Whispers murmured throughout the rows of seats as silence enveloped
the central table.
With a heavy sigh, Mr. Collin swallowed a breath of air as he collected his words. In his firm tenacity about what to say, he peered at the Headmasters and their wives across from him and his wife as they patiently awaited an answer.
"The only alternative we have is to initiate a bridge marriage," Mr. Collin brought to the table.
Hope in our request abated into a mere thread as the aura in the chamber intensified with groaning as louder complaints muttered throughout the vacancy, predominantly from Isabel's family. More surprisingly, most of the oldest generation of the Somerset family members remained quiet in their contemplation.
"How do you envision a bridge marriage working when you couldn't establish one with the Mills?" Preston, the Headmaster of the Somerset Coven, further challenged our proposal.
Mr. Collin wisely refuted, "Yes, my father's brotherly friendship partly failed with Morbius because of my actions, and your son was part of the group involved in Emily's assault. However, unlike before, we now share common ground."
"Such as?" Preston inquired.
Mr. Collin narrowed his gaze. "Not only do we have common enemies, but we also care for Isabel and her Coven. If we carry out warfare between us, Isabel and her Coven are in the middle of it. Unless we find common ground with a bridge marriage, not only is Isabel's Coven at risk of being destroyed, but your unborn great-great-grandbaby is at risk of being detained," Mr. Collin elucidated more sternly in his pertinacity with his claims to execute a compromise with our enemies.
"Are you threatening my unborn offspring!" Grant offensively growled.
"I am merely outlining the outcomes of our situation," Mr. Collin clarified, rejecting Grant's misinterpretation of his words.
"If we genuinely intended to harm your unborn offspring, we would have done it when Isabel attended my daughter's birthday party," Chester retorted, diffusing the tension Grant was causing.
"Hum...indeed, we were surprised that you didn't," Dylan stated, narrowing a distrusting gaze at Troy.
"What would be the equal terms to this proposed bridge?" he unexpectedly asked.
"Father!" Grant interjected, but he pressed his lips tightly shut when his great-grandfather raised his fist to quiet him.
Headmaster Preston asserted, "Let your father handle these arrangements for Isabel's sake."
Upon hearing his great-grandfather's authoritative demand, Grant snorted. Nevertheless, he submitted and took Isabel's hand as he allowed his father to work out the terms.
"The terms are straightforward on our end," Chester thoughtfully stated. "Isabel is allowed to marry Grant at any time. However, she must bear a male heir for both our Covens to maintain equal peace."
"She won't mate with Troy!" Grant objected loudly, clearly unhappy with the terms.
Preston growled at his great-grandson. "One more outburst, and you can wait outside with your advisors!"
"It can be surgically performed," Chester clarified, addressing the agitated tension revolving between the Somerset family.
"I can agree to those terms, but I suspect there's more," Dylan sneered, maintaining a straight face.
"Of course, you can no longer harm our females and the offspring in our Coven, including our allies," Chester concluded. "And you must vote for Victoria's survival."
Driven by her crazed pregnancy hormones, Mrs. Collin fiendishly added her own condition, "You must also prevent the Lopez Coven from going to war with us!"
Obnoxious laughter filled the chamber upon hearing her spat out of terms.
"Vampiresses are to keep quiet while we negotiate the terms. Whatever warfare Headmaster Matt has with you, it's on you to settle it with him," Headmaster Preston scolded her, and Mr. Collin held her hand on his lap to comfort her.
Dylan ignorantly added, "Your allies aren't part of these negotiations. Whatever our Coven does to your allies' females and their offspring is our business. Unless you're united by marriage, we won't bother them."
Facing limited options, Chester modified the terms, "Fine! Cease any assaults on our females and offspring. Specify only the allies we've united with through marriage in this agreement."
"Done," Dylan affirmed.
"What about Victoria?" Mr. Collin inquired, and Dylan's eyes darkened, narrowing at me from over Chester's and Zoey's shoulders.
Time ticked away, and the air stilled within a shroud of eerie silence.
Dylan declared, staring directly at Kai. "Reawaken Saul Mercer and his royal family you detained. Release the Mercer Coven's members and the other royals from your enslavement, including Princess Darlene, and then we have a deal."
"I will only reawaken Darlene's brother, but none of us will set any of them free. We can't trust them not to backstab us," Kai affirmed, growling.
With a nastier growl, Dylan retorted, "Then I won't be voting for your wife!"
Stone-cold tension silenced the chamber after the ferocious sounds of Dylan's growl withered from deriving within the stone walls.
Kai unhurriedly ascended from his seat as this frightful darkness enveloped the aura in his demeanor. His gaze blackened into a blood-red cyclone as the coldness of his presence left me. My heart fluttered in an irregular rhythm, and my breathing floundered as if I were drowning. Sensing my distress, Henry and his wife leaned up behind my seat, and soothed me by patting my shoulders.
"If you object, I can see to it that your grandchild Isabel carries will never be born," Kai threatened, issuing his ominous ultimatum.
Mr. Collin anxiously bit the inside of his lip, and nervousness tightened his chest. He anticipated his unruly son might speak out of terms. However, he had hoped Kai would never be involved with this discussion.
Raged with fury, Grant braced to launch out of his seat, until his composed great-grandfather shoved him back on his butt, using little to no effort to keep him still with a sturdy hand.
Unexpectedly, Headmaster Preston howled in laughter as everyone remained quiet in bewilderment, crossing their expressions.
"Always a notorious warrior!" Preston remarked as he morphed his laughter into a hoarse chuckle.
Dylan rolled his eyes at his grandfather's comment. In the wars, Kai was notorious for being a merciless brute, so detaining Isabel's unborn vamp baby wouldn't be difficult to execute. To this day, Kai's form of wine and cheese was him delighting himself on human infants and detaining innocent vamp babies. Dylan reckoned as Preston continued to say, "Keep those weak Mercers under enslavement. Victoria has our votes only if you help us vanquish our common enemies in war."
"Common enemies, sure, but not our allies," Kai approved. "Any of your allies proceeding war against us won't be part of our deal since you disregarded terms from harming our non-united allies."
"For Isabel's sake, our terms will be honored upon this bridge. If the marriage fails, then we go to war. The winner takes Isabel, and her offspring on the losing side gets detained with her opposing husband. Unless by some miracle we can ever be friends, this is how it has to be," Preston decreed, and the weight on my chest subsided.
"Agreed!" Chester settled it. "Now we only need to make visiting arrangements Isabel will have to do."