Chapter 80 - The King's Bite

“No it is not. As a matter of fact, my mother came from there,” Vladislav said.

“Oh...” Allegra trailed off. She had no idea what else to say.

“I take it you are somewhat familiar with the rumours of Estoyya?” he asked and took note of her silent head nod. “What have you heard?”

Allegra bit on her bottom lip nervously. “Just that it’s where the vampires of Nefolktu used to prey on humans,” she said uncomfortably. Almost everything that involved Nefolktu’s past discomforted her.

“Well, that much is true,” he admitted. “It was the island closest to Nefolktu, so the original vampires, those immune to sunlight collected humans in droves to be sent to Nefolktu. Most of our human population has ancestry from there.”

“So, when you said your mother came from there,” she began, leaving her husband to finish filling in the details.

“She was originally taken as a breeder, not as food, unlike most of the others” said Vladislav. “Her blood made it clear she would be able to carry a vampire’s child to term, but there was nothing particularly special about her other than that. She may have been lent to a number of the old families always looking to further their bloodlines. Certainly, no one expected my father to take an interest. It was sheer luck and, by their own admission, fate.”

“So, they were fated just like we are,” Allegra stated. It was not a question, because they both remembered the instant connection that they had had with one another.

“Exactly,” he said with a tilt of his mouth that held no amusement. “You can imagine the uproar it caused. The vampire king actually wanting to settle down with a human? It was preposterous. Before they met, my father was very much like me. He had no interest in marriage or future spawn. Unlike me, however, he had no siblings to take on the burden for him. His rule was already under threat because of that, but their marriage just about tipped it over the edge.”

“I'm surprised he wasn’t assassinated sooner, if that’s the case,” Allegra muttered thoughtlessly before covering her mouth with both her hands as her husband stared at her, bemused. “I’m sorry! Gosh, that was such a callous thing to say.”

Vlad shook his head. “I understand. It would have made the most sense, but vampires do not care for nobility in the same sense that humans do. She was actually the first Queen Nefolktu ever had. In the past, the Kings had companions and concubines that came and went, but never an official ruler by their side. The vampires of Nefolktu were promised their way of life would continue, unthreatened, and my mother was accepted, albeit uneasily. When I was born, everything settled down. They finally had their heir and everything was as it should be.”

“But something changed,” Allegra prompted, knowing a little of this part of the story.

“My mother had my sister decades later, but she was the only human in Nefolktu and Estoyya who was safe, the only one with any rights. She spent years convincing my father to treat the others humanely,” Vlad explained. “He could deny her nothing, but that. He knew what would happen if they tried to separate the vampires from their blood orgies, but she persisted.

“Eventually, the population of Estoyya began to show a significant decrease. My father decided this was the time to convince the council to extend control when it came to feeding. It was not quite what he had in mind, but the remaining Estoyyans were all moved to Nefolktu. They decided to let them have a society of their own, as long as it was under their watchful eye.”

Vladislav broke off in thought.

“We spent a long time in Estoyya, then, my mother and I, along with a few trusted servants. That is when I truly learned to control my thirst, a lesson many vampires in those days never learned. The land gave me peace and a tranquillity I had never known before. Father had to remain in Nefolktu to oversee the Estoyyans assimilating into the culture of Nefolktu and finding their place there. It was once a vibrant beauty, but it had become desolate. Its beauty shone through even when it had practically been emptied of all life.”

“That’s why you chose to take me there?” she asked rhetorically. Allegra was transfixed by his storytelling. She was not sure she had ever heard her husband speak so much.

“It became a second home to me. My soul, if I had one, would call it home,” he confirmed. “It was then that I knew I could not let the land die, but it was also time for us to return home. Our return was a bit of a culture shock. There was something about seeing humans live their daily lives among them that lent a certain empathy to the vampires. They still lived in fear of them, but the two were somehow coexisting. My mother was ecstatic. Niklaus was born. Everything seemed to be heading in the direction she wanted.”

“What about Estoyya?” Allegra asked. “Who took care of it in the meantime?”

“Years passed,” Vladislav continued and Allegra noticed he avoided the question. “Some humans had risen up so high in society that the were seen as being too valuable to be fed on. Those are the ancestors of the human aristocrats you know today. Blood orgies still happened, but they were rare and more looked down upon. Those who attended were seen as being stuck in the past and they did not like it. They were smart enough to keep their grievances silent, because no one saw my parents’ execution coming.”

Allegra let him take some time. She knew it had been a while ago now, but she did not want to push.

