A Clash of Storms (A Shade of Vampire #50)(64)

“What are you doing here?” Serena stole the words right out of my mouth when she spoke, her fists balling at her sides. She was visibly angry, and none of us who’d experienced the Daughters’ temperamental outbursts could blame her.

“Are you crazy? You can’t speak to the Daughters like that,” Rebel growled at her, then shifted her focus to the Daughters with an apologetic expression. “Please, forgive her. She’s had a long day…”

“She has every reason to be angry with us,” one of the Daughters replied.

The statement baffled both Serena and Rebel, who looked at each other, blinking rapidly, before gawking at the Daughters again.

“Perhaps it’s time you show your true faces to the people of Eritopia.” Viola lifted an eyebrow at her sisters. “It’s a good way to start an apology, I think.”

The Daughters didn’t immediately respond, but their shoulders gradually dropped. Nova was the first to remove her golden mask, smiling at Thadeus and Damion as she tucked a lock of reddish pink hair behind her ear.

“Nova!” a Daughter gasped with discontent.

“Drop it, Rubia,” Nova shot back. “They need to see us!”

The Daughter identified as Rubia shook her head, but then removed her mask, a gesture mirrored by the others. They truly were the most beautiful creatures I had ever seen.

Five had reddish pink hair in different hues, and the other two, besides Nova and Viola, had deep black manes, braided and covered in blue gems and gold. Their faces looked eerily similar, though. They were clearly sisters, with smooth features and alabaster skin much like Viola’s, and soft, pink lips.

“You’re beautiful,” Phoenix said on an exhale, his gaze darting between Viola and her sisters.

“Thank you… I suppose…” Rubia replied, her brow furrowed. “We are created by Eritopia. Our eggs emerge from the bottom of the hot pink waters of Mount Agrith. We are linked to this world, and we feel every blow, every birth, and every death in Eritopia. No one ever told us what we were meant to do or why we were created. We've just felt that it is a part of who we are to protect this world.”

“Bang up job you’ve done so far,” Aida muttered, her lips pursed.

She drew the attention of another Daughter, who watched her quietly for a few seconds before she let out a long, tortured sigh.

“I am Ruelle,” she announced. “These are Rubia, Safira, Effissa, Chana, Amassa and Nibel. No one gave us these names. We named each other. You already know Nova and Viola. You and Azazel have already given them names. Despite our shortcomings over the past few centuries, we’ve always had good intentions. But we never knew how to act on them. No one ever taught us how to react to certain situations.”

“We’ve been on our own for eons,” Safira added, her voice echoing through the throne room. “We learned together.”

“We helped shape the beautiful lands of Eritopia together,” Amassa chimed in. “We kept the kingdoms safe for a long time, and we rarely intervened in the affairs of their people.”

“Rarely as in almost never,” Effissa said. “Although we serve Eritopia, we’ve kept our distance from the Eritopians. We’ve always felt lonely on our own, but there weren’t any other creatures like us out there. We found comfort in each other’s company. We had a common goal in protecting the world. When Nova’s egg came to the surface of Mount Agrith, Azazel’s attack on Eritopia was taking a darker, more tragic turn. We were ready to intervene.”

“But somehow, he managed to steal Nova’s egg from us,” Chana continued. “We didn’t know what to do. She is our sister. Our bond is stronger and more important to us than anything else, and it hurt us deeply. We’d been so happy to get another sister…”

“When Nova was taken, we were faced with Azazel’s cruelty and pure evil,” Rubia said. “I’m ashamed to admit it now, but we were weak. We were terrified of losing our sister. We were desperate to keep one of our own safe and alive, and we were neither ready nor willing to accept our mistake. If we’d been more careful, Azazel would never have stolen her.”

“Nevertheless, he did,” Nibel continued, looking at us. “As the conflict between Azazel and Eritopia escalated, we couldn’t do anything against him because he’d forced Nova out of her egg and was keeping her hostage. We could not act against him directly, so we had to reach some sort of agreement with him.”

“An agreement?” Zeriel frowned, scrutinizing each Daughter carefully.

“Yes.” Rubia nodded. “We agreed to not take direct action against him, and, in exchange, he wouldn’t harm our sister. Because she’s been hatched prematurely, Nova doesn’t have our strength. She can be killed quite easily, and we simply couldn’t bring ourselves to risk losing her. The only thing we could do was take advantage of the vague terms of our agreement. We answered the Red Tribe’s prayer after the massacre. We gifted the survivors with a stone that has kept them alive throughout the war. You will find they are all still standing.”

Hansa and Anjani gasped, enlightened by the revelation, as did Aida, who had seen the Red Tribe succubi praying to the Daughters in an earlier vision, and had seen the gem emerge from the fire. So, that’s what that had all been about.

“Thank you,” Hansa said slowly. “Thank you all for keeping my sisters safe…”