Chapter 2

ELENA'S POV

I couldn't breathe.

The words kept echoing in my head, over and over again.

"I'm pregnant with his child."

My vision blurred. The room spun. I gripped the edge of the doorframe to keep from collapsing right there in front of all those ancient, powerful vampires.

Lucian was going to be a father.

Just not with me.

"Elena!"

Logan's harsh voice snapped me back to reality. He shoved me forward into the council chamber, and I stumbled, barely catching myself before I fell.

All eyes turned to me. Ancient vampires with glowing eyes, gold, red, violet, staring at me like I was an insect that had wandered into their meeting.

"Why is a blood servant in this chamber?" one of them asked, his voice like gravel scraping against stone.

Lucian finally spoke, his tone flat and dismissive. "She was summoned to serve refreshments. Elena, go to the kitchen and prepare blood wine for our guests."

"Yes, Master," I whispered, my voice barely audible.

But before I could move, Viviana's laugh cut through the air like breaking glass.

"Oh, Lucian, darling. You still keep human servants? How... old-fashioned." She looked at me with those ruby eyes, and I felt like she could see right through me. See the secret I was carrying. "What's your name, human?"

"Elena, my lady," I said, keeping my eyes down.

"Elena," she repeated, tasting my name like it was poison. "How long have you served my Lucian?"

My Lucian.

Those two words made me want to scream.

"Two years, my lady."

"Two years." Viviana glided toward me, her expensive heels clicking against the marble floor. She circled me slowly, like a shark circling prey. "And tell me, Elena, has my darling Lucian been... good to you?"

I didn't know how to answer. If I said yes, I'd be lying. If I said no, I'd be insulting him in front of the vampire council.

"Master Lucian has been... fair," I managed.

Viviana laughed again. "Fair. How diplomatic."

She stopped directly in front of me, so close I could smell her perfume, something expensive and suffocating. "You're rather pretty, for a human. Malnourished, but pretty. Tell me, has Lucian ever fed from you?"

My hand instinctively went to my neck, to the scars I tried to hide.

Her eyes followed the movement, and her smile widened.

"He has. Interesting." She turned back to Lucian. "Darling, I thought you preferred bottled blood. You always said feeding directly from humans was beneath you."

Lucian's jaw tightened. "The Blood Moon Ritual required a living donor. Elena was available."

"The Blood Moon Ritual," Viviana repeated thoughtfully. "That was two months ago, wasn't it?"

Two months. Exactly when I suspected I got pregnant.

My heart hammered in my chest. Could she know? Could she sense it somehow?

"Enough, Viviana," Lucian said, his voice cold.

"Elena, you're dismissed. Go prepare the blood wine."

"Actually," one of the council members interrupted, "before she goes, I have a question."

I froze.

The vampire who spoke was ancient, I could feel it radiating from him. His eyes were pure gold, and his presence made my knees weak.

"Child," he said, addressing me directly, "do you know what today is?"

I shook my head. "No, my lord."

"Today marks exactly two months since the Blood Moon Ritual. A sacred night when the veil between human and vampire is at its thinnest. When impossible things... become possible."

My blood turned to ice.

He knew. Somehow, he knew.

"I don't understand, my lord," I lied.

His golden eyes bore into me. "Don't you? Tell me, child, have you felt different lately? Strange sensations? Unexplained sickness?"

"Lord Konstantin," Lucian interrupted, standing abruptly. "What is the meaning of this? Why are you questioning my blood servant?"

"Because," Lord Konstantin said slowly, "I sense something... unusual about her.

Something that shouldn't be possible."

Viviana's eyes narrowed. "What are you saying, my lord?"

"I'm saying," he stood, moving toward me with inhuman speed, "that this human carries vampire essence within her."

The room erupted.

Vampires hissed and stood, their eyes glowing brighter. Viviana's face twisted with rage. And Lucian, Lucian looked at me for the first time like he was actually seeing me.

