“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, she’d probably had to do to something to dissuade him from doing anything stupid. Ana didn’t remember his face from around the palace. He must be new. Well, if he’s going to make a nuisance of himself, at least he’s got a pretty face.
She was half smiling as her father continued talking to her. “I have decided since you are gung-ho on not finding a life partner in the foreseeable future. I won’t stop your mother’s search. It keeps her busy and out of my hair. You will act as the new ambassador to the North American Ruling Council. That means you will sit on the Council and represent our interests in all of this.”
Adriana couldn’t believe it. She was looking at her father as he sat there in his ornate gold and leather seat, behind his desk made of ironwood. “You actually approved my petition? Why?”
“I am giving you the chance to prove yourself. I know you aren’t a stupid child.” Ana and everyone else in the room could hear him say, ‘Like my other daughters.’ It was an unspoken given as they vied for his attention and affection. Ana learned long ago that she wouldn’t get because she was born too late.
Yes, born. Vampires were a creation, made by the wild magic of the Fae. Long ago, when they roamed the earth. They created the first vampires from the remains of enslaved wolf shifters to hunt down the renegade wolf shifters. The only undead vampires were those first creations. Now, like most creatures, they were born. They could create new vampires, but the laws state they could only do it for a life partner if they were human and had permission from the current ruler. But that carried an entire host of issues of it’s own.
“Thank you again, your Eminence. I will do my best to represent our interests.”
“Edgar will give you your portfolio. You’re entourage, staff, and so forth are in there. Now I wish to add one more to that staff. This is George Atwood, and he will be your personal bodyguard. No, before you say a single word, this is not up for discussion or debate. You may know how to protect yourself, unlike your sisters, but you will have a bodyguard if you leave this palace at any time. It’s not negotiable. I don’t want to hear anything about you leaving him behind, hiding from him, or doing any other foul deed to him. You will allow him to do his job. Is that clear?”
“Yes, your eminence.” He may not grant her attention, but he knew his daughters and their tendencies.
“Excellent. I will expect you to introduce yourselves to each other in the coming days. You leave in two evenings to start your position. Don’t embarrass the throne between now and then. You are both dismissed once you have spoken with Edgar and received your instructions. I must go and change for dinner. I will see you when we received our guests at eight o’clock.” Franco stood up suddenly, causing many of his staff and courtiers to fall back. He was a tall, imposing man and standing like this only accentuated it.
George was well over six feet and the Emperor was taller still. He could see eye-to-eye with Adriana. It was clear she got her height and colouring from her father. The Empress insisted her hair was naturally red, but no one could call it a natural shade. Not like the Emperor’s and Adriana’s theirs burn with a rich, coppery fire, while the Empress’ looked rather orange.
He swept from the room without a word of dismissal for anyone other than Adriana and George. So there they all went, scrambling to pick up documents and supplies to follow him to his apartments. After the chaos of everyone leaving Edgar, Adriana, and George there to finish up. The silence was almost deafening as Edgar puttered about, sighing and shuffling documents about.
“I have your portfolio here somewhere and your job duties, however, the usual chaos and made my life rather disorganized at the moment.” Edgar was old. Ana didn’t know a time when Edgar wasn’t in service within the palace. He’d worked for her father before he’d met her mother. She wasn’t sure her father could get along without him. He did so much for him. “Ah, here’s the portfolio, and look at that. I had the common sense to put the description of your duties with it. Now look them over when you have a chance, and you can return to me if you have questions.”
“Thank you, Edgar. I’ll be sure to contact you if I have questions.” Ana assured Edgar with a promise to do exactly as he instructed. She’d learned a long time ago that if Edgar was happy, then the Emperor was more favourable to working with the courtier. Ana leaned in and hugged Edgar as she often did, because she couldn’t resist teasing the old vampire by the familiar touch.
It was all about manipulating those within your environment. Controlling her opponent’s comfort levels made it easier to keep them off centre so she could get her way.
