"A Royal?" I leaned back to look at him incredulously, my eyebrows knitting together. "So, when you said you needed a queen..?"

"I meant it literally." He finished for me. "You are the only Royal left in existence," he went on, looking serious. "And it's time for you to claim your birthright."

I pulled my legs up on the bed to sit cross-legged, taking care not to expose myself. "I think you're mistaken. I'm just some foster kid nobody wanted--there's nothing special about me."

He had to be wrong, had to have gotten me mixed up with someone else.

Pain flitted across his face, hurt evident in his eyes. "It's my fault you feel this way." Dean Lachlan covered his face with a pale hand, shaking his head. "I should have never allowed him to take you away from me."

"Him who? What are you talking about?"

Who did he allow to take me away? And when?

"Your father."

The world stopped.

My father? Dean Lachlan knew my father?

"How..?" It was all I could manage to say.

He let out a heavy sigh, standing slowly. I watched, dumbstruck, as Dean Lachlan walked over to the fireplace to stoke the fire. Then, he rested an elbow on the mantle, and gazed pensively into the flames while speaking. "Before your parents were killed, they lived here on the island." He paused to gaze at the ceiling, wearing a sad smile. "This was actually your nursery. Or, it was meant to be, anyway."

It felt like the wind was knocked out of me. "This was supposed to be my nursery?"

He nodded. "Yes. Unfortunately, you never got to see it...until now."

I didn't know what to say, how to process what he was telling me.

"I'm sorry, I know this a lot to take in," he came over to cup my chin, peering sincerely into my eyes. "We can talk about something else, if you prefer."

His thumb caressed my lower lip, and I closed my eyes, resolving to hear more. "No, I'm fine. Please, tell me everything."

He exhaled audibly. "Everything?"

"Everything." I stared up at him, determined to find out the truth.

"Okay." He took his seat on the bed next to me. "Close your eyes. Relax,"

Confused, I did as he asked, and felt his hands softly grip either side of my head. I stiffened when he started pulling me toward him, my heart shooting straight up my throat.

"Relax," he whispered as his cool breath tickled my lips.

Suddenly, my mind was flooded with distorted images, memories that didn't belong to me.

There was a couple at a dock, a man and a woman. The man had dark blond hair and a button nose. The woman was short, as short as me, with hazel eyes and a swollen belly.

"Please, Isaac, see reason."

Dean Lachlan's voice echoed in my head, but I couldn't see him. He sounded irritated, yet desperate.

The man at the dock stepped in front of the woman protectively, glaring straight at me.

"I am seeing reason, Gabriel." He growled. "Just not yours."

"You cannot leave," Dean Lachlan was pleading with the man. "Please, our bloodline-- your bloodline depends on it."

The man's face turned bright-red, his blue eyes bulging with rage. "Fuck our bloodline, and fuck you! I refuse to sacrifice my daughter's future just to please a bunch of leeches."

I felt my entire body convulse, an intense anger unlike anything I'd ever felt coursing through my veins.

I wanted to kill him, that man.

"Isaac, mind your tongue, or I'll--"

"You'll what?" Isaac snapped, taking a step toward me. "You'll kill me?"

There was a smug challenge in his question, and it only served to piss me off more.

But I didn't move, I couldn't.

"You might as well end me, right?" Isaac went on, his words dripping with venom. "I mean, it's not like I'm needed anymore. I've passed along the Royal seed, after all; produced the female heir you've been waiting centuries for. My work here is done."

Dean Lachlan scoffed, but was interrupted before he got the chance to speak.

"No, wait. You'll want to save some of my blood after you kill me, won't you? Use it to awaken Audrey after she's--"

"Enough!" The Dean bellowed, effectively muting Isaac. "We are not animals! I am not my father!"

Isaac got closer, his young face filled with malice. "No, you're far worse than animals. You're monsters. And I'll be damned if my daughter has anything to do with you or this godforsaken island."

A small boat pulled up to the dock, and Isaac turned to walk to the woman. "Come on, Vanessa, it's time to go."

"I can't." Her voice was small, breathy. "Audrey..." She trailed, clutching her pregnant belly with a conflicted expression.

