32. Raiden

32

RAIDEN

C rimson stains splatter my clothes and skin, but it does nothing to halt my swagger as I swing the door to my father's manor open. The gaudy finish to the entire space only serves to piss me off even more.

I don't want to be here. I shouldn't fucking be here, but against my better judgment, I wanted to make sure I kept Adrianna as far away as possible from the fucked up mess that is the vampire origin.

Mahogany wood covers the floors, the bottom half of the walls, and the grand staircase, which I bypass in search of my father's office. It's where he'll be. It's where he always is.

The fleur de lis pattern on the wallpaper shimmers in gold under the glowing yellow lights fixed to the walls. It's like a damn mausoleum in this place, not a house. I don't know how I've never really considered that comparison until now. But it seems every interaction I have with Adrianna is one step into the truth that is my life. She helps me remove the rose-tinted glasses that were firmly lodged in place, and now I have the unfortunate reality of seeing everything for what it truly is.

Dead.

The desire to swipe a hand down my face itches at my fingertips, but I refuse to offer even a glimpse of uncertainty. Not when Vallie is a step behind me, my father's men one further, and fuck knows how many more cameras the old man has installed since I was last here.

He's obsessive, possessive, and slightly deranged. Yet, it's still my mother who is the one you should be careful of.

As much as I despise being here, I'm eager for answers as to why the fuck his men showed up tonight, with Vallie no less. We were already dealing with enough bullshit, and then he had to come and interrupt the most perfect fucking moment with my woman.

The door to the kitchen is open, the slightest trickle of sunlight threatening to break the dawn over the darkened hills in the distance. My mind is drawn from the present and I wonder if Adrianna is seeing it too.

Tonight she was…fuck, she was everything and more.

Fearless. Resilient.

She was a goddamn heir.

I meant every word I said to her, and I was ready to give her more until we were rudely interrupted.

"I can stop all of this from happening, you know." Vallie's shrill voice cuts through my thoughts and irritation coils through my tired limbs.

Sneering, I don't even bother to turn in her direction as I bite out my retort. "You can't stop the bullshit that comes from your mouth, so I don't have high hopes for anything else, and that's a particularly low bar. Besides, the last thing I would ever want or need is your help."

She clears her throat, disdain evident in the move. "She's changed you."

I don't need to glance her way to know she will have tilted her head back and looked down her nose as she spoke those words. It's a given. "Hmm."

"Aren't you going to ask who?" she pushes, far too eager to cause a scene as we turn down the hallway, my father's office coming into view.

"I'm not a fool. You are referring to Princess Adrianna Reagan." I bite back the smile on my lips as I use Adrianna's true, full title, earning a scoff from Vallie, just as I expect.

"You mean Addi Reed," she snaps with a huff, and I finally tilt my stare to the left to meet her gaze.

"I didn't stutter, and you know it."

Her lips purse, anger swirling in her eyes as she subtly shakes her head. "When will you realize that she is no good for you?"

It's my turn to huff. "Oh, I already know she is. In my family's eyes, at least. But the reality is, I'm no good for her . It's an easy thing to admit when you look at a situation through selfless eyes. You wouldn't know the meaning of it, so I know it's a stretch asking you to even consider that as an option."

"We could be?—"

I raise my hand, shutting down whatever bullshit is about to slip from her lips. "Nothing. We have been and will always be nothing." Exhaustion clings to every word. I'm sick and tired of doing this with her. It's as if she thinks she's going to wear me down eventually, but that's never been the case.

Maybe it was my fault for going along with what our parents wanted for so long, but even then, that was only in the public eye. I never touched her—not even my hand on the small of her back as we entered a room. Nothing.

I have no desire to even glance in her direction, while Adrianna…fuck, she captures my attention without even trying, all while hating me, and that's saying something considering how much she hated me when we first met.

It's addicting. She's addicting.

"Son." My father's voice cuts through the air and I pause at the open doorway to his office, assessing the state of him. Maybe I'm as hopeless as Vallie is because I assess him every time, hoping to gauge what mood he's in, but it's impossible. He's unpredictable, and that's the way he likes it.

A plush maroon dressing gown wraps around his shoulders, the golden emblem of the family crest stitched into the pocket at his breast. There's a crystal glass filled with a brown liquid, which I'm certain is his favorite bourbon, in his right hand and a cigar in the left. Frameless glasses are perched on his nose, and his silvery hair is swept back off his face.

But beneath all that, I see the crinkles at his eyes, the exhaustion on his face, and the pinch to his jaw.

"Care to explain why your summons came through her?" I ask, stepping into the dated room with a pointed finger aimed in Vallie's direction.

"I have a name," she scoffs, and I glare at her.

"You don't want me to use the one I'm thinking of," I grunt, her desire to stick around irking me. "You can leave now."

"I'm good where I am, thanks," she smarts, folding her arms over her chest as she gives me a pointed look.

"Blood? I know we're vampires, son, but did you have to be so…tasteless in your feast," my father murmurs before taking a sip of the good stuff, and I turn my irritation his way.

"Unfortunately, this isn't from a sampling with my teeth, more with my fists. The frenzied managed to get a bite of me." I point to my neck. Even though it's mostly healed now, I know there will be enough remnants for him to catch my drift.

His eyebrows furrow for a moment before he quickly shakes it off. "You must be depleted. Do you need?—"

"I'm good," I interject, waving my hand dismissively. "Inconvenienced by whatever this is, but I'm sure you'll get to the point eventually."

