“Exactly or Mr. Swan when I am the only one of my family present.” He relaxed back in the chair as the plane took off. “My job is not as important as my siblings to be called Sir and Madam.”
“What is your job? Outside of getting stains out of my shirt,” I joked.
“Recordkeeper of the land,” he answered, and when he realized I didn’t understand, he went on. “How many new vampires were created in our lands, new families, gifts of those families, how many covens there are, how many circles within those covens, and such.”
“You gather all of that information?”
“Now you understand one of the reasons I like the comfort and simplicity of a dry-cleaning business,” he joked before looking to Theseus. “Though I cannot be ungrateful. It was thanks to my work I was able to meet her. She was young too—”
“I was not as young as her,” Lucy interjected quickly. “And you don’t have to tell her our whole story.”
Taelon pouted, and for him who looked almost as rugged and strong as Theseus…almost; it was amusing. He quickly let her be and glanced over to Theseus. “Now that she is leaving, may I ask who it is that changed her, for our records? Of course, you do not have to tell us, but it has been one of my biggest mysteries this year.”
“You are asking me this because?”
Taelon eyebrows dipped in confusion. “Because I assumed you were the one who had someone change her? Just as you left, she was turned, with no connections to anyone. I wondered, but now that you are back and here with her, claiming her as your mate and not your daughter, I need to ask. Did you have her changed?”
I looked at him, and he stared back at me with tension on his forehead as he tried to remember. But he looked back at Taelon. “When I returned, she had already been reborn. Why would I leave her alone for so long had I orchestrated her rebirth?”
Taelon sighed deeply. “Your family’s always been so untrusting of others, so I thought you had wanted to keep her a secret from us.”
“I told you that you were reading too much into her,” Lucy whispered.
“So, you’ve been watching me, too?” I cut in.
He shook his head and nodded over to Theseus with an exasperated expression. “Your mate here, went through the extra work of hiding his locations. He rarely stayed in any one place for long. He carried on as if he were still searching until last year when he left, then there was your rebirth. I was almost certain that you two were linked…I was correct. But now I was stuck once again. Who could have changed her? I spoke to every Noble family in these lands, and none have a new child or grandchild. And to even suggest that a Lesser blood…” He drifted off, looking to Lucy, and she gave a tight smile back.
“What he means is it would take a very strong and rare Lesser blood to not kill a mortal, witch, or human while drinking from them, and even rarer for them to make a child that has great blood. When I found you, barely any blood had spilled. So, it could not have been my own kind.” That had been the most she had said since she’d gotten on the plane.
“In a year, you’ve found nothing?” Theseus pressed, and Taelon frowned, shaking his head.
“I am still working on solving this mystery. The fact that your maker created and abandoned you, let alone in Omeron territory, is a crime,” Taelon said harshly.
“This Omeron coven is powerful,” Theseus made a statement, but I felt like he was questioning it.
“The most any of us have seen in ages.” Taelon frowned. “I am sure they are sending out hunting parties to kill our kind.”
“Wait,” That didn’t make sense. “Didn’t you say you had a treaty?”
“They are killing Lesser bloods,” Lucy whispered, looking out the window.
“Lesser bloods aren’t protected in your treaty?” I demanded angrily of Taelon.
He shook his head. “They are, all vampires are. It’s just...”
“No one cares if it is them,” Theseus finished for him. “Noble bloods have big families, which is why they left Druella, and Lucy is connected to you. However, all the others are most likely alone or wander in small groups. They are not often invited into society, so no one would even know if they existed or not.”
“Exactly.” Taelon hung his head in shame. “They hunt in circles, roaming throughout the forest to kill them.”
Theseus met my eyes, and I remembered the witches we had encountered the night we’d met. If they hadn’t come across Theseus, they would have found someone like Lucy to kill. “But it’s your land, isn’t it? They are our kind; we should defend them—”
“You wish to convince my father to go to war with one of the most power covens we have ever come across to defend Lesser bloods?” Taelon snickered. “I wish you luck, young one. He would even hesitate if they killed one of his children.”
“They are so strong, yet,” Theseus interjected “there is something wrong with that head circle witch, Simone. She smells of nothing; thus, her powers should be bound, and yet, she still uses magic.”
“You call that using magic?” Lucy asked, and I was happy she was speaking up, much bolder and herself. “Simone Ward was one of the most powerful witches of the coven. And yet, today all she could really do was get her fingers to spark. Had it not been for the others she’d brought with her, you could have snapped her neck with little effort.”
He did. I remembered the now-altered version of events that took place.