A Shade of Vampire 80 A Veil of Dark - Bella Forrest Page 0,61
about it this morning,” Derek said.
We walked out onto the terrace. Thayen lit up at the sight of us, putting his book on the table. “Good morning!” he said. “Mother and Father had the terrace covered for you! There isn’t much sun with the haze, but still. I think you’ll like it here during the day.”
“I’m already loving it,” I replied, taking a seat next to him. “What were you reading?”
“Oh, a brief history of the Naloreans pre-occupation,” Thayen said. “Father says I need to understand what the world was like before the Visio empire, so as never to let our world regress in any fashion.”
The more time I spent with Thayen, the more I looked forward to finally taking the adoption step with Derek. We’d talked about this for so long. We’d done our research. We’d prepared a new room in our Shade home for a future son or daughter. Then the presence of Visio had popped up on our radar and, well… here we were.
Thayen was a noble young soul. So kind and eloquent. Willing to learn, to be a good person. Despite his privilege and noble bloodline, he seemed more down-to-earth than most bourgeois Aeternae I’d met in the palace. In many ways, I felt he was more like Acheron than Danika, though he was frequently closer to his mother whenever we met them.
“Learning from the past has taught many of us not to repeat certain tragic mistakes,” Derek said, flipping through the book’s pages.
Thayen nodded his approval. “And the Naloreans have always been a dualistic kind of people. Scholarly by nature, yet so violent and sectarian. Their pre-conquest history is a shocking mixture of progress and spilled blood. Nalore is definitely better off under Visio’s control, that much I can say with undeniable certainty.”
“You don’t think people should have the freedom to do as they wish with their lands?” I asked, pouring myself a glass of blood.
Thayen opened his mouth to respond, but his mother beat him to it. “Not all people should be trusted with autonomy. Not all people understand the responsibility they have to their children, their peers, and their lands,” Danika said, joining us on the terrace. “Had Visio not invaded Nalore, that planet would’ve ended up a frozen mass grave. The clans were so violent and ruthless to one another, their life expectancy was thirty years, tops. Thanks to Visio, they now live to be a hundred, even a hundred and fifty.”
Acheron came out, carrying a scroll and a small stamp box. “Their long lives have given us great knowledge. Fantastic stories. A true cultural treasure. The Naloreans are what they are today because of the Aeternae.” He sat next to Derek and me, spreading the scroll on the table. “I spent the night drafting a new law.”
Thayen’s eyes grew wide, while Danika’s rolled with frustration. “Is that for the blood slave trade?” the young Aeternae asked.
“Despite my pleas to not make it so harsh, yes,” Danika replied.
“You know damn well that we have to deter blood slave trade altogether if we want to stop giving the Darklings a market,” Acheron insisted, voicing exactly what Derek and I had already discussed. It was proof that Acheron was more on the good side, while Danika preferred pandering to the Aeternae elites, just like my husband and I had suspected.
“It’ll bring the nobles down on our heads,” Danika muttered.
“We’re Lord and Lady Supreme, with an heir to the throne. Their support may be important, but that doesn’t mean I can’t ram this through. The elites will be furious, and they will object, yes, but the Empire’s constitution is still on our side. I can use my veto power. I haven’t vetoed those self-entitled jerks in a very long time,” Acheron replied, heating the wax stamp above a lit candle. “The masses hold us up, not the rich Aeternae. Maybe it’s time for some drastic measures to remind them of where each of us stands in the greater picture.”
“You’re already signing it into law?” I asked, genuinely surprised by the speed with which Acheron had reacted to our suggestions, though I knew part of his haste had to do with making a good impression on his son, whom he basically worshipped.
“Corbin sent word. They stopped numerous raids along the Green Road, on their way to Astoria,” Acheron said. “It’s a crisis, if you ask me, and Zoltan has been keeping a lid on it for too long. We haven’t done anything because we didn’t know,