Lady Leanor entered the throne room together with her children and support staff.When she looked at the end of the room, she saw her husband scraping dirt from beneath his fingernails while he was covered in blood and internal organs and lazing on his raised throne as if he didn't have a care in the world.Before entering the corridor with her followers, Leanor shielded herself from the impending horror by covering her eyes and taking a deep breath before proceeding.When Lord Lothaire saw his exiled wife approaching, he yelled at the top of his lungs, "My darling Lady Leanor, how dare you to leave your exile without my express permission!""Your recent 'eccentricities' have made it essential," she said fiercely, pausing just outside the assault radius of her husband so that she would have time to respond. At this distance, she would have a chance to defend herself.Lord Lothaire chuckled as he asked, "My eccentricities? Why would my eccentric or not actions be any of your concerns?

Aric cried, "Liberty!" as he ran from one room to the next on the floor of his father's house, anxious to locate her.He ran across humans and vampires, and they were all racing about as frantically as he was, looking for ways to get out of the tower and away from the conflict that was going on between the people who supported his parents.He yelled, "Liberty," catching a slave as she tried to get behind him, and asked, "Where is she?" referring to the pet.She screamed, "I don't know," as she struggled to escape his grasp. "Please let me go."Aric let her go after recognizing the extreme terror written all over her face and watching as she fled the scene.As he turned around to continue his quest, he muttered to himself, "Fuck."He continued to search but came up empty-handed, finding no sign of Liberty or Alfie anywhere. As he approached the final entrance, his hope was beginning to fade.He pulled the door open while praying to Saint Januarius that she was hiding behind this one.T

"Aric," Lady Leanor shrieked, her voice breaking from the strain of her anguish, "what have you done?"Her son answered in a monotone, "I told you," as he stared down at his bloodied hands and away from his mother's face, revealing no sign of emotion. "I murdered him."She started walking around the room while asking her question, "But why?" "We devised a strategy to take him down, force him to abdicate the kingdom, and then throw him in jail while I reclaim what was rightfully mine."Aric said scornfully, "So," you still have a chance.Leanor snapped back an emphatic "No," all the while distractedly raking her fingers through her hair. "No, I can't do it."He finally inquired, "Why?" after becoming increasingly irritated by her exaggerated response to what he had done.She yelled angrily at him, "Because you fucking killed him!! " as she turned her back on him. "As long as your father was still alive, there was precedence for me to draw on to make my ascension lawful. However, the in

When Aric saw that Liberty was on the verge of passing out, he picked her up and supported her by putting one arm under her knees and the other around her waist.Liberty twisted her body to face him and wrapped her arms around his neck, drawing herself further into his embrace as she did so.He then turned to the gathering company and requested, "Can we talk about this later?"When Lady Leanor saw the hopelessness in her son's eyes, she heaved a sigh and replied, "Sure."She questioned one of her security personnel, "Is this floor secure?"The large vampire nodded in agreement before answering, "Yes." Since word of Lord Lothaire's passing has spread throughout the realm, there is still some resistance on lower levels; however, a significant portion of it has subsided.Find a room with a door that is not broken, and I will ensure that guards are placed outside so you can enjoy some peace. "Fine," Leanor said with a royal nod. "Find a room with a door that is still intact."Aric thanked

Liberty slept like she was dead, which was appropriate given that she actually was. Aric had given her a sufficient amount of his blood for the transformation from human to vampire to begin.He carried her lifeless body into the bedroom and laid it back on the bed, ensuring the covers were pulled up around her as firmly as possible.Even though he had only witnessed the transformation carried out twice before, he knew that Liberty's body would begin to violently thrash as soon as his blood began to take hold of her.He hadn't intended to do it just yet since he wanted her to decide on her own, but when he saw her cut her neck, he knew he couldn't let her pass away like that.After everything he had done to get to her, including making an alliance with his sister, setting his mother and father free, and killing his own father. Why did she choose to take such a risky action?Aric attempted to gain an understanding of what had led her to make an attempt to take her own life as she remove