"Take a seat," he offers, pointing at the deep red and gold loveseat facing his desk. I shake my head as Vallie makes herself comfortable.

"Like I said, to the point so I can find more…satisfactory company."

My father nods, swirling the glass in his hand as he looks from me to Vallie and back again. "I'm not entirely sure why you're here," he admits, and I know he will hate to admit that. Especially with an audience.

It goes straight over Vallie's head, however, when she offers him an explanation. "Because he leaped in to fight against the frenzied."

His eyebrows pinch as he wags his cigar between the two of us.

"Why were you off campus?"

"To look for the frenzied, as instructed by the dean, remember?" I offer, and Vallie sneers.

"Look. That's all it was supposed to be. We delay the frenzied as long as possible, later than the usual time, and?—"

"Wait, wait, wait," I interrupt, my pulse thundering in my ears as I stare at Vallie. "Do you want to start that again," I rasp, my brain slowly piecing together what she's saying.

She rolls her eyes at the inconvenience, but I don't fucking care. "I'm sure you're not hard of hearing, Raidy baby, keep up." Bitch.

"We're controlling this," I breathe, letting the truth slip from my tongue, and it earns me another eye roll from the bitch herself.

"Of course we are."

"How hadn't I considered that?" My thought slips from my lips before I can rein it in, and my father sighs, lifting his glass to his lips.

"Your mother has a way of harnessing her control, son. But why does that bring you to me, Miss Drummer?" He finally takes a sip, two to be precise, which is never quite a good sign because as liquid-smooth as that bourbon is, it still burns like a bitch.

"My uncle insisted. Since my father was killed in cold blood, he's taken the reins." The sneer on her lips does nothing to my conscience and the lack of care I have for her father's demise. If anything, I want to hunt out a party popper and fucking celebrate.

"Your uncle," I repeat like a fucking parrot as she somehow sits taller in her seat, glossing over the fact that Adrianna was the one to bbq her father with her magic.

"Since you won't be fated mates with me, my uncle is a little less lenient with the errors you're making," she explains slowly, like I'm a child who can't keep up.

"I'm struggling to see the errors I'm making," I insist with a shrug, and she gives me a pointed look with a flat smile that has no intention of meeting her eyes.

"Of course, you wouldn't, but if you need me to spell it out for you, you're hooked on fae pussy, and it's going to be your demise."

"Wow. A bit brash don't you think?" my father says with a snort, opting for a drag on his cigar this time, and I roll my eyes.

"Brash as always," I state, and my father's drawn brows turn back to the thorn in my side.

"It's unbecoming, Vallie. If your uncle insisted on this, consider my son thoroughly scolded." He waves her off, but her lips twist in distaste as she rises to her feet.

"You haven't?—"

Her words fall off as my father discards his glass and cigar, letting them tumble to the floor as he charges. There's no time to avoid his rage, and there's no point delaying the inevitable as the room thickens with trepidation at the sound of his glass shattering.

The sound ricochets around the room at the exact time his hand finds its way to my throat. His nails pierce into my flesh, giving him leverage as he lifts me off my feet.

I can't breathe, I can't think, I can't do anything but feel his wrath, all while trying to act as unfazed as possible.

"Don't interrupt the frenzied again. That's an order." His dark and sinister voice booms around us, and I hear Vallie gasp before my father discards me just as quickly as he approached.

I fall to the floor, my knees hitting the ground with a thud, and brace my hands against the awful rug beneath me as I try to catch my breath.

"There you are. You can be on your way now," my father declares.

"Let's go, Raidy," Vallie says with a sniffle. Like this is deeply upsetting to her when it only happened because she wanted it to.

"I'm good," I rasp, my throat burning, and she scoffs in confusion.

"You can't want to stay here with a man that harms you so effortlessly."

"Trust me, out of the two options I have right now, it's still my preferred," I grunt, pushing to my feet and meeting her stare with a bored expression.

Predictably, she rolls her eyes. "Whatever. I'll see you in the morning," she states, heading for the door.

"Preferably not," I mutter as she saunters from the room without a backward glance.

The door clicks shut behind her and I sag on the spot.

"I'm sorry, son."

I peer at my father, watching as his lips pinch with sadness and his eyes remain fixated on the floor.

"It's fine," I breathe, rubbing at my neck as he shakes his head.

"It's not, and no words of apology will stop the pain I've caused. Any of it."

"I'm sure?—"

"Do you want a vial?" he offers, swooping over to the cabinet in the far corner where he keeps a ridiculous amount of blood available to him.

"I'm good."

"I can sense you're weak," he pushes, concern flickering between his eyes as he assesses me, but I shake my head.

"I'm fine."

"Nothing is ever fine with you. The use of it twice in such a short span of time is concerning, to say the least."

I rub my lips together. As much pain as I'm in, I'm not as tormented as the man before me. I see it now more than ever, but it's not something I'm even remotely ready to dive into.

"Where's mother?" I ask, earning a sigh.

"Where do you think?"

"With Vallie's uncle, most likely," I say, and he nods. That's another topic not for today, too, it seems. Clearing my throat, I circle back to the surprise I felt earlier. "Are we really controlling them?"

"Of course," he replies, his voice seeped in disappointment and despair.

"All this time?"

His gaze meets mine. "From the very beginning."

Fuck . "Why?"

"You know why," he mutters with a pointed look.

"How are frenzied vampires going to earn us the castle, the kingdom?" My eyebrows pinch in confusion.

"The same way it gets the vampires everything else…fear."