The ability to render a roomful of pompous vampire noblemen and women speechless was a skill only possessed by the legendary. Nicholae must have just joined their ranks and all he said was 'Valentina Alexis is alive and she's my wife.'
Even Sonya sat at the head of the table with her mouth agape.

Nicholae looked at his parents and they too had nothing to say.
They could try and laugh but he had his marriage certificate being passed around the table. Fauna did the honors.

'Isn't it cool? I have a mother now.' Niko happily reported.
It was as though his voice penetrated the spell that had them at a loss for words. Franc, Nicholae's uncle and Gregor's father, stood up in an outrage.
'Didn't I tell you Ivan that it was your son who would shame this family.'

'Do you intentionally do this?' Linda asked her son. 'Do you just wake up and ask yourself 'How can I make everyone else's lives miserable?''
His mother left her seat and placed several slaps on his face.

'What Have you done you piece of shit.' Those were his father's encouraging words.

'I fell in love and I wanted to be happy.' He answered happily despite the churning in his belly. The moment he'd feared for most of his life was finally unraveling before him. The fear of his family's reaction and possible rejection was the reason he had to keep his love for Valentina a secret all those years ago.

'Bullshit.' Ivan spat.
'What you've done is you've broken so many laws. You married outside of your race. This is not the Tchkovsky way!'

'Also, you brought someone back from the dead. The Coven will not be pleased.' Another one of his relatives added.
And she was right. The Coven would want to have words with him and with Valentina. Nicholae hadn't glanced over that fact. He wouldn't tell them he wasn't the one who brought her back from the dead, the mystery would bring its own world of trouble.

'It wasn't him. It was his stupid pet.' Linda pointed at Fauna who was still in the room.
Nicholae quickly blocked his mother from laying her claws on Fauna.

'She did no such thing, mama.' That was the truth.
'She didn't know about any of this.' A Blatant lie but necessary. He wouldn't take anyone down with him.

Linda pushed him away from her.
'You're an imbecile.' She cried.
'My only child had to be a complete waste. Where did I go wrong?' She asked in tears.
Nicholae stopped himself from apologizing to his mother. No matter how terrible their relationship was, he still loved her. But this time her tears wouldn't pull him in.

'We're finished.' Sonya stood up.
She had everyone speechless again.
'What are you saying? I don't recall reaching a conclusion.' Franc protested.

'Nicholae is the only one who can resolve this since he brought this upon us.' She then spoke directly to him.
'You either absolve the marriage or leave the manor.' Sonya's face was impassive.

'You're going to disown him? You can't do that!' Linda surprisingly objected.
For so long she'd threatened Nicholae with disowning him but now she didn't want to. She should be celebrating.

'As the matriarch of this household, I believe I can. Or would you like to join him?'
Linda went silent but she looked at her husband, begging him to say something.

'You can take a few days in reaching your decision. I will be patient.'
With her exit, everyone else dispersed.
'I didn't like this place anyway.' Niko stuck his tongue out at the door Sonya had exited.

Fauna took the courage and touched her Lord's shoulders.
'Fauna go to the library and prepare, you are going to be with Danielle until you figure out how to save Osei. Take my car, You leave tonight.'

'But My Lord...'
She bit her lips.

'Don't worry about me Fauna. I'll be fine.'
She nodded and left the room.

Niko followed his father to his room were Rex was already waiting.
Erik probably led the dog into his room.

Speaking of the devil, the butler soon came knocking.
'Sonya wants a word.'
He bet she did.

'Rex, watch Niko, he's your responsibility now.'

The walk to Sonya's wing felt like a march to the gallows.

'Where is she?'
Sonya fired her question as the door opened. She could at least wait till he got his foot inside.

'That shouldn't be your concern.'
Sonya slammed her hands on her desk.
'Nicholae, this is not the time to play around. I was serious back there.'

Well he hadn't thought otherwise.
'Where did you take her? The Coven wants to know, they want to talk to her.'

'You mean interrogate her.'
They would likely harass her with questions and place unwarranted accusations against her.

'That's their right. She joined the Coven the moment she agreed to becoming a guardian.'

