Nadia had been sent packing, much to her disgust she wasn't required for what she thought would be a good time at the hands of a handsome vampire. Of course I took great delight in watching her thump her way down to the waiting cab. I turned and leaned on the closed door, William was behind me wrapped in a soggy blanket.
“Revoke her permission for entry onto the property.”
He rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath. There was a few clicks that echoed through the room, he then slowly walked to me, smirking as he lowered to kiss me. “You are far too jealous.”
“Says the person who claimed me because of jealousy. How about you change out of your wet blanket, we've got some talking to do.”
William said nothing, taking my hand and dragging me up the stairs despite my protests that we had to talk not anything else. Stupidly I had recanted the spell and now he was free to do as he pleased. The first thing he did was removed the piece of paper from my possession. He was at least agreeable to warming up in the shower, I was on the bed sitting against the head board replying to the angry text my mother had sent me. I had gone out without my security, I had driven a car unlicensed and I hadn't told any of them where I was going. It didn't matter that the threat was gone now, I was still in trouble. She eased off when I told her I was at William's and that I had used a compliance spell on him and made him get into the memory pool.
William sauntered out of the room with the towel wrapped around his waist, water glistening off his chest. He was in a cheeky mood which wasn't helpful for the serious conversation that we had to have.
“Time to be serious.”
“Is this about you leaving for your parents world?”
I shrugged as he sat on the edge of the bed next to me, suddenly looking serious. “They haven't exactly come out and said it but they have mentioned going to meet my grandparents. I don't want to be queen, I told them that. In fact I told them to get going on the baby making because I would gladly pass it over to a sibling if they had one.”
“So what's the issue then?”
I toyed with the phone in my hand until William huffed at me and removed it, putting it on the bedside table. “I'm being made to study my worlds history, right from the formation of the land and the beginning of the fae and elven races. Do you know anything about the curse of the rose?”
“The fae and elves are incredibly secretive to the outside world Eliria, if there is anything worthwhile to be known about them then it is certain that this lowly vampire does not know it.”
I narrowed my eyes at him as I pursed my lips wondering why he had to be like that. Why could he not just say no, I don't know anything?
“Fine.” I huffed. “At the creation of their land, there were two men that were created. One fae, one elf. The land was theirs to divide between themselves as they saw fit. They mutually decided that they would turn their backs to each other with their hands drawn wide, all that their fingertips pointed to as they walked forward would be theirs until they were faced with each other again. The two men had walked in opposite directions, not meeting again for several years. When they saw one another, they discussed all that they had seen and all that they had found. The elf spoke proudly of his findings, a vibrant land was his and the fruits from the land was plentiful. He spoke of the native people he had found and in there he had also taken a wife and had many children with her. The fae man looked upon the elf with great jealousy for his land was not so good. It was a cold part of the world and the fruits that the land offered were limited because of the harsh land. In his time apart he had taken a wife too and they had also had many children but he looked to the wife of the elf and saw a more beautiful woman. The jealousy consumed the fae man and when he left the company of the elf, he returned to his home and devised a terrible scheme for revenge.”
William settled in front of me with a knowing smile, it was one that made me believe that he did know this story.
“The fae man captured a beast that stalked the land and kept it locked away, taunting it and depriving it of all but a pitiful meal. When he thought that the beast was ready, he took it to the village of the elf and let the beast free. The elf saw the fae man laughing at the carnage that the beast was causing and knew he was to blame. He caught the beast but instead of killing the terrible creature, he opened a portal and sent the beast into another world. Then he captured the man and held him until his five sons came to rescue him. One by one they all fell for the elf's trap. The elf looked upon the five young men and told them that they would be cursed because of their father's jealous crime. They would be banished into the world that he had sent the beast into. There they would always live in fear of the beast, always at odds with it and their differences would never be settled. The elf conjured a spell so powerful that he turned them from the fae men that they were and into a creature that could never walk in sunlight, always in the dark of night.”
I toyed with the hem of my dress as the memories of Gillam's constant need to talk about this subject rattled through my mind. I had to know the nastiness of the past so that I could ensure the future would be good. This was just in case I happened to become queen.
“The spell changed what they would eat, for the elf thought that if the food of the land was not good enough for them then they should not be allowed to eat it. He told them that they could only drink the blood of the inhabitant of their new land and if they were to consume any other food they would die. The only part of his curse that could be broken was for their future generations, he might have been angered at their father but he did not think that the descendants of the sons should be punished entirely. He allowed that it could be broken after the passing of many moons. He allowed for the five sons to create life with a woman of their choosing. In their time they would only ever have four children each, with each generation the numbers would drop by one until the first child born was an only child. The children would always be male and at the last child, the curse would be broken. Either the last child figured out how to break the curse or died without having a child.”