"That's impossible," Lucian said, but his voice wavered. "Vampires cannot impregnate humans. It's never happened in our entire history."

"Never happened with purebloods," Lord Konstantin corrected. He was standing right in front of me now, his ancient power making my skin crawl. "But the Blood Moon Ritual is different. It awakens dormant bloodlines.

Hidden heritage. If this human has even a drop of supernatural blood in her veins, however distant, the ritual could have activated it."

"She's human," Lucian insisted. "I've had her tested. Her blood work showed nothing unusual."

"Blood work done by human doctors," Lord Konstantin said. "Did you ever have her tested by vampire physicians? Did you ever check her lineage?"

Silence.

Lucian hadn't. Why would he? I was just a servant. Just a blood bag he bought to settle my father's gambling debts.

"This is ridiculous," Viviana snarled. "Even if, and that's a massive if, this human somehow got pregnant during the ritual, it would be a bastard. A mistake. Nothing compared to my child. My child is a legitimate pureblood heir."

Lord Konstantin turned to her. "Lady Viviana, when exactly did you conceive?"

She lifted her chin proudly. "Three weeks ago.

Lucian and I reunited after our... unfortunate separation, and nature took its course."

"Three weeks," Lord Konstantin repeated. "And you're certain you're pregnant?"

"Of course I'm certain!" she snapped. "I've already had it confirmed by the best vampire physicians in Europe."

Something in Lord Konstantin's expression shifted. Something knowing. Something almost... amused.

"How convenient," he murmured. "The timing, I mean. You return to claim Lucian just as rumors begin spreading through the supernatural world."

"What rumors?" Lucian demanded.

Lord Konstantin looked at me again. "Rumors that the Nightshade bloodline, thought extinct for three centuries, has resurfaced. That a dormant heir has been awakened."

The temperature in the room dropped.

I had never heard of the Nightshade bloodline, but the way every vampire in that room reacted, the fear, the shock, the hunger in their eyes, told me it was important.

Very important.

"The Nightshades are dead," Viviana said, but her voice shook. "The last of them was executed in 1724."

"Were they?" Lord Konstantin asked. "Or did some escape? Hide among humans? Dilute their bloodline over generations until it became dormant, undetectable?"

He reached out and grabbed my chin, forcing me to look up at him. His golden eyes searched mine, and I saw his expression change.

"By the ancient ones," he breathed. "It's true."

"What's true?" Lucian was suddenly beside me, yanking me away from Lord Konstantin. His hand on my arm was the first time he'd touched me with anything other than disgust or indifference.

Lord Konstantin smiled. "Your blood servant, Lucian Aion, is no ordinary human. Look at her eyes. Really look."

Lucian stared down at me, and I saw something I'd never seen before in his silver eyes.

Uncertainty.

"What about her eyes?" he asked.

"They're changing," Lord Konstantin said. "The pregnancy is accelerating her transformation. In a few weeks, maybe days, she'll awaken fully.

And when she does..." He turned to address the entire council. "She'll be the most powerful vampire in this room. More powerful than all of us combined."

"That's insane!" Viviana shrieked. "She's a servant! A nobody! She can't be—"

"A Nightshade," Lord Konstantin finished. "The prophesied heir who will carry the one who will unite or destroy the vampire world. And she's carrying Lucian Aion's child presently."

My legs gave out.

Lucian caught me before I hit the ground, and for a moment, just a moment, I felt his arms around me, strong and steady.

Then Viviana's scream shattered everything.

"No! This is a lie! A trick!" She lunged at me, her fangs extended, her eyes blazing red.

Lucian moved faster than I'd ever seen him move, putting himself between us.

"Viviana, control yourself!"

"Control myself?" she snarled. "That human whore is trying to steal what's mine! I won't let some servant's bastard take my place!"

"Enough!" Lord Konstantin's voice boomed through the chamber, and everyone froze.

"Lady Viviana, you will stand down. Now."