'Well she's my wife and she has the protection of the Tchkovsky name.'

'That wont mean a damn thing when you're disowned.'

He tried taking a calming breath but his increasing heart rate wasn't listening.
Are you going to take this?' Asked the voice in his head.
No, he wasn't going to.
'You want to disown me fine, I won't go down silently. I'm sure you can figure a way to make everybody happy. Now, If you're finished.' He bowed ready to take his leave.

'Have you gone mad?'

'Yes! Yes, I have. The last time I listened to any of you I ended up making the woman I love miserable. I became miserable.' He was yelling in the top of his lungs and the tears threatened to fall when he thought about what he'd put Valentina through.

He should have stood up a long time ago. Better late than never.

'If you want to play the misery card one more time, you might want to think about it Sonya. I have more ammunition this time. Get back to me in a day or so. By then we should all have reached a decision.'

Nicholae brushed past Erik who had the door ready for him.
'My Lord.' Erik stopped him some yards away.
'Do not forget who she is and what she's done for you.'

'Go and help her lick her wounds I'm sure you'll enjoy it.'
Nicholae walked away.

'My Lord.' A young servant bowed in greeting her voice made him stop and turn to her.
He'd never seen her before she was wearing crimson and gold, the formal colors of a Tchkovsky witch.

'My name is Lily.' She offered as if reading his mind.
She stood straight allowing him to really see her features.
She was very pretty with her long hair.

Witch.

'It's a pleasure finally meet you. I've heard a lot of good things.'
He scoffed. Not from his family.
She looked surprised at his response to her comment.

'I'm sure you have. You can get on to what you were doing.'

But as he moved towards his room, she followed him.

'I'm sorry, is there something you need from me?'

She smiled innocently.
'Now that you mention it My Lord, I do.'

She unceremoniously grabbed him by the hand and dragged him into an unused broom closet.

She whispered something into his ear.
'Wha...?' But there was that cramp again stopping him from completing the question.

'Are you okay my Lord?' The concerned voice seemed so far away.
His vision turned spotty and then dark.

'My Lord?'
She tentatively touched his shoulder.

'Don't touch me.'
The demon was back in control.
'What are you doing, huh?'

'Drawing you out of course. We have much to discuss.' She told him.

'Did the mistress send you here?'

She nodded.
'A few of our people here were starting to lose faith, I came here to help them find it once more.'

He scrutinized her with a heavy dose of distrust.
She sounded dubious in the way she spoke and carried herself.
'Are you sure you aren't here on another fool plan? This wouldn't be the first time.'

She only flipped her hair and smiled sweetly. 'I learned my lesson the first time.'

'So what does the mistress want?'

'What do you know?'
Should he tell her everything or wait and tell the mistress himself so he didn't have to share in the reward.
'Nicholae successfully retrieved the girl and another witch and has brought them to the valley.'

'I knew I should have gone.' She cursed under her breath.

'I'm guessing you told her about his little expedition.'

She proudly nodded. 'But she wouldn't trust that I could be of use there. See how well Juniper did. Pathetic.'

'She was delicious.' He unhelpfully added awarding him with a disgusted glare from Lily.

'Do you know where they are?'
He shook his head.
'It's somewhere in wolf territory and your Lord here doesn't know yet.'
She slumped her shoulders.

'What else did you find out?'

'You should have heard by now, the witch Valentina is alive.'

Lily knew the news should have impacted her more, after all that was a name Tiana often mentioned when counting her successes but it didn't. Still that was news the mistress would want to hear.
'Is that all?' She asked.

'Yes.' He said with a straight face.
The last news he would keep for later, after he'd spoken to Jeffery. That reminded him.
'I want a spell that can help me talk to someone without anyone hearing the conversation. Maybe connect someway in a dream.'

'I'm not your servant, Demon.' She snorted.

'Bitch, here, you work for me. You also don't want the mistress questioning why your cover was blown so quickly.'

She growled at his threat which held some weight.

'And don't play any games, witch.' He warned her.

'I'm not stupid to sabotage you.'

He couldn't know if that were true enough, she already proved stupid.

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