The first step down was when I decided that Sofia was no longer my responsibility.

I asked Cameron and Yuri to meet with me right after I attacked Ashley and hit Vivienne. I was in the music room. I kept the lights dim, my fingers playing a sad tune on the grand piano. The knights approached tentatively. Perhaps my face betrayed that I was in no mood for company.

“Find yourselves a seat and tell me what happened. How was it possible that my brother escaped from you both?” I kept playing the sorrowful melody.

Cameron took the lead and made himself comfortable on one of the cushioned benches. Yuri followed soon after. He appeared to be on edge with the way his fingers were twitching as he fumbled with them. I noted then how Yuri never seemed to be at ease when he was around me.

“Well?” I coaxed impatiently. “Speak.”

“We found Lucas at Claudia’s,” Cameron obliged. “Apparently, he’d been hiding out with her all this time. He was quick to escape. Most likely heard us coming and jumped out the window of one of the guest rooms right before we arrived.”

“I ran after him…” Yuri chimed in.

“…and Lazaroff was pretty damned fast too. Always has been.”

From my peripheral vision, I could make out Cameron glaring at Yuri, as if to tell the younger vampire to let him do all the talking. Of the three of us, Cameron was the oldest – both in natural and vampire years. He’d shown me more reverence and respect than Yuri ever did however.

“Yuri caught up with your brother,” Cameron continued after a short pause, “but as you may well know, Lucas overpowered him. Had I not caught up in time, the prince would’ve ripped Yuri’s heart out. When Lucas saw me coming, he made a run for it. By the time I reached the port, he’d already knocked out the guards and escaped on one of the speed boats.”

“The speed boats?” At that, I abruptly stopped playing a tune. “He didn’t take a submarine?”

“The subs are new and far slower than a speed boat. He wouldn’t have known how to run the submarines,” Yuri explained. “He hasn’t shown any interest in navigating the subs anyway.”

“So he went out of the island in broad daylight?” I turned on my bench so that I was facing them. “He’ll die for sure…”

“I wouldn’t bet all my marbles on it.” Cameron chuckled. “If there’s anything I admire about your brother, it’s his will to survive.”

Cameron was right. Knowing my brother, he had a plan up his sleeve that would help him survive even the sun. Not being able to argue with Cameron’s reasoning, I had to ask, “Why was Yuri there?”

“He was the one who tipped me off that Lucas was at Claudia’s.”

I eyed Yuri thoughtfully. I didn’t know why I was surprised. I just thought that after all those centuries, the strange thing Claudia and Yuri had going on between them was over. I never fully understood the dynamic of their relationship or Yuri’s blatant outward disdain, and yet seeming fascination, of Claudia.

“How exactly did you come about this information?”

Yuri gave me a response – a long-winded one, as he was inclined to do. His explanation escaped me however, because my mind quickly drifted off to Sofia’s welfare. To say that I didn’t care what happened to her was a lie. The thought of any danger befalling her sickened me. I knew that if Lucas survived – and he most likely would – he would pose a formidable threat to her life. If he wasn’t aware that Sofia was no longer at The Shade, he still had plenty of time and means to find out that Sofia was no longer under my protection.

Part of me wanted to heed to Vivienne’s coaxing to go after her, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. My ego couldn’t possibly bear the thought of traipsing around the mainland in search of some teenager. Sofia chose to leave, knowing full well that upon leaving The Shade, she would no longer be under my protection. If Lucas went after her, that was her cross to bear. Not mine. She ceased to become my obligation the moment she chose to escape.

“So? What do we do now?” Cameron inquired.

I had to blink several times to snap out of my reverie and focus my attention back on the case at hand. “I want Claudia arrested and put on trial.”

Yuri’s eyes widened. “Sir, with all due respect, no Elite has ever been tried for a crime in all of The Shade’s history. It’s unheard of.”

“It’s either I put her on trial or I kill her for defying me. She spat on my face when she kept my brother from me when I so clearly demanded that he be delivered to my hands. I cannot stand for that if I am to rule.”

“Derek…” Cameron slightly stood to try and reason with me.

I turned away from them. “Have it done immediately. The trial starts tomorrow.” I continued playing the piano. It signaled that our conversation was over and that I no longer needed anything from them.

My next stumble down was when I removed everything that could possibly remind me of Sofia.

I paid Ashley a visit inside the room she shared with the girls not long after Cameron and Yuri left. She was still unconscious.