Viviana trembled with rage, but she stepped back.

Lord Konstantin addressed Lucian. "You need to decide, Aiona. Lady Viviana claims to carry your pureblood heir. This human, this possible Nightshade, carries what could be the prophesied child of legend. You cannot claim both. You must choose."

"Choose?" I whispered, my voice breaking. "I don't understand. I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't—"

"Silence," Lucian said coldly, releasing me.

I stumbled backward, and the look in his eyes, that brief moment of protectiveness, was gone.

Replaced by the same ice I'd known for two years.

He looked at Viviana. Beautiful, powerful, pureblood Viviana. Then he looked at me. Thin, weak, servant me.

And I knew what he would choose before he even spoke.

"I choose Lady Viviana," he said, his voice echoing through the chamber. "She is my equal. A pureblood of noble lineage. Our child will strengthen the Aion bloodline and secure my position on the council."

Each word was a knife in my heart.

"As for Elena..." He looked at me with a cold dismissal. "She's probably not even pregnant.

And even if she is, it's irrelevant. I will not acknowledge a bastard born from a blood servant. She means nothing to me."

The room spun. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think.

"Lucian, darling, you've made the right choice," Viviana purred, wrapping herself around him.

Lord Konstantin shook his head sadly. "You're making a mistake, Aion. A grave mistake."

"My decision is final," Lucian said. He looked at Logan. "Remove Elena from the penthouse.

Give her one month's severance pay and terminate her contract immediately. I don't want to see her again."

"No," I whispered. "Please. I have nowhere to go. I have nothing—"

"That's not my problem," Lucian said coldly. "Logan, escort her out. Now."

Logan grabbed my arm roughly, dragging me toward the door.

"Wait!" I screamed, trying to pull free. "At least let me prove it! Let me show you the test! I'm pregnant! I'm carrying your child!"

Lucian turned his back on me.

"Lucian, please!" Tears streamed down my face. "Don't do this! Don't throw me away like I'm nothing!"

"But you are nothing," Viviana said with a cruel smile. "You've always been nothing. And now you have proof."

Logan hauled me into the elevator, and the last thing I saw before the doors closed was Viviana kissing Lucian, her hand on her stomach, victory written across her face.

The elevator descended, and I collapsed against the wall, sobbing.

Pregnant. Homeless. Alone.

And rejected by the father of my child.

Logan dragged me to my tiny room and threw me inside. "Pack your shit. You have ten minutes."

He slammed the door, and I fell to my knees.

This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be real.

I crawled to my mattress and pulled out the pregnancy test, staring at those two pink lines through my tears.

Two months. I was two months pregnant with Lucian Aion's child, a child that shouldn't exist. A child that proved I was something more than human.

But he chose her. He chose Viviana and threw me away like garbage.

Fine.

I wiped my tears and stood up.

If Lucian Aion wanted nothing to do with me, then I wanted nothing to do with him.

I would survive. I always survived.

I packed my few belongings into a worn bag, some clothes, the pregnancy test, and the little money I had left.

Ten minutes later, Logan came back. He shoved an envelope into my hands.

"Your severance. One month's pay. Now get out."

He grabbed my bag and dragged me through the servant corridors, through the lobby, and threw me out onto the street.

It was raining.

Of course it was raining.

I stood there in the cold, holding my bag and that pathetic envelope, watching the doors to Aion Tower close behind me.

I looked down at my stomach, placing my hand over it protectively.

"It's okay," I whispered to the baby. "We don't need him. We don't need any of them."

I started walking, not knowing where I was going, just moving forward.

But I'd only made it two blocks when I felt it.

Eyes watching me.

I turned around, and my blood ran cold.

Three figures stood in the shadows of an alley.

Vampires. I could tell by their glowing eyes, red, like fresh blood.

They smiled, showing their fangs.

"Well, well," one of them said. "If it isn't the Nightshade heir. We've been looking for you."

I ran.