Royal shuffle: Vampire's mate

ANDREA

I stared in disbelief at my daughter, and fresh tears formed in my eyes. She looked bigger. A lump formed in my throat as I looked at her. She looked the same but different. Her body looked her age but her sunken eyes said that recent events had gotten to her as well.

"Adela?"

"That's who I came here for. I just thought that..." Leo said. "Well, here she is."

He turned and began walking away, leaving me with Adela.

"Where are you going?"

"I think you two need some time together. Besides, you don't want me here," Leo said, and walked away, defeated.

I looked to my daughter and a lump of emotion formed in my chest. I took a step towards her and stopped, it would break my heart should she take steps away from me...like she had that night. She wasn't the child I had left back at the palace, she was a different person. She was wiser. She had seen quite a few things. I gave her a once over and smiled at the necklace she wore around her throat.

"You...like your necklace?" I asked, pointing to her neck, itching for conversation.

Adela nods, "Yeah. I love it. The old lady says that it's amazing," she replied.

"What lady?" I asked.

Adela waved me off. "Never mind. Thank you for the necklace. It's lovely."

"It's a family heirloom," I said, smiling. Glad that she loved it.

Silence reigned again the only sounds that could be heard at the graveyard was...well...silence. Both of us staring at the other, wondering what to do. What to say. "Adela..."

I called her name again, like music, like a spell, hoping that hearing her name from my mouth would melt away all the ice and we would go back to being the mother and daughter before Esmeralda. Before Leovanni. I took a deep breath and decided that taking the bull by the horn was the only way forward.

"I didn't kill Vanni," I said.

Adela nodded, "I know. It was stupid at the time to think that you would kill him. I mean, he's your son...and you love him."

"So...you no longer think that I...that I killed your brother?"

She shook her head, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly, my legs felt weak and could no longer support me. I fell to my knees and buried my face in my hands. All of the guilt, all of the pain. I heard tiny footsteps running towards me, and I raised my head in time to see Adela slam herself into me, sobbing.

"I'm so sorry, mom," she said, her voice cracked as she held on to me and cried into my shoulder.

"It's okay, my love. I promise that there's nothing to be sorry for. I should be apologizing to you. I'm sorry I wasn't there when things were extremely difficult, I'm sorry that I wasn't there to protect you..." "It's okay, mommy," Adela said, and wiped my cheeks with the back of her hand.

Her hand reached down and touched my stomach. She gasped loudly and retracted her hand when the baby inside me kicked against her hand, as though recognizing that she was their sibling. "You're pregnant," she said, her eyes wide with disbelief and excitement.

"Yes, I am," I relied, smiling.

"What are you going to name them?" She asked, her eyes twinkling with childish excitement.

I shrugged, "I haven't decided."

"I know!!!"

"You do? What would you like to name them?"

"Leovanni," she replied, smiling widely.

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"And what if it's a girl?" I asked.

Adela lowered her head and thought for a while. "Also Leovanni."

I smiled at her, and pulled her closer to me. Happy to have one child hale, hearty and safe. Happy to know that my daughter didn't think the worst of me.

"I've missed you so much, my love."

"I've missed you too, mom. And Aunt Stacy too." "Really?"

Adela nods, her eyes clouded with sadness.

"We'll, good for you, she's here also. Let's go see her."

Adela jumped off my body in excitement and we began the walk back to the palace, I looked back at my son's grave and smiled sadly. It was all over, and it left a heavy wound on my soul that my son had paid the ultimate price. My pain turned to disgust at the sight waiting for me at the palace. Right in front of the palace, standing next to Leopold's sports car and locked in a hot embrace with its owner was Stacy.

"Ewwwwwww!!!" Adela exclaimed, holding her hands over her eyes.

Leopold and Stacy broke away from their kiss, breathing deeply, trying to catch their breath and deeply flustered. Stacy's eyes fell on Adela and she gasped loudly and held her hands open to the child. "Adela! Come here!!!"

I smiled as Adela ran into her aunt's embrace and a lone tear escaped and rolled down Stacy's cheeks. It reminded me that I wasn't the only survivor of Esmeralda. I looked at Leopold and that emotion quickly changed to disgust. Severally, I had tried to make him see that his relationship with my sister was headed for the rocks and severally I had failed. Adele held her aunt by the hand and led her i away from us. I couldn't hear what was said, I was laser focused on Leopold. A selfish bastard...just like his brother.

"You know what you're doing isn't right, right?" I asked.

Leopold grained and ran his hand through his hair. "Why can't you just let us be, Andrea?"

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"Because you know your mate is out there and..."

"And so what if she is?" He asked, his eyes blazing with anger. "Does that mean I don't get to be happy?!"

"I don't give a shit about you, we both know that. I care about my sister. You're playing her, you know fully well that you have a mate out there waiting for you. And the second you find her, you're going to leave my sister." Leopold sighed. "You know your sister isn't a wolf, Adela."

"Yes. I am fully aware of the fact."

"Neither is she a vampire..." he continued.

"Where are you going with this?" I asked, exasperated.

"You're right that I have a mate somewhere...but that doesn't mean that we can't have fun now. I love your sister, and I love what we have."

"You have to stop."

Leopold smiled devilishly, "Stop us then. Oh yes, there's nothing you can do about the situation. I strongly suggest that you face your own problems" "You fucking..."

"Just because your mate doesn't love you doesn't mean other people are unlovable," he said.

My breath caught in my throat, his words had hit me like a truck and I could do nothing but stand there and watch him get into his car and drive away. I looked down at my hands and held them together to stop the quivering. I only just realized that I had never confronted the issue of my relationship with my ex-mate.

I cleared my throat and tapped my cheeks. Now wasn't the time either.