Let the Vote Begin
1032 Words
CHAPTER 20: Let the Vote Begin
The sun dipped low behind the obsidian towers of the vampire palace, staining the sky the color of blood.
Dusk had come.
And with it, the vote that would decide the fate of the bond and of me.
I wore black.
Not because I was mourning, but because I wanted them to remember who they feared. Who they tried to silence. Who they failed to destroy.
Zara helped fasten the silver clasp at my throat as we stood outside the Council chamber.
“You don’t have to prove anything to them,” she said. “You already survived the impossible.”
I shook my head. “It’s not about proving something. It’s about finishing it. For Lysandra. For Lucien. For me.”
Lucien stepped beside me. He was in full royal armor, his sword at his hip not as a threat, but a warning.
“They’re not ready,” he said softly, his eyes on mine. “For the kind of power that chooses to show mercy.”
I took his hand. “Then let’s show them.
The chamber doors opened with a groan of ancient magic.
Thirteen vampire lords waited inside, seated on their elevated thrones, each casting long shadows across the gleaming stone floor.
High above, banners fluttered some bearing the royal sigil, others marked with the houses of dissent.
The gallery was full.
Humans and vampires alike watched in silence.
The room trembled with the weight of history.
And then Elder Varion stood.
“This Council has gathered to determine the fate of the bloodbond between Aria Blake and Prince Lucien Virelith, and by extension, the future of the curse that has bound our realm for centuries.”
He motioned for me to step forward.
I did, chin high.
My voice rang clear across the chamber.
“I did not ask for this bond. I did not seek it. But I will not allow it to be defined by fear or by those who never carried its weight.”
Murmurs rose.
I continued. You see the bond as a curse. I see it as a door. One that leads us forward not back. The blade that once sealed it is broken. The one who twisted it is gone. But the bond remains, not as a weapon… but as a choice.”
Councilor Malric rose, his face like carved stone.
“And if we choose wrong? If you become the next Lysandra no, something worse?”
I didn’t flinch. “Then hold me accountable. But do not punish what you fear just because you cannot control it.”
Varion nodded once. “Then let the vote commence.
The councilors approached the basin in the center of the room, one by one. Each placed their seal engraved with their house’s crest into the enchanted bowl. The basin glowed red for sever, gold for preserve.
The first three burned red.
The next turned gold.
Four to three.
Then a red.
Five to three.
My heart pounded.
Lucien’s hand brushed mine.
Another seal gold.
Five to four.
The tenth councilor stepped up. His seal shimmered then turned gold.
Five to five.
My breath hitched.
Two left.
Lady Cyrisse stepped forward, robes trailing like silk snakes behind her.
“I have always been a guardian of tradition,” she said, loudly enough for all to hear. “But tradition should not come at the cost of truth.”
Gasps rippled through the chamber.
She placed her seal in the basin.
It blazed gold.
Six to five.
The final vote.
Elder Varion stepped forward.
All eyes turned to him.
He met my gaze.
“You have carried the weight of ancient blood. You have survived fire, betrayal, and prophecy. But more than that… you have loved. That is what this realm forgot.”
He placed his seal into the basin.
A moment’s silence.
Then
The basin blazed gold.
The chamber erupted.
Cheers. Cries. One councilor slammed his fist on the wall and stormed out. But it didn’t matter.
Seven to five.
The bond would not be severed.
I stood still, shaking, the noise a blur around me.
Lucien turned to me, both hands cupping my face.
“You did it.”
“No,” I whispered. “We did.”
He kissed me.
And the moment our lips touched, the magic that had slumbered in my blood finally, truly, broke free.
But it didn’t destroy.
It healed.
A wave of golden light rippled from our joined hands, pouring through the chamber like sunlight breaking over stormed stone. The banners lifted. The cracked pillars mended. Even the magic in the floor began to pulse again steady, balanced, whole.
Zara gasped. “What is that?”
Varion spoke softly. “The bond… accepting its new shape. Not forced. Not cursed. Chosen.”
I turned in a slow circle.
The storm clouds outside the stained glass windows were gone.
The sky beyond them… was clear.
Later that evening, Lucien and I stood in the moon garden once more.
No guards. No audience. No danger.
Just us.
“You’re free now,” he said, twining our fingers. “They can’t take anything else from you.”
“I’m not sure I ever wanted freedom,” I said quietly. “I think… I just wanted to be seen. Not as a curse. Not as a symbol. Just as me.”
He turned me toward him. “I’ve only ever seen you, Aria. Every version of you.”
My throat tightened. “Even the angry, impulsive girl who tried to stab you the first time we met?”
“Especially her,” he said, smiling. “She’s the one who woke me up.”
I leaned my forehead against his chest. “What do we do now?”
“We rebuild.
“Together?”
“There’s no other way.
And maybe there would still be darkness in the world.
Maybe not every wound would heal in a day.
But for the first time, the weight of the past no longer sat on my shoulders.
The bond still hummed between us.
But it didn’t own me.
I chose it.
I chose him.
And that changed everything.
- Writer
