There was an unfamiliar, almost mischievous smile rising on her face.

It looked like now knowing the weight of the information I help brought something to light in her.

"I never thought you were the type to play dirty like that." She grinned.

"She played dirty first. I just did what I had to to keep what I care about safe."

There was a hitch in that look on her face, a widening in her eyes, and a slight drop in her jaw after my words.

"What?" I asked, "I've told you I care about you before."

"I know, I just," She stammered, shaking her head, "Thank you... again I-"

She paused again, and I felt the shiver that ran through her body, her knees moving just slightly right after.

Which then made me become extremely aware of where my hands had mindlessly migrated to amidst my storytelling.

My left hand had somehow made its way down to skim around the underside of her calf, meanwhile, my right had been tracing back and forth across the side of her thigh.

Thankfully it seemed I didn't stray too far from her knee with that one.

I removed my hands immediately, lifting them a few inches above her legs.

The pads of my fingers were still warm from the contact.

And now were my cheeks.

Great.

"How long have I been doing that?" I squeaked.

Against everything that I thought may happen, she laughed, the sound radiating the same sweet honey her eyes showed me.

"A few minutes. I know you have an inability to hold still, that's just the first time I've seen you do that."

My lips formed a thin line.

Her reaction was... better than I thought it would be, but I still kept my same awkward position while I thought of a response.

Eventually, she just rolled her eyes.

"Put your hands back down, Xander, you're making the weirder than this needs to be."

I followed the orders given to me, making sure that they stayed still this time.

"So uh... Dessert?" I questioned to direct us away from that topic.

A different smile rose from her at my obvious attempt.

"Duh."

~~~

A/N: Congrats you've now completed all the prerequisites needed to read Lucien's book!