“All of you! Leave! Now!” Lorenzo bellowed.
“Father,” Luke protested.
“No!” His father cut him off. “I will not tolerate such impudence in my home. Come, Damiana. Let us no longer participate in this tragedy and depart.” He held out his hand, glaring at me.
His wife hustled to her husband’s side, her face contorted in anguish. I placed a hand over my heart in sympathy. Standing between Luke and his parents, I didn’t know what my place in this world was. But I did understand why my fiancé had refused to return for so long.
Lady Eveline spoke, knowing that her friends could hear her with their vampiric ears. “What about Ruby Mae’s safety?”
Luke’s parents stopped midstride. His father turned back to face us. “Our rules dictate that I cannot force you to leave,” he addressed me. “Your life will be protected as long as you remain under our roof. Which, I can honestly say, I hope will not be for too long.” Fueled by anger and disappointment, he escorted his wife into the interior of the castle.
“Well,” Lady Eveline said, joining me by my side. “That went about how I would have expected.”
“It was the disaster I always knew it would be,” Luke muttered.
I reached out to console him through touch, but he flinched away. His eyes stayed glued to the door through which his parents had departed.
Rubbing the temples of my throbbing head, I tried to ignore the swirl of emotions that churned my empty stomach. “So much for approaching things with confidence.” A sob caught in my throat, and I covered my mouth to capture it. “They absolutely hate me,” I moaned in a shaky whisper.
My sorrow snapped Luke out of his indignant mood, and he placed an arm around my shoulders. “I should have broached the subject with them before tonight. It came as an unnecessary shock. They need time to get to know you as I do.”
“You will both have some mending to do,” Lady Eveline admitted. She sipped on a glass of wine she’d found somewhere.
“You’ll be able to help, won’t you?” I pleaded.
The one vampire left standing with us dropped her gaze. “Alas, I have affairs that I must attend to, so I will be leaving in the morning.”
“Oh.” A fat tear rolled down my cheek at the thought of losing her valuable support.
I stood on the outdoor terrace in a foreign country with few friends. As strong as I was, I couldn’t help the overwhelming sense of wanting to return home.
Luke turned me to face him. “We have not lost the war.” He wiped another drop from my face. “The first shots have been fired. We will give them the rest of the night to soak in the new reality that they will have to accept you as my wife or deal with my exile for good.”
“Threats will not serve you well,” Lady Eveline warned.
“It is not a threat,” Luke said with firm determination. “It is what will happen if my parents continue their attack.”
More sobs burst out of me. “I don’t want you fighting over me. I’m not worth it.”
“Oh, cara.” Luke swept me into a tight embrace, rocking me back and forth. “Do not ever discount yourself like that again. You are my every treasure. And if they give you a chance, my parents will come to know your value to me as well.”
His words offered me a little comfort, and I chuckled when he produced a handkerchief from some inner pocket of his jacket. Accepting it, I cleaned off my face the best I could with no mirror.
“I will leave the two of you alone to nurse your wounds,” Lady Eveline said. “Despite how things may have seemed, you did well tonight being yourself. My advice to you from here on out is to continue to do so with pride.” Her heels clicked on the stones as she entered the castle.
Left alone, I didn’t know what to say to Luke about the whole situation. The fires in the cast-iron torches danced in the night air, and I watched them burn, wondering if the true nature of my powers would complicate matters even more.
Luke rapped a knuckle softly against my head. “I can hear the wheels turning. Try not to worry too much.”
I hugged him close and leaned my head into his shoulder. “I screwed things up, didn’t I?”
“No, the fault is my own.” My fiancé’s deep voice reverberated through me. “But you know what the best thing is?”
“What?” I asked, my voice muffled against his expensive shirt.
“We’ll fix it together. You and me.” He pulled back so I could see him. “That’s all that matters, Ruby Mae Jewell. Now, let’s go find you something to eat.”
He escorted me inside the castle walls, and I couldn’t help but feel more like a prisoner being marched to my doom than a fairy tale princess finding her happily ever after.
Chapter Eleven
Once inside, I expected to be inundated with questions from the numerous guests. But the second we crossed over the threshold, we didn’t see one person hovering about for the latest gossip. The pit in my stomach grew as I realized just how quickly everyone obeyed Luke’s parents and to what extent.
Rapid footsteps echoed down a nearby hallway, and Enzo appeared in front of us. His grim expression did nothing to ease my nerves.
Luke’s grip around my waist tightened. “If you’re acting as a messenger for my parents, don’t bother,” he barked.
“My apologies, Master Luca, but you know my commitment to my duties,” Enzo replied with a slight bow of his head.
My fiancé stiffened next to me. “I do, and therefore, you can tell Mother and Father that anything they wish to say to me, they can say in front of Ruby Mae or not at all.”
I pulled out of his
