Chapter 251

Chapter 251

ETHAN'S POV

I couldn't help but grin like a fool, even as chaos erupted around me. Sebastian's body felt strange....taller, leaner, with a different center of gravity....but the timing of our switch couldn't have been more perfect. The vampire hunters had crashed through the ceiling, intent on slaughtering me at my most vulnerable moment, only to find themselves facing Sebastian's full powers instead.

From my position at the back of the hall, partially concealed behind a marble column, I watched as my body....currently occupied by my brother....tore through the attackers with devastating efficiency. The spell wouldn't last long, forty-eight hours at most according to Elena, but it had come just in time.

"Magnificent, isn't he?" Heaven murmured beside me, her eyes tracking her brother's movements as he dispatched another hunter with casual brutality.

"He's showing off," I replied, though I couldn't keep the appreciation from my voice. Sebastian had always been the more elegant fighter between us, his movements precise where mine were raw power.

My attention shifted to Malia, my beautiful bride in her torn wedding gown, watching the battle with tears streaming down her face. The confusion in her expression was evident even from this distance....she had no idea what was happening, why "I" suddenly possessed powers greater than ever before.

I saw her break away from the guards protecting her, rushing toward Sebastian in my body as the last of the hunters fell or fled. Her hands moved over him, checking for injuries, her relief palpable even across the distance that separated us.

Then she reached up, clearly intending to kiss him, and I nearly shouted aloud.

"Don't...." I began, taking an instinctive step forward, but Sebastian was already gently pushing her back, saying something I couldn't hear from this distance.

Her expression changed, shock replacing relief as she took a step away from him. She turned, scanning the crowd in confusion, her eyes passing over me without recognition. Of course....she had no idea I was in Sebastian's body, had no reason to look for me anywhere but in my own form.

I started toward them, intent on revealing myself, on reassuring her that I was safe, that this deception had been necessary. But before I could take more than a few steps, a voice rang out from the center of the hall, stopping me in my tracks.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" The female voice echoed off the vaulted ceiling, silencing the murmurs of the gathered guests. "It's IMPOSSIBLE for you to have powers!"

I turned toward the source, my borrowed vampire senses immediately identifying the speaker even before my eyes confirmed it. Ria. One of my former lovers, a vampire noble I had dismissed from my court months ago when things with Malia became serious.

She stood in the center of the hall, her crimson gown a stark contrast to the white and silver decorations of the wedding. Her face was contorted with rage, her fangs fully extended in a display of aggression that would have been punishable by death under normal circumstances.

Who is the slut again? I wondered I can't fucking remember how close we were to the extent of her committing such a crime against me. She snarled, her eyes fixed on Sebastian in my body. "You can't keep track of your whores anymore, Ethan?” She asked and I wondered who the fuck again, I don't think it's Ria, Was it Len? Serena? Ria? Can someone just fucking remind so I could kill her?"

Ria had always been bold, but this was beyond mere insolence....this was treason, spoken openly before the entire court.

Sebastian, still in my body, turned to face her with dangerous grace. "Watch your tongue," he warned, his voice....my voice....deadly soft. "Before I remove it."

Ria flinched, but only slightly. She hadn't realized yet that she wasn't facing me at all, but Sebastian wearing my face. "Stay out of this," she spat. "I'm not ready to fight with a Moon King. My problem is with Ethan."

I moved forward then, pushing through the crowd that had formed a wary circle around the confrontation. "What problem might that be?" I asked, adopting Sebastian's imperious tone. "And why would you think he's supposed to be powerless?"

Ria's eyes flicked to me, then back to Sebastian-as-me, clearly confused by the dynamics at play. "This doesn't concern you, Sebastian," she said dismissively. "This is between me and your brother."

"Everything that concerns my brother concerns me," I replied, stepping closer. "Especially accusations of treachery in the middle of his wedding."

Sebastian caught my eye across the hall, a silent warning in his gaze. We needed to be careful here....if Ria realized we had switched bodies, the advantage of surprise would be lost. But I couldn't stand by and watch as this woman, this former lover, revealed herself as an enemy.

"What the hell do you mean?" Sebastian demanded, drawing Ria's attention back to him. "Why would you think I was supposed to be powerless?"

Something in his tone....perhaps more commanding than I would have been....made Ria study him more carefully. A flicker of uncertainty crossed her features before she masked it with renewed bravado.

"It was a planned deal," she said, her voice carrying to every corner of the silent hall. "The day you kicked me out and chose a mere human over me."

"Malia," I corrected automatically, unable to help myself. "Her name is Malia."

Ria's gaze snapped to me, her eyes narrowing. "Yes, Malia," she said, drawing out the name with contempt. "Your precious human. The reason you discarded me after I gave you everything."

"You gave me nothing I didn't pay for in blood and gold," Sebastian replied smoothly, playing his role as me with disturbing accuracy. "Now explain yourself. What deal? With whom?"

Ria laughed, the sound brittle and sharp as breaking glass. "With Gideon, of course. He wanted me to carry out his revenge, to kill you when you least expected it."

A murmur ran through the crowd at the mention of Gideon's name. Salvador's brother, long thought dead, now confirmed as the architect of a plot against me.

"But you couldn't go through with it," Malia spoke up suddenly, her voice steady despite the tears still drying on her cheeks. "Because you fell in love with him instead."

Ria's face contorted with a mixture of rage and pain. "I gave him my body and blood continuously," she admitted, her eyes never leaving Sebastian-as-me. "I let him feed from me, strengthened him, pleasured him in ways that human never could."

I felt a surge of disgust, remembering the nights I had spent with Ria before meeting Malia. They had been meaningless to me, merely feeding and fucking to satisfy the basic needs of my vampire nature. That she had attached deeper significance to our encounters was her mistake, not mine.

