Chapter 5

For the next month, I was the perfect prisoner.

I adhered strictly to my confinement, staying in my room, never attending a clan council, and cutting off all contact with my allies.

But the world outside my door was far from peaceful.

Julia, flaunting her new role as Deputy Advisor, threw herself into the vampire social scene, desperate to build a reputation as a high-society figure.

She squandered the clan's funds on lavish blood-feasts and expensive jewelry.

But it was clear not everyone was buying her act.

Every raven she sent out was either returned unopened or shot out of the sky. Not a single ancient house would deal with a newcomer who had clawed her way up by sleeping with the Earl.

One night, my door was kicked open.

Joseph stormed in, radiating fury.

"Elizabeth! What games are you playing? Why are all our allies suddenly threatening to break their treaties? Did you contact them? Are you deliberately trying to sabotage Julia?"

I sat on the sofa, not even bothering to look up.

"My Lord Earl, you give me too much credit," I said, taking a sip of blood. "For the past month, I have been under the watchful eye of the four guards you assigned to me. I haven't even stepped out of this room. How could I possibly contact our allies?"

"You're lying!" Joseph's eyes were red with rage. "There's no other explanation for why they would suddenly betray their oaths!"

"Betray their oaths?" I finally looked up, my expression mocking. "They signed those treaties because of me. Now that you have me locked away, they have no obligation to help you. What's the matter? Without my protection, is our great Earl unable to handle something as simple as managing his own allies?"

My words struck a nerve, shattering his fragile, pathetic pride.

Joseph lunged forward, slamming his hands on the arms of the sofa, leaning over me.

"You think you're irreplaceable, don't you!" he snarled, his face inches from mine, spittle flying. "You're just jealous! You're jealous that I favor Julia, jealous that she took your place! Your petty mind is disgusting!"

I stared at the face so close to my own.

He had completely lost it, consumed by power and ambition until not a shred of reason remained.

"Think what you will," I said, leaning back to create distance. "If that's all, please leave. I'd like to rest."

"Rest? You think you get to rest here peacefully anymore?"

My calm indifference drove him over the edge.

He immediately summoned every servant and elder to the hall. In front of everyone, he made his proclamation.

"I, Earl Joseph Nightwood, hereby officially declare that Elizabeth is stripped of all titles! She is banished from the Nightwood Clan, forever!"

The hall was dead silent.

Joseph sneered at me. "You're so proud, aren't you? You think you're irreplaceable? Tomorrow, I will sign the treaty with Prince Archon himself! I will prove to everyone that I can reach the pinnacle of power without you!"

Faced with this sudden, public banishment, I didn't fight. I didn't beg.

I calmly wheeled out the suitcase I had already packed.

Under the shocked stares of every vampire present, I walked out of the castle gates without a second glance.

In the blink of an eye, I was back in my true home, my own castle—a fortress of House Valerius, ten times larger and more ancient than Nightwood's pitiful estate.

I went straight to my study, opened the vault, and retrieved a contract.

The lease agreement for the castle the Nightwood Clan currently occupied.

The expiration date was clearly written: tomorrow.

For a hundred years, I had charged him a mere three crates of common blood a month and covered all the maintenance myself. Now that he had banished me, the free ride was over.

I rang for my Lawkeeper.

"Have the Valerius Enforcement Guard arm themselves. Tomorrow, at ten o'clock sharp, they will march on the Nightwood Clan's stronghold and reclaim my castle. That is a Valerius property, and it will not be defiled by squatters." I paused, my voice dropping to a lethal calm. "If anyone dares to resist, kill them on sight. It's time they learned the price of angering House Valerius."

The reply that crackled through the stone was sharp and absolute.

"As you command, Your Highness Elizabeth."