The Vampire's Luna

Luna stayed quiet after that. Her heart beat so loudly, she could barely hear anything else. Her gaze flickered across the room, scanning the expressions of the lords, watching how they leaned forward in anticipation.

"I have just been informed early this morning," Gabriel said smoothly, drawing out every word, "that Royal Concubine Seliora and Prince Damien lied about the existence of a pregnancy. There is no heir on its way."

For a long, eerie heartbeat, the court was frozen in stunned silence—then the hush broke into horrified gasps and murmured chaos.

Luna’s head snapped toward Seliora, and what she saw made her stomach sink. Seliora’s face was ghost-pale, and her lips trembled. She looked around wildly, as if searching for someone to pull her from the abyss. The moment Luna saw that expression, she knew. It was true. The bitch had lied.

"Oh goddess," Luna muttered under her breath. She wished desperately for some way to telepathically stop Damien from exploding. But instead, she stood frozen, lips sealed, praying silently.

"Lord Gabriel!" Damien thundered, rising violently. "How dare you?"

He was all vampire prince now. His eyes glowed faintly, and his fangs dropped ever so slightly as the sheer rage pulsed through him. Some of the council members actually recoiled; others leaned in, clearly hungry for blood. This was what they had come for.

"How dare I? How dare I?" Gabriel echoed mockingly, spreading his arms with theatrical outrage. "How dare you?! You lied to the entire kingdom! Every single step of you and your father’s reign has been built on lies." 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Luna glanced at Luciver, and even the king looked rattled. He was letting this unfold.

"I swear to the goddess," Damien growled, "if you do not have proof of this, I will rip off your head myself, family be damned."

"You think I would come here, invite the Lords to this meeting without having proof?" Gabriel asked. "Please, I am a lot of things—ambitious, yes—but I am not a fool."

The Lords murmured again, the room crackling with anticipation. Luna felt her stomach knot tighter with every second. Gabriel was enjoying this, basking in the drama.

"How are we sure this proof isn’t fabricated?" Councilman Richard asked, finally breaking through the murmurs. "We cannot just tear down the royal house based on the word of a bitter brother!"

Luciver understood Gabriel too well, and he understood the weight of court politics even better. For Gabriel to come forth with something so incendiary, something that could be easily disproven by any competent doctor... meant it was real. Which meant the throne was no longer just under fire—it was cracking under it.

"If you need proof, I will bring you proof," Gabriel said, already savoring the silence he’d carved with his words. "But shouldn’t you ask Lady Seliora herself? She is standing just right there."

Every head turned toward her.

The spotlight found Seliora. Her hands trembled at her sides. Damien turned to look at her and everything inside her seemed to shatter into tiny, panicked pieces.

"Step forward," Damien said.

Seliora took a small step, then another. The lords stared at her. She wished she could vanish, wished the floor would open and swallow her whole, but no such mercy came. She reached the center and stood before them all, head bowed, trying to steady her breath.

Damien glanced at Luna briefly. She stood tall, regal, composed... but her eyes were on fire.

"Seliora," Damien began. "Is there any truth to what Lord Gabriel alleges?"

Seliora’s knees nearly buckled. Every cell in her body screamed to tell the truth and fall on her knees in dramatic repentance. But pride held her upright.

"No, your highness," she said.

She didn’t know how long she could keep up the lie. Didn’t know how long she’d have her head attached to her body. But she intended to milk every moment she had left.

Damien turned back to Gabriel with a satisfied look, his lips curling in a smirk that barely hid the boiling anger beneath. His entire frame was stiff with controlled rage. "You are a despicable man. And I am constantly ashamed that you have any kind of relation to me."

Gabriel looked rather pleased with himself. "There is a witness standing just outside the side doors," he announced. "I will get her myself."

The entire council watched as Gabriel strutted across the chamber toward the side doors. He opened one dramatically, letting it creak slowly. A small figure stepped through, hesitantly.

Gabriel led her to the front, his hand lightly guiding her elbow.

"Introduce yourself," Gabriel commanded.

Mira’s eyes flitted nervously around the room. Every royal lord, every pair of eyes locked on her.

"My name is Mira Callen," she began. "I am Lady Seliora’s doctor at the Royal Clinic."

Damien’s eyes narrowed, and he leaned forward slightly. "Have you been pressurized to be here today?"

Mira visibly gulped. "Yes, your highness."

"How?"

"Lord Gabriel approached me when I was finishing my shift early this morning and asked me about the news regarding the royal heir. He threatened to torture me."

The gasp that ran through the chamber was sharp and immediate. Seliora looked away, chewing her bottom lip.

"So, Lord Gabriel came to you with suspicions?" Damien continued.

Mira nodded with the slow, nervous energy of someone walking through a minefield. "Yes, your highness."

Damien turned his gaze to Gabriel, eyebrows raised in amusement. "What spooked you, Lord Gabriel? What made you suspicious that Lady Seliora lied about being pregnant?"

"I have my sources," Gabriel declared. "I may have been shoved away from living in the Blood Castles, but I still have friends here. Friends who see and know that I am the right person to rule."

Damien took a deep breath and turned toward the trembling doctor still standing in the front of the council.

"Have you been pressured into lying here today, Doctor Mira Callen?" he asked.

Mira shook her head, looking him straight in the eye for the first time since entering the room. "No," she said.