"So when he kicked you out because of Malia," Sebastian prompted, his tone deceptively gentle, "what did you do?"

Ria's smile was all fangs, a predator's display of aggression. "I went to the Priestess," she said, pride evident in her voice. "She was eager to take Malia off the hook for the Prince's safety."

"The Prince?" I interrupted, genuinely confused. "What prince?"

"Salvador's son," Ria replied, as if it should have been obvious. "The true heir to the vampire throne once you're dead."

Another shock wave rippled through the assembled guests. Salvador had no children....or so we had all believed. If there was a son, a true heir by blood...

"The Priestess gave me a power transformation effect," Ria continued, oblivious to the sensation her words had caused. "I slipped it into your drink the last night we were together. It was designed to gradually drain your powers, make you vulnerable when the time came."

"The night before I met Malia," Sebastian-as-me realized aloud. "You've been poisoning me for months."

Ria nodded, her expression triumphant. "After seeing that you were powerless, I was enraged but nothing could be done. Gideon planned to kill you on your wedding day since you stubbornly refused to adhere to the demands of the other Kings."

"What demands?" I asked, unable to contain my curiosity despite the danger of revealing too much.

Ria's gaze flicked to me again, a frown creasing her perfect features. "You know what demands, Sebastian. The same ones your brother ignored. To step aside, to acknowledge Salvador's son as the rightful king, to end this farce of vampire-werewolf alliance."

"And if I had agreed?" Sebastian asked, his voice....my voice....dangerously soft. "If I had surrendered my throne, abandoned my bride, betrayed my allies... would that have satisfied Gideon?"

Ria laughed, the sound entirely without humor. "Of course not. You would have died regardless. But it would have been a private execution, not this public spectacle." She gestured to the ruined hall, the wounded guests, the destruction that had been wrought. "This was your choice, Ethan. Your stubbornness brought us here."

"No," Malia said, stepping forward to stand beside Sebastian. "His courage brought us here."

Ria's face twisted with hatred as she looked at Malia. "You," she spat. "The human who thinks she can play at being queen. Do you have any idea what forces you're meddling with? What powers you've angered with your presumption?"

"I know exactly what I am," Malia replied, her chin lifting in that defiant gesture I had come to adore. "And who I love. Can you say the same, Ria? Or are you just a pawn in Gideon's game?"

The barb struck home. Ria's composure cracked, rage replacing calculation in her expression. "I am no one's pawn," she snarled. "I made my choice freely, just as you made yours. Now we all live....or die....with the consequences."

With that, she lunged forward, moving with the preternatural speed of a vampire noble, her target clearly Malia. But Sebastian was faster, intercepting her mid-leap and throwing her across the hall with enough force to crack the marble wall where she impacted.

"Guards," he commanded, and instantly a dozen vampire soldiers materialized from the shadows where they had been stationed. "Take her to the dungeons. I want her questioned thoroughly about Gideon's whereabouts and this supposed prince."

As the guards moved to apprehend Ria, who was struggling to rise from the rubble, I made my way to Malia's side. Up close, the confusion in her eyes was even more evident as she looked between me in Sebastian's body and Sebastian in mine.

"Are you alright?" I asked softly, forgetting for a moment that to her, I appeared to be Sebastian.

She nodded, though her gaze remained fixed on Sebastian-as-me. "I don't understand," she whispered. "What's happening? Who are you really?"

Before I could answer, Sebastian joined us, his expression....my expression....grim. "We need to move," he said. "If Ria was working with Gideon, there may be others. This location is compromised."

"Wait," Malia said, her voice stronger now as she looked between us. "I need to know what's going on. Which one of you is really Ethan?"

I reached for her hand, unable to help myself despite the risk of confusing her further. "I am," I said softly. "It's me, Malia. In Sebastian's body."

Her eyes widened, her gaze searching my face....Sebastian's face....for some sign of the man she loved. "Ethan?" she whispered, her voice small and uncertain.

"It was a precaution," Sebastian explained, his tone gentler than I had ever heard from my brother. "In case someone targeted Ethan during the ceremony."

"So when I was walking down the aisle," Malia said slowly, "when we were saying our vows..."

"It was Sebastian," I confirmed, the admission painful despite its necessity. "I was watching from the back of the hall, ready to intervene if needed."

"But the Blood Bond," she protested, her hand moving to her wrist where the ceremonial cut had been made. "I bled for you....for him...."

"The ritual wasn't completed," Sebastian reminded her. "The hunters attacked before the final words could be spoken, before the bond could be sealed."

"Thank the gods for small mercies," I muttered, the thought of Malia being bound to Sebastian instead of me too horrifying to contemplate.

"It was necessary," he said simply. "Your reaction needed to be genuine for the deception to work."

"And now?" she demanded. "What happens now? How long will you be..." She gestured between us, unable to find words for the bizarre situation.

"The spell lasts forty-eight hours at most," I explained. "After that, we revert to our original bodies regardless of circumstances."

"Two days," she said flatly. "Two days of... this." She looked between us again, her expression unreadable. "And what am I supposed to do in the meantime? Pretend everything is normal while my fiancé wears his brother's face and his brother wears his?"

"We go to the fortress," Sebastian said firmly. "We regroup, we plan our next move, and we find Gideon and this supposed prince before they can launch another attack."

"And the wedding?" Malia asked, her voice small again. "The Blood Bond?"

I moved closer, wishing I could take her in my arms, wishing I wore my own face so she could see the love in my eyes rather than Sebastian's cool assessment. "We'll complete it," I promised. "Once I'm back in my own body, once we're safe, we'll perform the ritual properly."