Williams face changed at the last part of the sentence. His knowing and smug smile dropped to a sad smile that was barely there. I laced my fingers into his and offered him a happier smile, wishing I could tell him his sadness was no longer needed but for the time being, it would have to wait. His face perked up a fraction, enough to wordlessly say that he was okay.
“Now in this time the beast evolved and became something that could walk and talk, changing form as it pleased. It grew a great hatred for the five young men, blaming their father for his terrible existence and banishment into an unknown world. The hatred consumed him so much that when he created his own children, he passed on the hatred. As the generations passed, the hatred continued and had begun to cause conflict between the two races as they both had to feast on the local inhabitant. But the five young men wised up to the beast and lured the local inhabitants into siding with them to kill the beast and his children.” I smiled at William. “Have you figured out how to break your curse?”
He shook his head with a wry smile.
“You are too smart for your own good, you know that?”
“I do. So how does Augustus fit in? Because he's on your mother's side, isn't he?”
“He is and technically he's not a blood descendant of the fae line. His family is from a line of created vampires. Way back at the beginning of the farce, someone figured out how to create what we are. When the elf told them that the five sons could create with a woman of their own choice, he neglected to tell them that they would all die in child birth because they weren't a light or dark being. After countless deaths the five sons were desperate and decided that they would try to alter a human to become one of their own kind and see if that worked. When it did they knew that they stood before a future that was their kind becoming a powerful race. Each of them took a different partner for their four children to create diversity and when they were done creating their children, they began to cre
ate their followers.”
He shrugged as he looked to the side, a little too aloof for my liking. This was his past and his future, yet he seemed to not care. Though, I could be wrong. William was the master of hiding his emotions.
“They then set out trying to create their own extended families through these people. Because they are created but are not a descendant of one of the sons, they are able to have children. My grandmother was a created vampire and she married into the line. At her husband's request, she bedded one of his favoured followers thus giving my relative the multiple children he could not create. The one true heir to that line of the family had died many years ago, leaving Augustus the sole beneficiary under the estate. It gave him the right to rule the family line but in doing so he now bears the burden of the curse as well.” He sighed painfully. “The curse will not break until the last child born figures it out and that's me.”
I toyed with the silky petals of the rose, now understanding why they meant so much. Why he was so obsessed by them.
“And you've not figured it out?”
“No.” He whispered shakily.
He took the rose from my hands and sighed heavily as he looked at it, casting it to the bedside. “I have looked upon these damned things for a long time, as has every one of my ancestors. No one can figure out what a rose has to do with the curse. I have planted so many varieties from this world to your world, still there is nothing. If I can break the curse then it is broken for all of my ancestors.”
“It must be quiet a burden to carry such a task.”
He nodded woefully. “So you read about what happened to my ancestor then?”
I nodded with a soft smile. “The tale goes that he continued to live within his village, surrounded by his wife and the townspeople. He could not have any more children, the elf cursed him with impotency so that the fae line would die out.”
“But that is not true Eliria, otherwise there would be no fae. No, the truth is that at the time of the banishment, he also had two infant sons and several daughters, all of which went on to create the fae race with the native people. But that was a long time ago, all traces of him and his children have been wiped from the fae line.”
William sighed as he got off the bed, wandering into the walk in robe to dress. “But the past does not matter, there will be no future if I cannot break the curse.”
“You knew that Carmella wasn't pregnant to you, didn't you?”
He nodded as he walked out, dressed in his usual standard of a suit that was perfectly fitted to his strapping form. “All that I wanted was within her, for a moment I hoped that I had broken the curse and that the child was mine but it was a harsh reality. I cannot have a child until the curse is broken.”
I frowned, instinctively rubbing my belly. If he could not create a child, then what the hell was growing inside of me? Who did this child belong to if it was not his?
“I'm pregnant.” I blurted out.
William stopped what he was doing and looked at me rather stunned. This was going to be interesting, either he was going to happily accept that he had somehow broken the curse or it was about to be world war three.
Chapter Eighty
Two little words stopped him in his pacing, he turned and looked at me as if I had spoken a foreign language he could not decipher.
“Did you hear me?”
He nodded warily, his frown deepened.
“Well then say something and it had better not be 'is it mine?' unless you want to be punched.”
William chuckled as he wandered over, sitting on the bed beside me. “How about, how did I break the curse without realising it?”
His hand splayed out over my stomach with another little chuckle. “Or maybe, do you think I should warn my relatives not to have unprotected sex unless they want kids?”
I laughed a little, the smile on his face had dropped.
“For so long I had been wrapped up in the curse, then Carmella appeared in my life and she made me believe that she was the answer, that she would give me the child that I thought I would never have. Then it was all forgotten, the curse was but a speck in my mind once she had me wrapped up in her.” His frown deepened. “I was obsessed with her, of course you know why.”