“That is when our partnership with the fae truly began. They helped us easily identify those behind the assassinations. We made an example of them and disbanded the council; nearly every single one of them were in on it. I will spare you the gory details. In exchange for their help, the fae needed something precious from us. Up until then, theirs had been a different plane of existence. They had nothing tangible to call their own. What they needed was land.”

Allegra gasped. “Vladislav, you didn’t!”

“The calm and peace I felt in Estoyya was not imagined. There was something special about the place, which is why every woman who can carry a vampire’s child has ancestry from the island,” he looked at her meaningfully. “They did not just want any land. We had the money to purchase them any land they wished. They wanted Estoyya. The thought of giving it away hurt me, after all, it was one of the last few things I had to remember my mother by. So we struck a deal. They took most of the island, but left a small islet for our family.”

He shrugged. “It was where my father had built a home to rival all homes for my mother and it was where we spent all our time in Estoyya anyway, so it seemed fair,” he said. “I got to keep both my homes and rid them of all traitors and the fae got a new place to call home. Estoyya had been dying without anyone on it, but now it had the fae, who treasured it above all else. I had to share it now, but the entire island was never really mine to begin with.”

“I suppose that’s fair,” sighed Allegra until a thought occurred to her. “Wait, the fae called it home? Doesn’t that mean that –”

“Yes. What was once Estoyya has now been split into Drausia, Espa and Ostar,” he confirmed. “Technically, our little islet is all that remains of Estoyya. Our home there has a staff that stays there full-time around the year and a little town that surrounds it. It has not been touched by the war and is a human settlement. Elders from all three fae kingdoms performed a cleansing ritual on it to ascertain this. I am not taking you anywhere you might face danger.”

“It’s not that I doubt your ability to protect me, Vlad,” Allegra said. “I just can’t help, but wonder how a small human town is surviving living so close to the fae conflict.”

“Simply put, no human can enter the three fae kingdoms without a representative from one of them and no one can access Estoyya except by boat or plane. Fae will rarely put themselves into a position to access human transportation. They are too reliant on their own magic. Even if they did, our original treaty still stands. Our islet is but a small mass out of something much bigger. They have far more important things to worry about and will not waste their time on a stretch of land they cannot own either legally or magically.”

“I see,” Allegra said. “It’s a lot to take in, but I suppose I was too concerned about myself to even bother to ask what the three Kingdoms were called before they split. I bet Cilla knew.”

“Having spent time in Drausia, I am sure she did,” Vladislav confirmed. “Yet another reason I wanted to keep it secret. Even of those few that know the history of Estoyya, fewer still know that it technically still exists. Most Nefolktuans know their ancestral home was magical in some way, but not many of them know it is now the land the fae are fighting over. I believe most of them are of the opinion that it is out there somewhere waiting to be rediscovered.”

“That’s pretty sad,” Allegra noted. “And you inferred that some of my blood in Estoyyan.”

“Some of it, yes,” Vladislav affirmed. “However, you seem to forget that you are Rijavian royalty and your lineage can be traced further back than that of most people. All it means is that at some point in the past an Estoyyan travelled to Rijavia and managed to get onto the royal family tree.”

“Well, when you put it like that,” Allegra rolled her eyes sardonically and turned to look out of the window. All she could see was the bright blue of the ocean. From her husband’s tale, she inferred that this would be a fairly short flight. She turned back to look at him, trying to convey meaning through her eyes. “I really am glad that you shared your past with me, Vlad. I know how difficult it must be for you to even recall things at your advanced age, let alone with such startling detail.”

She saw his dark head lean over to her and was prepared to receive his kiss, but was instead surprised when his teeth captured her bottom lip and rolled it between them. Allegra was startled for a moment, but then giggled in disbelief.

“Be careful what you say to me, wife,” the King warned. “As I am sure you are aware, those of us born before certain centuries do not shy away from any punishment we can think of.”

Still giggling, the Duchess brought her arms to encircle her vampire’s shoulders. This time when he leaned down, she made sure his lips landed on her own. The moment was so perfect, she had to stop herself from saying those three dreaded words again. Instead, she just closed her eyes and focussed on the feel of him against her.

“You have to be careful what you do with those things,” she warned when she pulled back. “They are technically lethal weapons, after all.”

“Dramatic, as always,” he said without concern. “I did not even have them retracted. Next time, however, I will. Someone ought to control your cheek.”

Vladislav nuzzled the side of her neck, refusing to budge even after she tried to shove him off. Eventually she just gave in to the comforting weight of him. She was resigned to stay like this until they landed shortly as she ran her hands through his hair. It honestly did not even sound like a bother.