General Sterling

Brat

    I've been laying in my coffin for hours without sleep. My mother went to Aleksander to see if it's true or not. I'm starting to see more than I think they're intending to show me. The only person who can tell me the truth is more worried about my well-being and she's on their side. Ada thinks she protecting me and my mother is doing everything in her power to ensure that it stays that way. I can't shake the feeling like Ada is just a victim in all of this. Something to cover up all the s**t Armad and my mother did before I was born, before he knew, and after. A light tap on my coffin lid made me open my eyes. Using my wings, I pushed it open knowing it's my brother. 

    "I know you haven't slept," he handed me a bottle of apple juice. These have been my favorite since we were at Reyna Peak. Rayna was the first to give me one and I almost cried at how good it is. I sat up and opened it. I took a sip so I wouldn't seem rude. I may love these but I'm not in the mood for it. He got into the coffin with me and made himself at home. "I hate this," 

    "Me too," I nodded. Memories of us as kids sneaking into one another's coffins late in the afternoon swarmed my mind and made me smile. 

    "E, I know you're not going to like what I'm about to say. But I rather you hear it from me than mom or dad or anyone else," 

    "What now?" I groaned. 

    "Nothing you don't already know," he flicked my hand, playfully. "We were the first of our kind and we suffered a lot for it, but we weren't the only ones. Mom, dad, Armad, they had to live with the fact that we belonged to them. They had to compromise with everything while they were figuring out what the hell we were. 

    "I honestly believe the former General had it the roughest. Could you imagine having a six-year-old mate who had the ability to lure him in the way we as the incubus can? He could have hurt you. He would have destroyed you and there would have been no one to stop him from taking what was his without killing him. You more than anyone knows how we can be as vampires," 

    "So you're saying that I should just get over it because of what I am? This is my fate?" 

    "Yes," he nodded. "This isn't your end, E. There will be others who are going to love you for who you are. What you are. Not because of some f*****g bond you have no control of. He was damned the same way Raj is. The same way AB is. Daniel. I forgot Kat's mate's name," 

    "Me too," I chuckled. "They're never around," 

    "I can't mark and properly lay with my soul. I can't even touch her without the gems around her neck bursting and her power getting out of control. The closer I get, the more we have to pull back. It's the same for the others. They can't properly mark what's theirs without being poisoned. They can't feed on the blood of their mates. Can you imagine never being able to taste what you crave most in life?" 

    "No," I answered. Stupid tears are streaming down my face again. 

    "I know you're angry and odds are that it's only going to get worse as we move forward with all of this. Right now, what you need to keep in mind is Damian. No one else. Not even yourself. Our priority is the boy. Come here," he motioned me to go over to him. I went over to him and curled up into his arms. "He is going to be magnificent. He's just a fetus and he's already fighting to stay alive. Keeping you strong. Your hue hasn't diminished in the slightest. If anything, I think it's gotten stronger," 

    "I think so too," I laughed looking down at my belly. 

    "E?" we both stood up when my mom knocked on the door. 

    She walked in with a sad expression on her face and I knew that Charlie was right. There is an heir to the Sterling covens and he's Armad's son. I sat down in my coffin feeling the tears come more than ever before. My son is going to be fine. He's going to live and I have to live with the fact that I owe it to my mate being a f*****g w***e. 

    "Edwardian," I looked up to see Lesley Sterling walk in behind my mother. 

    "You're the last f*****g person I want to see," I growled at her. My mom motioned my brother to follow her out. He looked down at me as if telling me to remember what we just talked about. 

    "I know," she came over to me and sat in my coffin where my brother had just been sitting. She smells like him. Her blue eyes are just like his. Full of life and shaking with rage. She curled into herself as she began to cry. "I never thought I'd lose him. He always seemed so invincible," 

    "What do you want?" I asked. She's not wrong. I saw it with my own eyes and I still can't fully believe it. She looked up at me without smiling the way the others do. There's no pity in her expression but there is understanding. 

    "I knew there would be a time when I would have to face you, princess. A time when I'd have to answer for everything I've done. It was me who ordered Armad to conceive the boy. Man, now. I guess it goes further back than that. 

    "Princess, you come from a time when women no longer lived with the whip of their mates around their neck. Ada and Armad went to war and reshaped our men so that our women would survive. At the time, our females were dying and I thought I wasn't going to make it very far and I needed to make sure my covens survived. 

    "My younger sister had just been beaten to death by her mate and I took her only daughter under my wing. When she came of age, I ordered Armad to take her and that whatever the outcome, I'd be sure to take care of it. As a boy, Armad resented me for being weak. For troubling his father despite us all being at war with one another and his father did what all males do to their firstborns. He compelled Armad to follow my orders. 

    "He didn't want to. Armad fought me for as long as he could but I gave the order and he followed it as his father intended it. I'll have you know that Amara died before you freed us from Purgatory. I'm not asking you to meet him. Ada is collecting his blood for you. I just-" 

    "Want me to spare his life," I scoffed. "Alright, I won't kill him and I won't let Damian kill him once he finds out the truth," 

    "Thank you," she smiled at me with relief. 

    "In return, you are to stay away from my son. You are not his grandmother and you will never be. You can keep your little bastard in your s**t covens and stick them so far up your ass-" 

    "Edwardian," my mom growled as she barged back into the room. "Take it back," 

    "f**k you too," I growled at the two of them. "Get out of my room," 

    "Lesley, she's under a lot of stress right now. She doesn't know what she's saying," my mom helped her out of her coffin. 

    "Agreed," Lesley bowed her head to me.  

    "No one is to know who he is. If they find out, the vampires of Darkness will hunt him until there is only one and they won't choose him," I warned her. 

    "My Queen," she bowed and stormed out of my room. 

    "What the hell is wrong with you? Do you know what Lady Sterling has done for us or what she's had to endure for your sake, you insufferable little brat?" mom's voice chattered the glass decor around my room and cracked my window. 

    "Are you done?" I asked looking up at her. Her eyes are glowing bright yellow. 

    "You have no idea what it is we've had to put up with all of these years to get you to be who you are now. You have no right speaking to her or anyone who is trying to help you the way you are. You are just like your father. You have no soul and you go around sucking it out of everyone else," 

    "Get out of my room, mother. I want to be alone," I waved her off as calmly as I could. I sat lowered my body back into my coffin and reached for the lid. 

    "Edwardian, I get that you're hurting but you're going to lose a lot more if you continue to push us all away," she cried. 

    "Okay," I nodded and pulled the lid shut. "Make sure the door doesn't hit you on the way out,"