I nodded as his eyes darted to mine, filled with pain and so much suffering. She was lucky she was just a soul in the underworld, if she were still alive then it would have become my life goal to give her a horrid and pain filled death.
“I owe so much to Marty and Nick for never giving up on me, remaining loyal to me when I didn't deserve it. And to you, you never gave up on me. Even when I hurt you so bad, you still opened your arms for my return. You deserve so much more than I can offer.” He whispered sadly.
“You are wrong, you can offer me everything that I want. A life with you, suburban bliss, a family.”
I pressed his hand hard against my stomach. There was no movement as yet but the gesture was simple, it showed him that within my body was what he could give me.
“But your home world, do you want to go there? Do you want to travel the worlds?”
I shook my head with a big smile. “I want to be where you are.”
He smiled as he leaned down to kiss me, the sound of a yes hissing through the air and an excited clapping. William turned with cheeky smirk, to the woman who was at the doorway and her brother that was looking like he was about to die of embarrassment. Marty scuttled her way into the room, bouncing on the bed beside us.
“I'm going to be an aunt!” She grinned widely.
William scoffed as he rolled his eyes, Nick cautiously sauntered over. In his hands was a tattered and browned piece of paper, rolled up like a scroll. I watched curiously as William narrowed his eyes at it and then looked up at Nick.
“Why do you insist on bringing that thing out?” He snarled.
“Because you want to know why or how you managed to break the curse, don't you?”
“Fine.” He sighed and waived him off.
Nick held it out to me with a glint of hope in his eyes, the soft smirk revealed one of his fangs. He was hungry and probably eager to go and feed off some pretty lady. I took the scroll and unfurled it, the script was incredible, a flowing cursive font that had lots of flourishes and swirls. Around the edges was lots of roses, painted in reds and pinks.
“Five sons bound to the next dimension, at war with the beast that ravaged my people. Five sons and their descendants, all male, all bound to the shadows unable to walk in the light of the sun. If they dare to venture into daylight they will burn into nothing more than ash. Five sons and their descendants shall feast upon the blood of the local inhabitant and nothing more. If they dare to feast upon the food of the land then their bodies will fill with the acid from their stomach and their blood will boil until death takes them painfully into the afterlife. Five sons will create four sons each, and so on until there is but a single child born and no more. The last child born is the only one who can break the curse, he will love the rose of my people or he will not love at all.”
I looked up at Nick who was smiling broadly at me, turning to William it was like he had the final piece to his little puzzle.
“You are the rose.” Marty squealed with delight. “The royal rose, how cool is that?”
“Very cool.” William whispered with quiet appreciation.
Marty and Nick left the room soon after, assuming that William and I would want to celebrate the breaking of the curse and the joyous news of the pregnancy on our own. There was no grand celebrations for the moment, it was just the two of us laying on the bed. William rested his head on my stomach in the hope that he might hear something other than it growling. His eyes were wide with delight as he looked up from his spot, I don't think I have ever seen him this happy.
“We are not naming him Leonard.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, wondering why he was arguing. “It was a vision, you can't alter it. Besides, it might be a girl.”
He frowned for a moment
but then smiled and it reminded me of my mother's words about what William would think if I were to become queen.
“What would you say if I were to become queen?”
He shrugged. “Congratulations? Sorry your father is dead? What do you want me to say?”
William frowned at me as he lifted his head from my stomach. “What did you think I would say?”
“I just… you know with Marty and wearing pants and you're so women are chaste and quiet…”
“And you thought that I'd have a meltdown about you being queen and I'd be lower than you?”
I nodded reluctantly, his eyes narrowed as he tried to hide the playful smirk. Damn it, I hate it when he's like this.
“My thoughts on how a woman should behave is an old world view of the women from the past. It doesn't help that Carmella was the opposite of everything and was so liberal and free with her body. If I had given her the chance she might just have strutted around the place in a bikini.” His eyes narrowed slightly. “One that would leave little to the imagination. When I said those things to you it was because I didn't want you to…”
“Be like her?”
He nodded with a crazy grin. “All I ask is that you keep in mind the ideals after all, you are a princess and what I ask of you is what they would expect of you. Personally if you want to wear nothing at all that's fine by me but just so you understand…” He grinned wickedly. “I won't let you leave the bed.”
“Dirty bugger.” I chuckled.
He shrugged and laid down beside me, pulling me into his arms. “I gave Marty a hard time about wearing pants because I like to rile her up, make her think that she has won her little battle when in reality I could not have cared. Give Marty an inch, she takes a mile. Make her fight for something and she appreciates it more and takes the inch that she is given without another word about it. A master knows how his followers work my love. He knows how to bring the best of them to the surface and in return for the good behaviour and loyal service, he rewards them with things that they never thought that they would ever get.”
Deadly Beasts (The Curse of the Rose Book 1) Page 50
