Her eyes began to brim with tears as she nodded. “I understand. I just…” she hesitated. “I don’t know how to be a good mother, Aiden. I want to be that for her, but I don’t know how. I want to change. I truly want to make amends with her if only to get back in your good graces, because I love you, Aiden. I will always love you.”
I couldn’t tell if it was genuine or if she was just putting on an amazing act. At that point, however, I really couldn’t think straight enough to care if it was true.
I was fully aware of the consequences when I took her to my suite and made love to her, but I really didn’t care. I held her in my arms and gave in to my desperate need for the woman I had loved, to fill the emptiness that she had left inside me when she had abandoned me and our daughter.
That night, like so many others before her disappearance, I found that I was once again putty in the hands of Camilla Claremont.
It wasn’t until the morning after, waking up with her lovely form cradled in my arms that it sank into me that Camilla was long gone and that it was Ingrid Maslen instead who now held my deepest affections in the palm of her hand.
Aiden, what have you done?
CHAPTER 14: GREGOR
Upon my return to The Shade, only one word could describe me: haunted. Every part of me wished that I had never left the island. I wished that I never went along with Lucas’ plan to take Sofia to The Oasis. I knew that I had made a mistake the moment I had stepped into the Maslens’ infamous Egyptian tombs. The Shade was my kingdom and I never should’ve left it. Now, after the destruction of The Oasis and the fall of the Maslens, I realized that things would never again be the same.
I shuddered whenever I thought about everything that had happened since my son, Derek, woke up from his four-hundred-year state of sleep. I never thought that I could ever feel as much hatred and resentment toward my own flesh and blood as I had felt for Derek when he had taken over The Shade and dethroned me as king of the island. Now, being back at the island, I had no choice but to ruin him.
I wanted my throne back. No matter what those fools belonging to the Elite thought, I was the rightful ruler of The Shade. Derek never should’ve taken that place from me.
Standing in the middle of the dome, I could feel my blood boiling as I stared at my son, sitting where I should’ve been seated. I would go as far as declaring war on him if it meant regaining my rightful place.
“Ever since that little vixen of yours arrived at The Shade, you’ve turned this kingdom upside down on her behalf.” I asked, relishing how Derek’s face tensed at the statement. Clearly, he was in turmoil. Never before had something like this happened at The Shade. When I was king, my subjects never had reason to doubt my loyalty. Now that the slightest bit of doubt was being cast on Derek, I had every intention of capitalizing on it.
“Sofia has nothing to do with the choices I made regarding The Shade,” he defended, the hint of affection that showed in his voice when he mentioned her name was easily detectable.
“Isn’t she the reason you stopped the culling and asked Eli to organize a way to tap into the blood banks? This move puts The Shade in danger of being discovered, does it not?”
“The same way you put The Shade in danger when you started abducting teenagers to turn into your slaves. Only with this measure, we don’t have to destroy any lives.” Derek was losing patience and it was obvious.
I smiled inwardly. I wanted his temper to blow up. I wanted to see him crumble and make a fool of himself. However, like I always found myself in danger of doing, I had once again underestimated my own son. Before I could think of another accusation to throw at him, he stood up and scoped the round hall.
“I tire of this. I am still ruler of this kingdom and will not be subjected to this mock trial. I am loyal to The Shade and will remain loyal to it. I am prophesied to find our kind true sanctuary and I will do that until I am robbed of my immortality. My love for Sofia Claremont is no secret to any of you. She is prophesied to be instrumental in helping me fulfill the prophecy. I am not working with the hunters. Yes. I stayed in hunter territory during the period between the fall of The Oasis and my return here. Sofia Claremont is the daughter of one of the highest ranking hunters in the world and he let me go because he knows I love her. He has forbidden me to ever see her again. In exchange for my agreement to that condition, he let me go.”
At that final bit of information, many of those present who were close to my son’s so-called fiancée or had formed some sort of attachment with her began to react.
“Does this mean that Sofia’s not going to return to the island?”
“Are you really going to stay away from her?”
“What about the prophecy? If you’re apart from Sofia that means you may never be able to bring our kind true sanctuary?”
“How did you ever get Sofia to agree to let you leave?”
“Does Sofia know that her father struck that bargain with you?”
“How could you have ever agreed to that bargain?”
I was furious by the questions being thrown at Derek. As far as I was concerned, all of them were irrelevant. Angry that I could be sidelined so easily, I surged forward letting out a loud scream. I then motioned to attack Derek, managing to claw a finger through his cheek before he could dodge me.
I watched as his blue eyes shifted from the ground to me as the wound on his cheek healed.
“You have no idea what you’re up against,” I warned him, even as I shut out from my memory the events that occurred between the time Borys Maslen and I escaped The Oasis up to the time I was released to return to The Shade. I could feel the darkness taking its power over me.
“What exactly am I up against, Father?” he asked before giving me an arrogant smirk. “You?”
Fury took over. “You never should’ve come against me.”
“Empty threats, Father. We both know you have no power here.”
At that point, I couldn’t help but smile inside. Derek was underestimating me and that would work to his disadvantage. After all, I wasn’t the same man who left The Shade for The Oasis. No, not anymore.
“This is war, Derek.”
He stood to his full height and squared his shoulders. “Then so be it, Father. If it’s war you want, it’s war you’re going to get.”
We stared each other down, ignoring the commotion the people surrounding us were causing. At that moment, without having to speak out, Derek and I had an understanding. As long as the war went on, I was no longer his father and he was no longer my son.