“Why hasn’t she healed? Hasn’t she been fed any blood?” I asked, staring at her limp form. I searched for a sense of guilt, but found none of it. Instead, I found that the urge to suck her dry was overwhelming. It was in my nature to kill and the predator in me craved for more of her.

“I fed her my blood, your majesty,” Kyle began to explain. “It takes time for it to take effect.”

I found this daunting. The several times I had to heal Sofia with my blood, she healed almost instantly. I shrugged it off. Sofia’s different. I knew that from the moment I first saw her. My gut turned at the longing I had for Sofia and the hunger I felt for Ashley.

My eyes began to focus on the area of Ashley’s neck that I sank my teeth into. The pain inside – the hunger – was almost unbearable.

“Get her out of my house.” The command came out deep and threatening.

Kyle’s eyes fell on me. “Sir?”

“You heard me. Get her out of here. Take her to your house. I don’t care. I won’t be able to keep myself from devouring her if she’s kept here.”

Kyle nodded, immediately understanding what I was trying to say. “The other girls?”

“Take them too. Have Sam take one or both under his wing. I just want them out of here.”

I motioned to leave the room, wanting to distance myself from Ashley as soon as possible before I lost all sense of self-control. With all the strength I had left, I stopped and gave Kyle one final instruction.

“Destroy the Sun Room. I want it to be bare and stripped of everything that’s in it. Make it a blank canvass once again. I don’t want anything left in this house to remind me of her.”

Vivienne was right. I’d succumbed to the darkness. As I sat in my place at the Great Dome, in preparation for Claudia’s trial, the one emotion that still connected me to my humanity was the guilt. It never left me. I knew that the moment I let go of the guilt, I’d be a lost cause. The temptation to ease my pain by switching off the emotion was strong, but I couldn’t do that to myself. I couldn’t let myself lose what little was left of my humanity – no matter how painful it was.

Claudia was brought to the stand. To say that she looked unrepentant was an understatement. She looked outright livid, with her eyes glaring golden fire at me.

Eli, who was to head the proceedings, nervously shuffled on his feet as he took his place beside Claudia. He kept stealing glances at her, as if he were afraid that she might suddenly just pounce on him. With Claudia looking like an angry lioness and Eli a nervous, shivering mouse, it seemed highly possible that Claudia would end up devouring the thin, lanky vampire.

“Let’s get this done with, shall we?” I initiated. My eyes fell on the empty seat where Vivienne was supposed to be. Where the hell, is she? I made a mental note to seek her out right after the trial.

Eli began to make the introductory remarks, announcing the purpose for the trial and what Claudia was being charged against. For the most part, it was clear that none of us were sure of what to do. It’d been centuries since a person was last tried at The Shade. This was the first time a member of the Elite had been on trial.

Eli’s jaw was twitching when he finished his introductions and turned toward the defendant. “How do you plead?”

“Not guilty.” Claudia kept her eyes straight on me.

My brow rose. “You deny keeping my brother within your home?”

“No.”

“Were you aware that I, your prince and superior, gave a command that he be surrendered to my custody by any citizen of The Shade whom he came into contact with?”

“Yes, I was aware.”

“Then how are you not guilty? Is it not clear that you defied me?”

“Let’s stop playing this charade, your royal highness,” she hissed. “All of us know that you left The Shade with no laws before you went on your drowsy four-hundred-year retreat. You cannot charge me with a crime when there are no laws to break.”

I leaned an elbow over the armrest of the leather recliner I was rested on. One corner of my lips rose in an amused half-smile. “You see that’s where you’re wrong, Claudia. In this island, there is but one law and you broke it. The word of those who rule over you and in my father’s absence… that word is mine.” I scoped every member of the Elite present in that room. “Mark my words. In The Shade, for as long as I rule, my word is law. Those who defy it will suffer the consequences. Does anyone dare object?”

The silence was electrifying. I was fully expecting Claudia to stand up for herself, but to my surprise, she cowered back. I smirked. Even lionesses fear the king of the pride.

“Is there anyone here who would like to speak on the defendant’s behalf?” I called out.

Claudia didn’t have an abundance of allies at The Shade, so I wasn’t expecting anyone to stand up for her. I was surprised when Yuri stood on her behalf. Of all the people I could’ve expected to say something to save Claudia’s neck, it certainly wasn’t him.