Page 177 of Vampires of Eden

“He’s bold. He knows himself and his mind, and he’s not intimidated by you and your position. He’s exactly what you need.”

Ahead of me, the doors to the office are closed. I slow and turn to Raphael, keeping my voice low. “Is this a pep talk? I’m already bonded with him. You don’t need to convince me.”

“I know, but…I’ll admit that I was a jerk about Oliver. I’m sorry that I wasn’t supportive—but it’s because I knew he was wrong for you. I just… want to make it clear that this time isright. No matter what your mother says in there, Daniel is unquestionably your match.”

The sentiment warms my heart. Of course, I feel this. I know it, but hearing Raphael say it means a lot to me. “So, what you’re saying is, if Daniel was drowning, you’d lend a hand?”

Raphael’s serious expression lifts as he snorts in a laugh. “Yes, I absolutely would.”

“Thank goodness.” I turn and head toward the office door. No more stalling.

“I’ll wait out here,” he says.

With one hand gripped on the knob, I take a deep breath, then knock softly with my free hand.

“Come,” Father’s voice calls from inside.

I give Raphael one more look and our eyes meet with a kind of mutual panic swished with uncertainty. Then, I push the door open and step into the office.

Immediately, I’m hit with a wall of tension. The room is silent, but my parents’ vampiric energies pulse with an intensity I’ve never experienced. Father sits behind his desk rubbing his temples. As I walk inside, he stops to observe me. My mother paces, but she also comes to an abrupt halt in the middle of the room and regards me with eyes like daggers.

“Alejandro, where thehellhave you—” She freezes once more. Inhales and I can see her posture cinch with utter indignation. The same revelation that Raphael had only a few moments ago sweeps across her face. No, her entire being. Something in her aura shifts abruptly.

Without question, I am not about to get a congratulatory hug.

I step forward and lift my palms, wanting to take the lead in any way that I can. “Madre, please listen to what I have to say?—”

“¿Qué haz hecho?” Her gaze is riddled with disbelief. Disgust. “What in God’s name—Who have you?—”

“Fue mi decision,” I say calmly, pleading. I switch to English because my father doesn’t speak Spanish fluently and it annoys me when she does this in front of him. “This was my choice. A choice that I am old enough to make on my own, and I’ve never been happier! You told me to move on after Oliver, but you have no idea how… how truly miserable and confused I was. Nothing made sense to me anymore, but Daniel has helped me to see?—”

“Daniel?” My mother tilts her head as a new wave of disdain crosses her features. “Is that whose scent I smell all over you? You’ve gone andbondedyourself to that wretched and sickly leech?”

“Please don’t talk about him that way. You don’t know him at all?—”

“Oh, I know him.” She chuckles darkly with her nose upturned. “Daniel Lim—the former pianist that you were grossly obsessed with when you were a teenager. The one who was living in my sister’s house for years as your cousin’s pet whore.ThatDaniel Lim, right?”

Heat rises in my face from the vulgarity of her words. The ugliness of her perspective. “H-how can you casually say these awful things? That’s not how it was?—”

“Wasn’t it?” she asks, her voice pitching higher as she steps toward me. “Why? Did he tell you something different to make you feel sorry for him?”

“No—”

“He did. Because he’s just another disgusting, manipulative and predatory first-gen determined to get his fix on some purebred blood. And you’re so soft and silly like your father, you’ve fallen for his lies. Icannot believeyou’ve done this, Alejandro. Dios, ten piedad—como resolveremos este desastre. Disgraceful.”

She paces the floor, smoothing her hand over the top of her honey-blonde head.

My throat is so tight that I can barely breathe. My hands tremble at my sides. She doesn’t know Daniel at all. Nothing of what she’s described remotely resembles him and I can’t… How the hell do I even communicate as much to her when she’s being like this? How do I make her understand?

“You’ll have to break the bond.”

Her words are like a punch to my gut, making me refocus on her. I blink because I couldn’t have heard her correctly. “What?”

“We’ll break the bond,” she repeats.

“Victoria.” Father’s voice cuts into the tense atmosphere,weighted with fatigue. “We need to be reasonable about this. He cannot and should not break his bond with Daniel. For many reasons, but above all, it could kill them.”

“Alejandro will survive it, he’s strong,” she goes on, unbothered as if she’s suggesting that I simply wash my hands to remove an unwanted stain. “It hasn’t been that long, right? We’ll call someone—Lady Batista, Lord Cherrington, whoever.”