Eleni licked her lips. “I’m willing to enter a new settlement with Zander Rubio if the dishonor against my name, and the shame it has brought my bloodline is forgiven and stricken from the records,” Eleni told him with practiced sincerity. “I will forgive Rubio of his abuse of me, and I will be satisfied to release him from the council’s previous punishment on my behalf…on one condition.”
“You dirty bitch! You lying, rotting, cunt, you—”
Eleni jumped at the sudden outburst, then stared in shock as a scuffle broke out at Rubio’s end of the table. The council watched, deadpan from their seats as four powerful vampires grabbed ahold of Rubio and forced him down, held him there until he stilled and his representative convinced him to be quiet.
Finally, after several minutes, they wrestled him back into his seat, and clamped a hand over his mouth in warning. He seethed at her in silence, glaring malevolent hatred at her. Eleni met his gaze without flinching. When she looked at him, she felt nothing. Any feelings she might have felt for him in the past were dead. Looking at him now was like revealing the horror behind a nightmare. Without the mystery and darkness behind the caricature, she was no longer afraid. When at last Rubio was calm enough to continue, she turned fearless, determined eyes directly at Vidam Grigori.
“Please continue, Ms. Audridov. What is your condition of acceptance?” asked the Elder.
“No one should have to live for centuries alone,” she told him levelly, “but hell could freeze over, and still I wouldn’t consent for Zander Rubio to have a harem again. Allow him to choose a bloodmate, instead. If he can find someone to love his black heart, then let her have him. But it shouldn’t be anyone from Acolyte stock. Give him a vampiress to deal with. Let him enter the blood bond with someone who is his equal and a match to his power. He’ll be able to further his bloodline, and it will ensure he won’t be able to treat her the way he has treated the Acolytes that were under his care in the past.”
“That would satisfy your grievance with him?” Vidam asked for the record.
“I’ll accept nothing less.”
Grigori Vidam added her response into the Book of Acolytes, then looked to his right, down the table at Rubio, who still hadn’t taken his hateful eyes off of Eleni. “Monsieur Rubio, would Madame Audridov-Sévigné’s offer satisfy your grievance with her? I would advise you to think about it carefully.”
“Allow me a moment’s council with my brother,” Liev Sidorov said from the end of the table. Eleni had not even realized he was there. Beside her, she felt Julian stiffen, and she squeezed his hand, bidding him to be silent.
Sidorov and Rubio argued heatedly in Russian for several minutes until Vidam tired of waiting, and demanded an answer. The argument between brothers quickened until Sidorov threw his hands up in impatience and gave Rubio what sounded like a curt warning. Once again, Rubio looked down the table and glared at Eleni. She could see it in his eyes. He wished a painful death on her with every breath she took, but when finally he turned to the Elder, he relented. “My grievance will be satisfied.”
“Then it is done,” Vidam said. “Unless there is a reason the Elders of the council feel justice hasn’t been served this night, I declare a settlement has been reached.” No challenged the decision. “Very well, since all parties are satisfied, the new agreement stands.”
Eleni hadn’t felt the need to cry until that moment, but when she saw Vidam write his judgment into the archival book, she felt as though she had been set free after a lifetime of captivity. A sob burst forth, then tears of joy. She turned to Julian, who accepted her with open arms. But his face was still stern, still fixed on Rubio scowling at them from the opposite end of the table.
“I would like to add one more thing—as a footnote,” Julian said in a voice stern enough to silence the murmurs that had begun to pass up and down the table. Eleni pulled back at looked at him. Every eye on the room watched him, but he was focused, fixed on no one but his bride’s enemy.
“Continue,” Grigori said gravely.
Julian’s voice dropped to a deadly timbre. “I wish it to be known that if any person from Zander Rubio’s bloodline—that includes anyone acting at his discretion, or at the discretion of one of his
representatives
—should ever approach my bloodmate, or any person that falls under the umbrella of our combined familial lines again, I will consider it a breach of this agreement. Make no mistake, I will declare a blood feud if we are approached again.” He leveled his gaze on Zander, who watched him with a hooded expression. “Should it come to that, I will not rest until I kill the source of the breach with my bare hands and bury his bones in my vineyard. As Eleni’s other half, that is my solemn vow.” He turned his head to look at Grigori. “Write that in your record book, and leave it unsealed.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
They returned to the Sévigné townhouse after the hearing, which had dispersed in tense silence after Julian’s final statement. Rubio’s representatives, his relatives, had rushed from the apartment after the dismissal, perhaps anticipating violence.
Eleni knew Julian believed Sidorov—and Rubio, at least, indirectly—was partly responsible for destroying his housekeeper, his familial home, and Gisele’s fragile existence. But, at the same time, he placed much of the blame on himself as well.
Eleni understood his reasoning, even if she didn’t agree with it. Hoping to comfort him, she sent soothing thoughts to connect with his, to embrace him and let him know that she was there for him, no matter what. It was finished. The hearing was over, and for the living, at least, justice had been served. They were very lucky.
Eleni was free, her bloodline was safe, and Rubio could never touch her again. Without that ax hanging over her head, she felt as though the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders. Still, it was a surreal feeling knowing she no longer had ties to Rubio. The past was just that—the awful past. Now, she could focus on her love for Julian, and begin to rebuild her life…as his vampiress.
“It doesn’t feel real to you yet,” Julian observed from behind her. Until he spoke, she hadn’t realized he’d come outside.
She turned away from comforting view of quiet, cobbled Rue du Broc to face him. “It almost seems like a dream,” she admitted. “I’ve been a prisoner for so long. First to Rubio, then to my illness, then the council—” A lump formed in her throat. She gazed at him, tears pricking her eyes.
Her fingers were still wrapped around one of the
fleur de lis
on top of the iron guardrails when he started across the terrace to her, his crisp white shirt unbuttoned to the waist. From somewhere in the townhouse, a faint melody drifted out to her.
La Vie En Rose
.
Her heart brimmed with love for him. Whenever she felt his presence, or saw his face, she felt safe, like she had found her true home, and it was by his side. Right when she needed him most, when the emotion spilled over into tears on her cheeks, he was there, pulling her into his arms. Soothing her with comforting words, words of devotion and love. Her Julian—her immortal lover. She couldn’t help but marvel at him, and feel blessed by fate. Despite all her failings, she had her vampire husband, who looked at her with love and trust, as though he believed she was worth fighting for.
“Because you are,
mon amour
,” he whispered, reading her thoughts. “If you still aren’t convinced how much I love you, I suppose I have no choice but to spend the rest of the night proving my devotion to you.” Eleni glimpsed his wicked smile a split second before he bowed his head to her, and captured her lips in a tender kiss.
Author Bio
Cora Zane lives in an area of northern Louisiana known as “out in the sticks”. Her daily life largely involves sweating over the small stuff while chasing after her husband and two kids. A weary servant to a spoiled diva dog, Cora writes whenever she can, loves to blog, and is easily distracted by sparkly things. If you want to know more about Cora, you can find her online at various social networking sites, or you can visit her website directly at
www.corazane.com
.