Vampires Realm Prophecy 01 - Child of Light

again. She wished that she could erase what had happened, or move his thoughts away from what she’d done so he wouldn’t be angry with her any more. She didn’t want to argue with him. Remembering what the werewolf had said about Valentine following his heart, she decided it might be a good way to get him talking.
    “You never answered that werewolf’s question,” she whispered.
    He leaned his elbows against the top of the wall and stared at the garden. She realised that he still wasn’t going to answer it.
    “His name is Dmitri,” he said, his eyes scanning the scenery.
    “It suits him.” She didn’t know what else she was supposed to say. She’d never met someone like Dmitri. He had the ability to be imposing without much of an effort. Just remembering how he looked, with the scar over one eye and the semi-extended canines, made a chill sweep over her. “Have you known him long?”
    “Years, hundreds of them. I met him back when I first became a vampire. I was with Lucya and Kalinor at the time. It was my first Creator Day masquerade.” He picked at the lichens on the wall, watching his fingers while he spoke.
    She didn’t let the pang of jealousy she felt on hearing his sire’s name affect her. She just shrugged it off and leaned against the wall, mimicking his movements.
    “Kalinor was at the ball last night assisting the Law Keepers. I met Cornelius there. He told me about Hyperion and Ineru. I saw Arkalus and some others from your house. He was probably searching for you,” he said with a note of solemnity in his voice.
    She couldn’t tell whether it was because he had seen members of his family again, or because Arkalus was looking for her. She wanted to reach out to him to offer him comfort but reminded herself that he didn’t deserve it when he was falling back on treating her as though she was a child. She hated how he could make her feel so small and insignificant so easily. One angry look was all it took for her to start feeling as though she was in the wrong.
    She was weak and useless, nothing but a burden to him.
    She shook her head, trying to clear it of such thoughts.
    “Who’s Cornelius?” she said and looked across at him, her eyes tracing the outline of his profile. He kept his gaze fixed on the trees.
    “My former aide. He tells me the Law Keepers are thankfully busy.” A frown flickered on his brows and he muttered to himself, “... becoming the Law Keeper for Aurorea one day.”
    She could almost feel the pain in his words. She knew he was talking to himself, not to her, reciting words that had clearly been said to him in the past. He probably would have been mortified if he realised she’d heard what he’d said. She sighed. She’d taken his destiny away from him. No, she hadn’t taken it. His destiny was with her. He’d seen it in her blood and that’s why he’d kidnapped her rather than killed her. She was supposed to go with him and he was supposed to leave his family behind.
    It still didn’t stop her from feeling wretched about it.
    He’d sacrificed the chance to become the most elevated of vampire guards in order to face an uncertain future with her.
    How high up had he been in his family? Cornelius had been his aide, just as Serenity was hers. To receive a servant he must have been held in high regard by his whole family. They weren’t usually bestowed on those less than Chosen Son or Chosen Daughter. She hadn’t realised that he’d occupied such a position of power.
    He sighed and raised his eyes to the stars that were still twinkling faintly above them, shining through the bright moonlight.
    She hated seeing how dejected he was because of her. Deep inside, she wished that he’d never rescued her. Everything that had happened to him was her fault. She was always getting him hurt, placing him in danger because she was too slow or too frightened to fight. If it hadn’t been for her, he would still have been close to achieving his heart’s desire of becoming a Law Keeper. She’d taken all of that away. She’d acted like a child and disobeyed an order given to her for a good reason. She’d been stubborn. She’d been foolish. She’d ruined her own life and his.
    Why couldn’t she listen when people told her what to do? They had her best interest at heart. Now Iona was dead, Serenity was the mate of her bastard blood brother and Valentine was embroiled in a war he should have ended. The next time she decided to ignore something that Valentine