A Slave to Love, Broken Hearts, and Everything In Between

Chapter 15: Having a Ball

Ace POV

"Will you be joining the council soon? Shadowing your grandfather?" Christian said. His balding head was shining like a beacon in the lights of the ballroom, practically reflecting all the crowds surrounding us of people I would much rather be with than him. He was one of the many high-ranking officials, whose title was more for show than anything else, practically bought with all the money he invested into Aros' ventures for bettering our infrastructure and supporting our people. He had the personality, and shape, of an apple you didn't realize what was rotting before you took a bite, and by then it was far too late to leave well enough alone.

Fortunately for me, gatherings like this were dangerous: too many vampires in one place made the humans suspicious and nervous, leading to accusations of demonic activity running rampant with accusing fingers pointed in our direction, so these functions did not occur that often.

Unfortunately for me, it meant when they did happen there was no way for me to weasel out of it. I had an obligation to our people to show up and be pleasant, maintain the carefully crafted image of loving family and being united, someone dependable and likeable that would instill peace and security in our people. Instill trust.

There was no such obligation for the people to treat me as well in return, which was mainly why I wanted to avoid the festivities, but never could.

"Oh, he's far too young for that. He's got so much more to learn before he's ready, right now he's busy focusing on broadening his horizons and having fun," Aros said, cutting in before I could attempt to get a word in. I wasn't trusted enough to speak on my own behalf most of the time. Too young, too inexperienced, too irresponsible. One wrong word could ruin the entire institution and apparently most of my words were the wrong ones.

My smile was practically carved into my face with a blunt knife, but I found the spiteful need to defend myself. "I hardly have time as it is to shadow my grandfather, what with all the subjects I must study on a day-to-day basis."

The subjects Aros insisted I study day and night, no matter how useless or mind numbingly boring they were. So long as I was studying, I couldn't get into trouble.

Or at least it was harder to get into trouble. But since I was an overachiever in all the wrong ways, the challenge was always far more fun.

"It's good to expand the mind," Christian said brusquely, patting my arm a little too hard to be comforting. "Young people are so lazy and entitled, I'm glad to see you're following in your grandfather's footsteps instead, devoting yourself to academic pursuits. One must be well-rounded and clever to be a successful leader in our world."

"He does his best to teach me," I said, mentally tacking on the but not entirely succeeding. Because that was the point; I was here to play a part, nothing more than a detail in the bigger image we had to project in order for things to run smoothly. I was used to it, but it did not make it any less boring or exhausting.

"Like I said, he's got a lot of time left to learn before he's ready," Aros said, and they laughed because when Aros made a joke, no matter how cruel or unfunny, people were supposed to laugh. Having power meant you were always the funniest and most well-liked person in the room, and if you someone disagreed? Well, they would be convinced quite effectively.

Christian reached another old hand out to me, this time to wrap around my hair where it was tied neatly back with a ribbon, and gave it a none-too-gentle yank. I grit my teeth to keep my smile and lock away the pained yelp his pulling brought, tensing my arms to keep from smacking him away from touching me. Aros' eyes were on me, warning me to stay still and indulge Christian's whim no matter what he did.