queen’s mansion for the transition ceremony, and she was dressed in a sheer sarong and nipple pasties with tassels.
“Uh, sure,” I said, squeezing from between Lalitta and Francesca.
Lalitta gave me a little push. Francesca didn’t budge an inch to help. So things were pretty much the same now Ingenium was over.
I followed the queen to a small lounge I’d never been inside. Kyros tended toward practical space. His parents did not. This place was a sprawling maze that made no sense—unless it was a representation of King Julius’s mind.
She tugged me to sit beside her. “I wanted to talk about the transition.”
The queen was the perfect counterpart to the king, really—in terms of her perfect nipples and how she balanced him. She popped up sporadically to smooth situations and keep the peace in the family. I’d gained acceptance from her and Angelica right at the start, simply for being the force that reminded Kyros he needed to live, but I hadn’t spent much one-on-one time with her.
“We haven’t had much time getting to know each other,” she said in her sultry voice.
“I was thinking the same. There hasn’t really been time.”
She leaned back. “We’ll have nothing but time after the transition.”
If I survived it. Because that wasn’t assured.
You will, Kyros’s furious thoughts burst into my thoughts.
His fury wasn’t directed at me but the situation. He was tied in more knots over the transition than me.
An alpha’s blood was necessary to trigger the change, but survival depended on the strength of the other six vampires involved. There was surely a connection between the seven blood exchanges in the mating ritual and the seven Vissimo needed to change a human, but no one knew what that connection was. Of course, there was a clan dedicated to solving the mystery.
It would have sucked to be the guinea pig for figuring out the answer, was my opinion on the matter.
The queen took my hand. “I wanted to speak with you about my grandchildren.”
My brain slammed on the brakes. I choked on my own spit. “What grandchildren?”
Oh my god, does Kyros have kids?
None, my beauty. Mother’s scaring her off. Intercept.
Kyros started moving through the house toward us.
“Any children you may have with my eldest son,” she clarified.
I blew out a breath and then realised I shouldn’t relax yet. “I’m twenty-one, Queen Titania. I can’t say that’s on the radar for me yet.”
“Which is why I must talk to you.” Her eyes were so beautiful, like the meadow inside a teardrop. It was no wonder her children were the most perfect creations I’d ever seen.
She blinked, glancing down. “Vissimo don’t reproduce easily. It has taken me three hundred years of copious sex with many men to birth two children.”
Kyros turned on his heel at the mention of copious sex with many men.
I withheld my grin. Just.
The queen sighed. “My point is that you’ll only have one sexual partner because mates are unable to share each other,” the beautiful vampire continued. “I couldn’t rest easy without telling you how unlikely conceiving will be for you. False hope in motherhood is the greatest challenge Vissimo females face. You will have an eternity with my son, yes, but you need to be aware that eternity may not include children.”
My ideal future had always included children. Two or three.
I was twenty-one, but I’d seen the veiled heartache within Vissimo women and men. Angelica was nearly two hundred years old and had never mentioned children. And she had a harem.
Yes, I wanted children with Kyros one day. If they didn’t come, I liked to think I could find joy in my nieces and nephews. Or maybe by helping human children in need. Kyros was enough, and that would always hold true, no matter the heartache I may feel in the future.
“I don’t understand eternity, Queen Titania, so I appreciate that what you’re saying is probably above my comprehension,” I answered. “Children aren’t on my radar yet. If I remain human, Kyros and I are incompatible. There may not be a high chance of conceiving once I’m Vissimo, but that’s more than zero chance.”
“There’s still time to have a child with a human male,” she said quietly.
She was telling me to sleep with another man.
“I wanted to present it as an option,” she added, spotting my shock.
Kyros’s guilt was heavy.
Why do you feel bad? I asked him.
Because a human male could give you children.
Not all the time. What makes you think I’d want children with anyone else?
He thought about that. You wouldn’t.