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
North American Ruling Council - Two Weeks Later Ana walked the halls again of the NARC Headquarters, doing her thing. The meetings did not differ from they’d been before. Her plans were falling into place. Her father was pleased and Caun finally could do his original job before easing into his position as a titled royal. The talk around the building didn’t stop with creatures awake at all hours of the day and night. From wild affairs to several battle royale, Ana was busy catching and keeping up with it all. She’d already been requested to assist with preventing a war from breaking out between the Nanaue, a Hawaiian shifter race of sharks, and the Merfolk, mermaids, and mermen. Fun times for all, as there are more than enough sharp teeth and injured pride to go around. This wouldn’t be a simple mediation, and Ana craved the challenge. The Dragon Ambassador did something. Ana suspected magic, because when she retur
Four Days Later - Meeting About the Future Ana woke that evening to find Caun wasn’t beside her, which was odd. When she found him, which took some effort, he was in Tatiana’s night garden exploring it with several of their guards. She had to ask several people to track him down. “Caun, what’s the matter? Why are you here?” “Oh, good evening, love. I was speaking to your father and the attacks on Tatiana came up in our conversation. You were still asleep, and I didn’t want to interrupt you. While we were talking, your father said that no one could tell me how her attackers from the first incident entered here. Since we have several excellent investigators as our guards, I thought we’d take a look around to see if we could find something that could explain how, if not, who did this.”“Oh, good grief I can understand my father not asking me how she pulled this foolishness off, but Caun I’m surprised you didn’t ask me.” That had Caun
Caun stood in line with the last of the guests filing through past him. He’d lost count of the hundreds of hands he shook. There were guards everywhere, and it made him uncomfortable, be he as George, who he still identified as, belonged with them. He kept his eye on his mate and marvelled at how she pretended not to be bored and uncomfortable with the many comments on her unique dress. The side-eye glances and the judgemental glares. It would be a difficult and busy evening. Caun hoped things would get better from here on out. That they’d be busy enough that she wouldn’t be able to brood or her the courtier’s opinion on anything.“So far, so well, this evening. Let’s see how far we can go with no scenes with any of the superficial fools who think they are powerful people.” He whispered this into Ana’s ear. It was a joke, because no matter what he said to Ana, she wouldn’t believe him. She now was a secretly powerful person. “We’ll see the night is sadly still young
Evening of the Celebration of the Life Partner Pairing Adriana thought it was crazy to see the clothing laid out for Caun and her. She’d never seen Caun every in such regalia and her own unique sense of fashion so intricately woven into the more traditional garb of a formal event. Instead of a full-length gown with sashes, ruffles, and silk flowers enveloping it. Ana wore a full dress with a closed slit up the front of the gown. Beneath it, she wore a pair of trousers and boots. Her bodice was a beauty with false draping that allowed her to wear a short, cropped jacket that Matched Caun’s jacket only it was far shorter. It was feminine, but allowed her to show her rank as the Vampiric Ambassador and a soldier within her father’s military. Which pleased her greatly because it meant her skills weren’t a dirty secret or an embarrassment to her father. Ana’s lady’s maid didn’t have a comment or criticism about anything she assisted Ana
Ana could see the sigh of relief at her words in the way her father relaxed and Eva, too. As if even this setting didn’t quite keep her father’s anxiety at bay and Eva somehow shared in it. Could she really be supporting this?Ana couldn’t see how this would be in her best interest to let this happen. If she even pretended to go along with it and encourage it, then Ana could, too. “I am relieved to hear you say this. Eva has been pressuring me to get this done before we celebrate anything because she doesn’t want there to be any miscommunication between us. I admit I agree with her. There’s been too many things keeping me from being fully in your life and now with most of that gone, I hope you will accept my attempts at rectifying that.” Her father stood up at saying this. “Come here. There’s one thing I’ve missed since you could talk.” Ana frowned because she wasn’t sure what he was speaking about and took a step back.