Thicker Than Blood (Blood Vice Book 5) by Angela Roquet

Author:Angela Roquet [Roquet, Angela]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-04-30T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

“Ursula, Duchess of House Lilith, stands accused of murdering her sire, Morgan, Princess of House Lilith,” Lady Beauclair announced. “She also stands accused of unleashing two corrupt, vampling scions on the world. The Vampiric High Council is called here tonight to determine her guilt or innocence, and to exact appropriate punishment for her crimes.”

“By the blood!” the crowd cheered, a communal granting of permission to get things started.

It sounded more like something to be yelled at a gladiator match where opponents fought to the death, and it seemed to energize Lady Beauclair. She paced the stage in her clicky red heels and stopped a few feet away from where Ursula sat in the chair of guilt and disgrace. The four white cloaks who had delivered the duchess stood in a line against the backdrop curtains, and more formed a barrier before the front row of the audience. In the shadows at the edge of the stage, I spotted Murphy and Donnie, keeping watch over the duchess as the duke had instructed.

“How do you plead?” Lady Beauclair asked Ursula.

“I’m of House Lilith. I do not plead,” she said, hiking her chin farther into the air. “But I will tell you that I am not responsible for the princess’s death. I loved Morgan, and I would not have harmed her for anything in the world.”

“Do you deny that you were jealous of her potential scion?”

“Of course I was,” Ursula snapped. “Every first-born worries they will be replaced by their sire’s newest child.”

Dante tensed beside me, and my eyes involuntarily darted across the theater to where Kassandra sat beside the prince. I wondered if he’d felt that way about her when she came along fifty years after him. Was he jealous of his sire’s affection for his sibling scion?

“Did you murder your sire’s second chosen heir?” Beauclair asked.

“No, I did not.” Ursula swallowed and focused her gaze on the councilors. “I was jealous, but I would not harm someone Morgan cared for. I could never cause her such pain.”

“If you are not guilty, then why did you flee Morgan’s estate in California?” Beauclair demanded.

Ursula readjusted herself on the chair and crossed her legs. The act was meant to project confidence, but the glassy sheen of her eyes broke the illusion. “My sire had just been murdered, our entire harem slaughtered. I was afraid for my life and didn’t know whom I could trust. My scions had already defected, but I was in no condition to nurture them back into the fold. So I took the required time to grieve, and then I began my search for them. Unfortunately, Blood Vice was always one step ahead, and I never did catch up with my children.”

Beauclair nodded in mock sympathy. “And where is the princess’s almost-scion now? Her body was not found among the carnage you left behind.”

“She escaped with me,” Ursula confessed. “Obviously, she feared for her life, too. We helped each other through the worst of our grief, and then parted ways.”

“How convenient.

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