Fangless: The Alpha's Vampire Mate
Chapter 237: When Duty Fails

Chapter 237: When Duty Fails

The thought of performing dark rituals had lingered in Lady Maris’s mind for some time, but King Valentin had always opposed her. "We can find another way. It doesn’t have to come to that," he had insisted, his voice laced with both resolve and unease.

But after hearing the witch’s grim prophecy of impending doom, Lady Maris was relentless. She pressed him again on the matter. "There’s no other way now," she said.

Inside the carriage, King Valentin’s face was tight, his lips pursed in silent contemplation. Across from him sat Margrave Boris, who maintained his stoic silence, his mind busy sifting through the chaos of the situation.

Though a loyal servant of the crown who spent most of his days within the royal palace, Margrave Boris had a family of his own—a wife and three beautiful children.

When Margrave Nicholas had warned him of Elder Alfred’s treacherous plan to attack the royal palace, Margrave Boris had informed his family that he would remain at court until the crisis was resolved.

What his wife didn’t know—what he hadn’t dared to tell her—was that he had already been injured during this ordeal.

A minor incident, really: he had been rendered unconscious after straying too close to Emperor Kaan when the emperor unleashed his overwhelming power. The injury, though brief and relatively mild, had shaken him. Yet Margrave Boris saw no reason to alarm his wife.

Over the years, Margrave Boris had mastered the delicate art of separating his professional and personal lives. As a keeper of the kingdom’s most guarded secrets, he spoke little of work at home. His wife, understanding and considerate, never pressed him.

But now, with a threat of catastrophic proportions hanging over the kingdom, doubt gnawed at him. Could he afford to keep silent any longer? Should he break his own rules and warn his family, giving them time to prepare for what might come?

Margravine Circe hailed from the prestigious Dunkelair family, whose lands lay in the far eastern reaches of the kingdom. The Dunkelairs maintained close ties with the neighboring Kraisha Kingdom, strengthened by the marriage of the margravine’s aunt into one of Kraisha’s noble houses.

If the worst came to pass, Margravine Circe could take their children and seek refuge in Kraisha. It would be a temporary sanctuary—if Florian could be contained. But the witch had warned that such containment might be impossible.

Perhaps, then, it would be safer for the margravine and the children to remain in Kraisha permanently. That, at least, was something Margrave Boris could do for his family—a last act of love in the face of impending doom.

His thoughts churned with these grim considerations when King Valentin’s voice pierced through them, pulling him back to the present.

"There is a way," the king said, his tone calm but firm.

Margrave Boris blinked, startled from his reverie. "Indeed," he murmured, his voice quieter at first, then growing steadier. He had just thought of it. Perhaps there was a way—a chance, however slim—to save both his family and the kingdom.

While the witch was scaring them about the future, in the end, she added that there was a way to save the kingdom.

The witch’s dark prophecies had terrified them. Yet she had left them with a glimmer of possibility: a path that could avert the kingdom’s ruin.

Margrave Boris straightened, his gaze sharpening with newfound resolve. He no longer allowed despair to dominate his thoughts.

"She said," he began, his voice filled with quiet determination, "if there is enough power—an overwhelming force capable of standing against the demon—then this kingdom could still be saved."

"Where do we get such power?" Lady Maris demanded, her tone edged with panic and a hint of accusation. Her voice trembled, betraying the storm of emotions she struggled to suppress. It was only natural—this weight, this sense of responsibility crushing her.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that the burden of this disaster rested squarely on her shoulders. After all, it was she who had saved Florian from Emmanuelle’s plan to abandon him on the street, sparing him when perhaps she shouldn’t have.

She had made a solemn vow to the servant that she would keep the demon in check, that she would ensure its existence would never endanger the world’s safety.

And yet, here they were—on the precipice of catastrophe.

The more she thought about it, the clearer it became that everything had spiraled from her own choices. If she followed the thread of events back far enough, she saw herself at the heart of it all.

Had she never entered King Valentin’s life, perhaps none of this would have happened. Perhaps he could have fulfilled his duties as her husband to the late Queen Isolde.

If Queen Isolde had borne children naturally, free from the taint of desperation and dark magic, perhaps she would never have turned to forbidden rituals to fulfill her deepest desires.

And perhaps... the kingdom would not now stand on the edge of ruin.

Lady Maris’s chest tightened with guilt, regret coiling around her like a serpent. She had meant to save, to protect, but her actions had only deepened the shadows. Now, all she could do was search for the power they needed—no matter the cost—to fix what she had unwittingly set into motion.

"Emperor Kaan is a candidate," Margrave Boris said, the name slipping from his lips almost instinctively. He had witnessed the emperor’s terrifying power firsthand, and if anyone could contain the demon inside Florian, it might be him.

"I don’t trust him," Lady Maris snapped immediately.

"We don’t know his true intentions," King Valentin added, his expression darkening. "There’s something... off about him."

Margrave Boris couldn’t argue with that. Emperor Kaan was an enigma cloaked in shadows, his every move calculated, his ambitions unreadable.

There were undeniable risks in involving him. The emperor might seize this crisis as leverage to force King Valentin to bow to his empire. After all, Florian was born of a dark magic ritual that had already cost them so much.

"There’s also Riona," Boris suggested after a pause, his voice quieter now. The name carried weight, and he knew it. Riona, the Blood Moon child, was a natural alternative—perhaps their last hope.

The air in the carriage shifted. The mention of her name left a bitter taste in both the king’s and Lady Maris’s mouths. The king’s glare bore into Boris, his lips pressed into a thin, unforgiving line. Beside him, Lady Maris looked away, her expression clouded with conflicting emotions.

"She might not even want to help us," Lady Maris said finally, her voice tinged with sorrow and hesitation. "The last time she came to fetch him, he was cruel to her. Do you think she’s forgotten that?"

Her gaze softened as she glanced at the king, her hand reaching out to squeeze his, tense and cold beneath her touch. "And beyond that... don’t you think it’s unfair? To place the burdens of adults on the shoulders of a child? This was never meant to be her responsibility. We can’t afford to be so selfish."

Margrave Boris pressed his lips into a thin line, frustrated. He was upset. They were scrambling for a solution to avoid resorting to dark magic to seal Florian in the chamber, and he had offered the best suggestions he could muster under the circumstances.

In truth, he was proud of his ideas, convinced they were the kingdom’s most viable options. Yet King Valentin and Lady Maris had dismissed them, their emotions clouding their judgment. They seemed more preoccupied with personal guilt and sentiment than with the kingdom’s dire state.

"Do not get her involved!" the king barked.

The margrave stiffened, bowing his head in acknowledgment. He understood the weight of a superior’s command—and he would obey.

But not everyone shared his restraint. In the near future, someone else reached their breaking point. Ignoring the king’s warning, they took matters into their own hands and sought out Riona.