Please Note: If you hate the idea of it never happened that way or a cliffhanger ending. Please don’t read past Chapter 153. Ragnar, you can’t do this. I know the timeline is altered and I understand it could have devastating consequences. But we can’t go around using magic to change things back the way they should have been. I’m sure things have changed like this before, and you didn’t do anything then.” “It’s out of my hands. The Dragon Council is sitting right now discussing this issue. I’ve got no say in it beyond my report. If they feel everything that’s happened must be changed, then that’s what will happen. It’s a last resort. But Maximus Lioness isn’t the vampire who should have that name. Something went wrong there, and that’s just one problem with the timeline, as you call it, is wrong. Adriana and George shouldn’t be in the positions they are in. All the things that happened to Adriana weren’t supposed to happen. Her mother shouldn’t be h
Adriana Gervais, third daughter of the Emperor of the Vampiric Empire, was a mouthful for anyone to say. Privately, anyone who knew her called her Ana, because it fit her better. At six feet talk with a wild mane of auburn hair and skin that glowed under moonlight, she wasn’t someone that needed an impressive name or title. Ana wasn’t delicate like her sisters or mother in appearance. No, she was the spitting image of the female form of her father, Emperor Franco Centauri Gervais, the Emperor of the Vampiric Empire, the Blood Demon Himself. Ana’s claim to fame was her personality because it didn’t go with her appearance at all. She’d cultivated it like that. It was a protest against everything her mother and sisters were. The heir was Ana’s sister, Tatiana Gervais, and don’t you dare call Tatiana, Ana, that was criminal? Highly insulting to Tatiana and her delicate nature. That explanation always made Ana snicker. Her eldest sister was a crazed vipe
Ana was too tired right now to fight and if this Count was coming with multiple eligible sons, her mother would insist, she be there. “I just got back from a training session, a rather long one, and now you want me to rush around to get ready for a dinner with yet more strangers who couldn’t be bothers to come to a party you set for a week ago? Oh right, he wants to impress our father for some favour, doesn’t he? So now we have to trot out looking all cute and fake to play host to his sons, too.”“Adriana, you might not be in a hurry to find a decent life partner, but I’m more than ready. Now stop being a bitter old maid and chop chop. Get a move on, father doesn’t have to allow Count Saint Germane this time, and if you dare to embarrass us this time, I won’t protect you from father’s wrath.” Tatiana’s nasally voice penetrated the bathroom through the open door. It was an annoying experience, being unable to get any privacy whatsoever when changing.“Of course, mother claims they are
George was called up through the ranks of the Royal Guards, fairly quickly. He excelled at what he did and succeeded at almost everything they tasked him to do. He’d been here a month now and worked his butt off to make a good impression on his seniors. But he had one difficulty that he didn’t dare tell anyone about. How distracting it was for him to train a short distance away from the youngest daughter of the Emperor. He could watch her move for hours. No one had caught him yet, or guessed that he’d love to take a taste of her. The mental images of what he wanted to do to her were more than pornographic. They were downright sinful, and he suspected they’d both enjoy them. George knew that would never happen. She may train here, but she was not of the Guardian caste. He must remember that. There would be nothing between them ever, there couldn’t be. Her father forbade a long time ago, with a punishment of death for anyone who found their life partn
“It’s about time you arrived, Adriana. I see your mother found you and you’re ready for our guests.” “Yes, your Eminence.” Ana remembered only once calling him father, and it hadn’t gone well with him. Their relationship wasn’t intimate at all. If anything, he tolerated her presence. Ana didn’t remember a time when he’d even touched her, let alone hugged or kissed her. She received no words of praise or affection at all. She felt like she could have been anyone or no one to him. Was she bitter? No, jealous of others who could turn to their family in times of need. Yes, she was. It was another reason she didn’t fight for her place to learn how to be the ruler of the Vampiric Empire. To her, the Empire could fall tomorrow, and she would sigh a sigh of relief. Why was the guard looking at her like that? She wasn’t used to men looking at her like they wanted to eat her up. It was flattering and uncomfortable at the same time. Well,
Adriana watched Edgar calmly pick up a few things from his desk, give her a quick bow of respect before he too shuffled after her father. Now, she wasn’t alone with the new guard. Damit! She was stuck with him from now on, a bodyguard who would harm her. No one in their right mind would come after her. She wasn’t even an afterthought because her sisters took the spotlight all the time. Which was fine for Ana. She even let them think it hurt her. She didn’t want that at all. But she fully expected her father to ignore her petition for this position. Was she that much trouble around here and a reminder of how useless a third child was to his grand scheme of things that he needed to remove her from everything she knew? Oh, did she have daddy issues and none of them were fun in the least? She sighed heavily and looked at the thick folder in her hands. She had less than two days to review this folder, meet her staff, entourage, and now security. Then get
It was all in the portfolio. Someone compiled this very well for the Emperor, and she could almost see the fear in the person’s soul as they put pen to paper while laying this out. Now she needed to get the interviews done to know whether she could trust them. Ana knew she could work with people, but that didn’t mean she would trust them. That was all part of the Vampiric court. Backstabbing was everyone’s specialty, and she doubted it would differ from where she was going. Well, at least, among her staff. Someone would be charged with getting the dirt on her and telling the Emperor. Another would do the same thing for her mother. They would leave Ana in the dark about it until she did something unforgivable. Speaking of doing something unforgivable, what was she to do about that walking tasty treat of man the Emperor put in control of her safety? She highly doubted he put them together to encourage them to play with each other in the manner she was s
There was no way he could stay in the room without him doing something completely foolish. They also were running out of time, and he didn’t want the emperor to become upset with his incompetence. “Alright, just don’t tell anyone that I changed them. Poor Mary had so much to clean up in here. My mother can be so thoughtless at times. Well, I guess there’s an end in sight for that. Once we leave here, I won’t have to deal with her or my sisters. You didn’t hear me say that, understand? I shouldn’t be telling any of this to you at all.” George held the door open for Ana and she stepped from her apartment. “Next time, I believe you need to stay outside of my apartments. It doesn’t look right if you enter with me and we’re alone.” She said to him after she ensured there was no one in the corridor to see them both exiting her apartments. “I understand. We will work this one out in time. All you need to do is bring any of your concerns to me and we can fin