"What are you doing?" Eli asks me, my brother approaching as I stand idly near one of the windows. With the drapes pulled back, the overhang above the window casts away the direct sunlight, able to get a clear view of the courtyard of Paramount Conservatory.

I flinch slightly and falter my grip on the drapes at the sound of his voice, slowly releasing the fabric from my hand. Glancing away, I hear him sigh, walking toward me and halting but a few feet.

He's giving me that look again.

Eli tells me, that knowing look in his eyes, "Wren, you know better."

"You don't know what I was doing," I grumble slightly.

"Watching the humans again?" He arches a brow.

Nope...

...if only it were that simple.

Eli steps toward me, reaching out and resting his hands on my shoulders. While I slowly bring my gaze back to meet with his, he states, "Don't cause father and mother any trouble. The Dance of the Lilies is only a few weeks away."

I shrug him off and snort, "You're one to talk."

Eli is forty and hasn't selected a beloved.

"Well, I'm not a woman who's unmated," Eli muses as if this answer should suffice. He then adds, "The heir to the royal bloodline only transfers once a millennium, and you...along with the rest of the unmated females, are required to attend."

"How is it my fault the prince can't ascend the throne without selecting, claiming, and mating with a beloved before he takes the crown? I didn't make the rules, why do I have to partake in them?" I arch a brow and groan, not wanting to be part of this. The slim chance he wants me is rare and there are higher power aristocratic bloodlines than ours. Myrkur is just one of the dozens that hold greater power.

Eli shakes his head, "You're still young—"

"Yes, I'm only eighteen!" I suddenly snap, though I quickly stifle my anger as Eli's irises shift. Crimson pools stare back hard at me. I know better than to argue with him…he is father's and mother's eyes and ears when they're not around.

"You are of perfect selection age..." Eli concludes and I entirely disagree. I'm nowhere old enough to make those types of choices...

I don't want to be tied down yet though!

I want to experience life for myself and figure out who I am. This is exactly why, if I ever do work up the courage to ask my parents if I can attend evening and night classes at Paramount Conservatory, they'll tell me that I don't need it. I'll be under my beloved's command and they'll basically tell me whatever it is I need to know…do…say…

It is absolutely infuriating!

"Wren?" Eli asks, noticing that I've spaced off, "Are you still with me?"

I release a sigh and roll my eyes, "Yes…"

"You really do need to get some rest…if you've been up all day…" Eli lifts his hands off my shoulders, nodding in the direction of the stairs leading up to the second story of the old Victorian-style home we reside within.

I wouldn't say all day.

While I march right past him, heading toward those stairs, my eyes trail off the old relics and paintings. Our coven is small, providing sanctuary to my present family members of the Blóð bloodline, along with a few stray vampires that are normally nomads or wanderers. They stay for a few years, come, and go, moving on to the next as to see the world anew.

I'm jealous of them.

The portraits in the hallway reflect my past ancestors, those I've never met as they'd been killed by various means. Though, my parents' portraits also hang next to them.

Corbin Blóð and Raven Blóð, father and mother…they look so regal in the way they sit, possessed with such grace and beauty. They are quite old, though, father didn't meet mother until he was a millennium and a half. He didn't want to settle down with just anyone, as most aristocrats are extremely selective in the beloved, they take, preserving old bloodlines is the most important stature for our society.

Reaching the top floor landing, I'm not the only one awake, so it seems others are awakening, including one of the wanderers, Odette. She's reading a book in the library as I pass by the open door, her eyes lifting over the pages as she asks, "Did you stay up all day again?"

"Umm…" my voice trails off.

"You know," Odette closes the book, motioning for me to come inside. I quickly glance around down the hallway before stepping past the threshold. While she sets the book down on the table next to her, she grins, "When I was your age, I couldn't help myself from experiencing the unconventional."

Raising my brows, I reply, "That's why you are a wanderer."

"More or less," she motions with a wave of her hand, "however, as I am not tied down to a bloodline coven of my own, I'm able to make those choices. You need to be careful. We're in a dangerous world of old-world rules that continue to influence our society."

Great, point out the obvious.

"Well…is there anything I can do to help decrease my chances…you know," I move closer to her and whisper beneath my breath, "the Dance of the Lilies."

Odette releases a sigh, "I would, however, I'm not nearly a millennia, so I've not seen nor experienced that dance considered to bring unity between the next succession." As she pauses, my heart drops, though she quickly adds with a sly smirk, "Although, you could do exactly what I did when I was presented with an arranged bond."

"Oh?" I ask, realizing for the first time since she's been here, that she'd been courted.

"Disappear," she shrugs her shoulders and picks her book back up.

I shift my weight back and state, "So…do the impossible and definitely bring trouble upon my family bloodline…yeah, that works so well."

"Look," Odette glances over the pages as she opens back to the spot she'd been on, "unless they have a list and keep track of the aristocrat families and the females who haven't been claimed, then no one would know you were supposed to attend that ball. If you are just a fish in the sea of many, who's to bat an eye if you don't show up?"

As enticing as that is, there really is nowhere for me to go. I don't know how to fend for myself, I've only been outside the coven with members of my family, and there's no way I'd be able to go missing without my family reporting the occurrence to the rest of the bloodlines.

"That's tempting, though unrealistic," I groan, Odette, offering me a half-hearted smile as she goes back to reading.

I really wish I could pick up and leave without consequences.

"Wren?" Mother's voice comes from the open doorway of the library.

I'm quick to turn on my heels and offer a little wave, "H-Hey mom!"

"Odette, you're up as well?" Mother questions the wanderer.

Odette giggles softly, "When have you ever known me to be someone to follow normal behavior?"

Mother releases a sigh, "You do have a point, however, are you the reason Wren is up this early?"

Wow…that's really not her business.

"I couldn't sleep…okay?" I'm quicker than Odette, as I can feel the tension, a slight squeeze of the leather binding to her book audible. Mother's features hardly shift as I then admit, "I…just wanted someone to talk to, it's not her fault I'm awake, she just happened to offer me company."

A soft smile graces mother's lips, her approval widespread as she nods, "Of course, dear." She pauses as she ponders for a moment, "How about we get ready then?"

"For what?" I furrow my brows, thrown off guard.

Mother's sigh is one of annoyance, "I swear, you'd starve if you were on your own," she pauses as she shakes her head, a shiver traveling down my spine as her voice alters slightly, "it's Monday, Wren."

Oh…yeah, time to feed. Once a week, right on schedule so that we don't starve or fall into a state of bloodlust.

Mother then asks, "Odette, are you feeding with us tonight, or…?"

"Or…" Odette looks at her while tilting her head to the side, "…I actually skipped a day, couldn't help myself…along with the other wanderers and nomads."

"Ah, that's right," mother shakes her head, though she understands, "I forgot, you don't keep to a schedule."

Odette shakes her head as she mutters, "I feed when the need arises, not to prepare for starvation," she nods her head and mother and me before smiling wide, "happy trails!"

Awesome…so stocked it's just a family affair…