Chosen by Blood by Virna Depaul Page B

half-human, too. And if you’re going to accuse me of disloyalty, you can—”
    “I’m sorry,” Knox interrupted, gritting his teeth in frustration. “I didn’t mean—I wasn’t referring to the past or to—to him . But I don’t understand why you wouldn’t tell me. I could have been here before she left.”
    The anger in his mother’s face softened. “And that’s why I didn’t tell you. She deserves a fighting chance against you.”
    Stunned, he stepped back. “You make it sound like I want to hurt her,” Knox growled.
    “What you are, what she can never be, will hurt her.” A distant look swept over her as she stared at something on the coffee table. Reaching out, she picked up a dried rose carefully preserved between two small squares of glass. “Trust me on this,” she said softly. “I know.”
    “Don’t compare Felicia to him,” he warned.
    “Why not? Your father was human, Knox.”
    “Meaning?”
    “Meaning, you’re hoping to marry Michelle Burgeon and have Felicia, too.”
    “It’s the way of vampires. We don’t swear an oath of fidelity upon marrying.”
    “But it’s not the way of humans. It’s not Felicia’s way. Your father—although it was hard for him—he was able to share me for a time with Zeph’s father. Felicia isn’t willing to do the same. Why do you think things will end any better for you than they did for me? Why won’t you accept that a relationship with Felicia will hurt you, and thus hurt the clan?”
    “There’s no reason we can’t be together,” Knox insisted stubbornly. “She’s stubborn. She’s idealistic. But she’s not a traitor.”
    For an instant, his mother’s eyes flashed red, startling him. “Neither was your father,” she said fiercely, “no matter what the Council thought.”
    “It’s what everyone thought,” Knox pointed out. “Quite rightly, since he confessed.”
    As fast as his mother’s temper ignited, it left just as quickly. She actually cowered away from him, making him curse. “I’m sorry,” he said stiffly, “but I believed him. I still do.”
    “I know,” she whispered, her voice clipped now. She set the rose down and folded her hands in her lap. “And I’m sure he forgave you anyway.”
    Knox sighed wearily. How often had they had this argument? How often had his mother protested his father’s innocence despite all the damning evidence to the contrary? “I don’t want to argue with you, Mother.”
    “Then let’s not. Argue, that is.” She closed her eyes and tilted her head back on the chaise. Several seconds ticked by and Knox wondered if she’d fallen asleep.
    “Mother . . .”
    Wearily, she raised her head. Then she patted the cushion again and forced herself to smile. “Tell me about your visit and then you can tell me what evil plan you’ve cooked up for Felicia.”
    Wary now, Knox cocked a brow and sat beside her. “What makes you think there’s an evil plan? I only want to do my duty and have Felicia, too.”
    His mother—his elegant, refined, royal mother—actually snorted. “I don’t have to read your mind to read you, Knox. I’ve known it was only a matter of time before you went after Felicia with full force. You are, after all, your father’s son, capable of deep and committed love. I only regret that so much responsibility has been placed upon you. Not only the need to rule in my stead, but the belief you must have yet more children with a vampire in order to prove your allegiance to the clan.”
    Knox frowned. “My need to mate with a vampire is fact, not belief. Our numbers are dwindling—”
    “And stopping that must fall on you? Even given your other responsibilities?”
    “I—If I can help, I must. Felicia will come to accept that.”
    “ And she might suffer even more as a result.”
    Knox struggled against another twinge of guilt. Of course he didn’t want Felicia to suffer. But what else could he do? Even when he’d been married to a vampire he’d thought he could