Lana's POV "He brainwashed Charles.. Or offered him some pretty damn good deal. He turned him against us." I listened to Christian explain the whole story behind the Adam case. Christian made all kinds of assumptions and of course they started from Adam himself. They were enemies. He had a pretty good reason to hate him, and a lot of explaining to do since I didn't even know if that was the monster I was fighting against. He claimed Adam was one that played mind games with me.. I only wanted the story. The name Charles wasn't ever mentioned before. "He was your friend?" "For centuries.. The right hand at the castle. They were all psychopaths." He laughed as he walked towards the small counter with all the crystal bottles filled with alcohol in them. "He went after Amelia that night at the old house. Dimitri had to kill him." "Oh." Even that far, the story sounded horrible. With Adam kidnapping Amelia's mom, I could only imagine what they all must've went through. Fighting for family was always the toughest fight. I knew that I would give the world for mine no matter what. "What about your dad?" There was silence for a second. He filled his glass with whiskey and rounded the small counter, sitting back on the couch as before. "We managed to weaken him.. Then staked him since he can't get killed.." There was this easy flow in his words.. Like he didn't give a crap about any of this.. But his eyes.. His eyes never lied no matter how much darkness they held. "He's dead, sort of, as long as the voodoo stake tree- whatever it is, is through him.. Holding him pinned in one of the dungeons back at the castle.." He spoke with the same irony and arrogance as always, and I always seemed to enjoy his playful tone when he spoke about others.. Just now, it seemed like a serious kind of arrogance to make the subject less painful. It was his father. Betrayal from him must've been the toughest thing.. Even though it wasn't exactly the first time I was hearing about the old king betraying Christian. He killed Zaria. And Christian loved that girl. I understood his pain. "Those walls are sealed with a powerful spell. He'll be rotting there for centuries for everything he had done to make our lives miserable." As a finish, he took a sip from his glass.. I could hear the spite in his tone. It was clear. And my heart ached for him.. He looked at me. "Amelia doesn't know about all the details by the way, so don't tell her. Dimitri claims she wouldn't take such brutality so well. She has a good heart." "Hey what makes you think that I don't?" He frowned with that 'are you kidding' look and stood up again, walking towards the table and taking the drawing of the necklace that I made the previous night. He said I had a pretty good memory so I thought it would maybe help us figure out if we had the necklace presented at all times of the day. But what was it? Did he think I was not capable of loving? Is that why he told me this story, knowing that I would take it too well and maybe even laugh about it? I had a heart too. A good one. I was not made of stone like him. "Oh don't dramatize, Lana. We both know you're tougher." He walked closer, speaking clearly with ever step he took, concentrating on the drawing. "Stuff like that don't scare you." He finally looked back at me with a smirk that swirled my mind before taking another sip from his drink. Dressed casually in a pair of dark jeans and not completely buttoned up shirt, he seemed like the perfect arrogant figure, with well lined muscles on his chest that was slightly peeking, messy dark hair on top of his head and eyes that could easily leave any woman senseless and compelled. "Oh my God, Christian." Was all I managed to mouth out at his words, mostly because I couldn't get my mind to work quite straight around him lately. He was right though, his father sounded like a terrible man. They went easy on him. But he still didn't tell me the full story. "What about your brother?" "Lucas? He's down there too to keep father some company." Oh so they handled everything pretty well. "And your mom?" He looked up from the piece of paper. Taking a quick sip from his glass, he explained it quite clearly with only a few words. "She's not my mother.. She's Dimitri's." "Oh. I didn't know." I managed to mouth out mostly to myself.. So Lucas was Christian's real brother since he was the oldest. But they didn't share the same mother as Dimitri.. I should've known that. They were the royals. Perhaps my father left out a lot of things.. He never let any of us ask about the family that ruled Venedocia. I still didn't know the full reason why, but considering the fact that the vampires won the war against us, I had a thought or two on why he held such spite towards them. True hate. A lot of our people died during those times too. "She was relieved.. She never loved my father anyways.. Now she's living in the castle she comes from somewhere near Venedocia. She grew up at that place.. A true royal." He rose his brows in full irony, and I could tell that the subject wasn't exactly his favorite to talk about. But he spoke about it with this light and ease.. He masked his true emotions with simple arrogance and irony. "Now having fun with all her maids and friends and lovers," I bit down on my lip. Alright, so it wasn't exactly the simplest, huh? "Quite the dysfunctional family, I know." Not that I had the softest heart.. I really didn't. But with everything going on in my family, I felt for him. Even though he didn't exactly show any emotions. He was.. Christian. Arrogant, and sarcastic and rarely serious. Even when it came to such subjects, he went through with them with ease. I slowly inhaled as I stood up.. He watched me get closer to him, scanned me from head to toe, yet still held that posture like nothing could get to him.. I liked the way he was holding up. But I knew the weight that family could cause. I knew how it felt. As I reached him, it was almost an instinct when I pressed my palms against his chest, gliding them up until I reached his face. I wanted him to know that it was okay to talk to me. He could. He saved my life more than once, and I was there to return in any way possible. Even though he refused to show any emotions about this subject, I knew the heaviness he must've felt.