Everything started blurring after that, and a voice thick with authoritative finality rang loud and clear.

"You and every other vampire on Lachlan Island can never leave again, not until you marry..." The voice faded for a second before continuing. "...that will never happen. Audrey will never see the shores of..."

Suddenly, I felt like I was dunked in an ice bath. I gasped frantically, my eyes fluttering open to see Dean Lachlan slowly lean back.

"What the hell was that?" I choked out, trying to make sense of where I was. I was sitting on the bed where I had been before, with the Dean staring solemnly at me.

"That was one of my most painful memories," he uttered pitifully. "The day I lost everything."

My head was pounding, swirling with so many more questions than I had started out with.

Were those people really my parents?

What made them leave the island when they did?

What did Dean Lachlan mean when he said he wasn't his father?

But the most pressing question, the one that gnawed at me, was the one I asked out loud. "What did he mean, you and the other vampires here can't leave?" I paused, swallowing hard. "Have you guys been stuck on this island for the past eighteen years?"

Dean Lachlan nodded wordlessly.

"Why? Just because he said so?"

"He used Influence on us," he shrugged. "We have no choice but to obey."

"Influence?" I repeated, puzzled. "You mean like what Duke used on Nero in the cave?"

The memory of the day before was still fresh, yet somehow felt like a lifetime ago.

Again, Dean Lachlan nodded without speaking.

"I don't understand... What exactly is Influence?"

"What you'd expect it to be, only amplified," he said simply, noting my confused expression. "It is a power exclusive to older vampiric bloodlines. One that we can use to...compel others."

"But, how could my father..?" I trailed, suddenly putting two and two together. "He was a vampire?"

"No, not completely." The Dean shook his head. "Just the descendant of one; the very first one...as are you."

My jaw dropped.

I was a descendant of the very first vampire? How was that even possible?

Dean Lachlan stared at me, his gaze scrutinizing, and inched closer to lift my chin closed. "You look skeptical."

"That's because I am."

"Why? After what you saw yesterday. After what you did."

I arched a brown. "What did I do?"

"You Influenced Duke." He whispered, awed.

"I did?" I was completely lost. "When?"

"Yesterday. When he was feeding from you."

I shuddered at the memory, recalling how Duke tore into my neck so viciously. Absentmindedly, I rubbed the bandage on my hand, where Duke had been gentler.

"I had nothing to do with that." I mumbled, ashamed of how foolish I had been then. "Duke just came to his senses." Thankfully.

"Come now, Miss Ridley." Dean Lachlan placed his hand on top of mine, alabaster against ivory. "You don't honestly believe that, do you?"

At this point, I wasn't sure what to believe. The fact that vampires were real was insane enough, but me being part of that world? That was just too farfetched.

"You felt it in his brutality, the way he savagely consumed your blood. He was mad with blood lust. Nothing else but Influence could have stopped him."

I suddenly remembered the day before yesterday, the first time I was attacked. Dean Lachlan had acted crazed after he tasted my blood, too.

"Is that what happened to you the other day?" I asked, my voice sounding small. "My blood drove you to madness?"

"I'm ashamed to admit it, but yes. Your blood completely overwhelmed me." He paused, his hold on my hand tightening. "I am so sorry you had to go through that. Please, forgive my behavior from that day. You have my word it will never happen again."

Unexpectedly, I found myself feeling sullen. I didn't want to think about it, didn't dare admit it, but I liked being fed upon--well, aside from when Duke went crazy and almost killed me. And the thought of Dean Lachlan not doing it again left me empty, depressed.

I gazed up at him, at his lips, and whispered, "you promise?" I sounded hopeful, but not for reassurance that he wouldn't do it again.

The air between us abruptly changed. It felt charged, thick with our mutual attraction.

Dean Lachlan shifted, and his gaze rested on the bandage on my neck, quickening my pulse. "I want to, I really do. But..." he trailed, his gaze finding mine. His pupils dilated. My breathing became shallow; my entire body tingled with anticipation.

"Oh, screw it." He groaned before pulling me into a rough kiss.