Pummeling My Heart

9

^^Hailey

Lara's POV

I swear I'm a split hair from gutting the advisors. They will not rest with the sang familial bullshit. There's no way I'm going to force my daughter and wife to lie together. I scoffed, making the advisor stop. He knew my glare, so he gulped and looked down. I pinched the bridge of my nose when another advisor spoke up.

"Your majesty. I understand you're against the ritual, but it's a rite of passage for any member of high society. In order for your daughter to rightfully be the heir, she'll need to follow the customs. If not, then it goes to-"

"Alec is the reigning monarch and I... his alternate. I'm the next in line for the throne, so there's no need-"

"You two made a dividend. He's the monarch in the vampire realm and you're the monarch in the human realm. That means that you'll need a successor. If Zena is not made heir, then you'll have to find another heir. Yeira has completed-"

"No." I cut them off. "She'll be rather harsh." I concluded. "Also, I'm not deciding either of my daughters' paths. Both may wish to never inherit the throne and I'll respect them-"

"We understand, your majesty. But there needs to still be an heir in case. And Zena must complete the ritual by her 18th birthday and that's in a few months." I groaned at his words. "Without the ritual, her blood will not be-"

"Enough!" My raised voice forced them into compliance. "I will not engage in talks about the ritual anymore. Understand?" My voice had an edge to it.

"Of course, your majesty." They bowed before leaving.

After they left, I buried my face in my hands. I heard the door open and heard a familiar laugh. I rolled my eyes before raising my head to see Hailey lounging in a chair. I poured two glasses of wine and handed her one. She took the glass and sipped the alcohol while she eyed me. I shook my head and raised a finger for her to give me a moment. I then chugged the glass and poured another.

"Familial blood." I told Hailey before gulping another glass.

"I thought they'd overlook that." Hailey muttered.

"So did I. I'm delaying it and refusing it. Also, Mila found out about the whole sang familial bullshit and went apeshit on me. I managed to pacify the situation and assure her I wouldn't have them force her into that. She's still pissed that I didn't tell her right away."

"I understand her anger... but, can this really be avoided?" Hailey shyly asked. "I'm all for outdoing that ancient ritual, but sang familial was practiced for a reason. It was a cruel curse placed on our species. The saying is that if you do not lie with a family member, then the beast will be unhinged and there will be a forced joining of the separate counterparts. A whole lot of bullshit later... it roughly translates that you will permanently be on feral mode and will lose all sense of humanity. It was designed to save the individual from a lifetime of involuntary slaughter and violence. If Zena doesn't sleep with Mia, then she'll turn into a rabid beast."

"So is it you or I that is supposed to tell Mila?" I questioned.

"Blame it on your royal lineage. It was a curse placed on the royal family. That's why your family heavily practiced incest. And that is why incest was then adopted by lower level vampires who looked to the royals for guidance. That's the reason incest is so dominant in our culture." Hailey shrugged.

"I just thought she wouldn't be subjected to it since she's a tribrid. I thought her other counterparts would outweigh that."

"Is that something you want to risk?" Hailey sadly asked. "If she doesn't have sex with Mia or any other family member, she runs the risk of never retaining her humanity again."