Kari smiled. "Yes, please do."
Simon and Javier exchanged looks and stepped forward eagerly.
Ivan pushed his way to the front. "It requires three ranking family members' blood to authenticate. I insist on being the third."
Javier gave him an impatient look from the stage. "Then get up here."
Together the three used their own sharp fingernails to draw blood and allowed the drops to fall on the cover of each book. One by one, each book glowed with a brilliant golden light. Around the room, everyone pointed. Vivi could hear their exclamations of wonder.
Simon and Javier stood on either side of Ivan and practically manhandled him off the stage when he reached for one of the books.
Kari looked over her shoulder at them. "Go ahead." She turned back to the room. "From my understanding, now that the books have been proven to be authentic, each person who wishes to claim a royal title need only place a single drop of blood on the last page of their book. If their claim is true, it will glow silver. If they are not of that particular bloodline it will glow red."
Vivi watched as the others opened their books to the last page and pulled out their prepared daggers. She followed suit and cut her palm, letting it drip onto the bespelled page. All four books began to glow with a soft silver light. Gasps were heard throughout the room.
"Princes Gavriel, Caspian and Adriel. Princess Vivian. Do you have a name you would like to put forward as royals to be confirmed as our interim Prince or Princess while Prince Magnus recovers?" Kari asked in a clear voice.
Caspian nodded. "We would like to confirm Prince Gavriel to act as our leader and prince, until such a time that Prince Magnus can return to his duties."
"I demand to see Gavriel's name in the book!" Ivan screeched. "He was a no-name upstart that appeared out of nowhere six hundred years ago. He takes orders from a shifter as second in command. No one who is of royal blood would do such a thing!"
Vivi watched as an evil grin appeared at Gavriel's lips. He picked up his book and walked in front of the table for the entire room to see. In a dramatic fashion, he started at the back of the book where the younger members of his family were listed. Page by page he continued to flip. One by one, as the pages were turned Ivan grew more and more gray. Gavriel took his time, treating each page gently.
It took him a full three minutes to reach the very beginning of the book. When page one appeared, his name glowed as if written with a silver ink. Vivi wasn't the only one who felt as if the air in the room was suddenly sucked out the door.
Javier and Simon fell to their knees, and the entire room followed their example. More than one person was moved to tears. Caspian and Adriel walked around to the front of the table and knelt down on one knee in reverence. Vivi stood frozen, unsure of what to do. Gavriel turned his head so that the room couldn't see his face, and he winked at her.
His comforting action allowed her to breathe again. She carefully set her books down and walked around the table to kneel beside Adriel and Caspian. The only ones standing were the shifters, fae and witches of the Alpha and Eta units. Every single vampire in the room offered Gavriel their neck with their hands over their hearts.
"Please stand, this is not needed," Gavriel said in a firm but gentle voice.
No one moved, like Vivi they were overwhelmed by his very presence. Gavriel Ambrosios, the one from history and legend. The Dark Prince himself come to life from their childhood stories and dreams. Every vampire in the world knew his name and owed them their very lives. Vivi had assumed that the gentle vampire she was introduced to had been named for his illustrious ancestor, not that he was the Dark Prince himself.
From the floor Javier looked up, tears streaming down his face. "Why did you leave us?" he asked brokenly. His eyes held a vulnerability that one didn't see often in older vampires. For once Javier and the other ranking family members weren't the oldest ones in the room. Javier was looking to Gavriel the way a child looked to a parent.
Gavriel gracefully jumped from the stage and knelt down between Javier and Simon and placed a comforting hand on their backs. "Because you no longer needed me. You all learned how to stand on your own. You came together and built this city and established the laws that allowed our people to thrive." He pulled the two men to their feet, and they unabashedly leaned into his strength. "I am the past, but you all are the future. When this crisis is over Prince Magnus will resume his position with my full support. I will return to Lycaonia and continue down the path Fate has set before me."
"But you are our prince," Simon said choking on the emotion in his words.
Gavriel smiled. "I will always be watching over you, never doubt that. But you already have a prince, and right now he needs our support."
Simon stood a little straighter. "What can we do?"
"Tomorrow I will need for you all to make a general announcement on your levels that Prince Magnus is feeling a bit under the weather and that in the meantime I have been confirmed to help him while he recovers. The last thing we need is chaos and panic," Gavriel said.
"Yes, sire," the room spoke as one.
Gavriel blinked. "That will take some getting used to."
Javier turned to him. "Do you really have to return to Lycaonia? As the highest ranking member of our race, there is nothing that would be denied you." He looked over to Aiden. "I mean no offense," he turned back to Gavriel. "Why would you take orders from anyone."
Gavriel met Aiden's eyes and smiled. "Because he protects everyone." He looked around the room. "And I protect him."
CHAPTER EIGHT
"He is over ten thousand years old! Can you even imagine?" Vivi exclaimed flinging herself on Etain's high four-poster bed.
Etain nodded. "Our queen is just as old. It isn't unheard of