[A/N: Hey guys, if you've already read chapter 10 at this time (17/01/25), I should mention that I found out it was missing 2/3's of what I'd written... Oops? I've added the missing parts now, so if you've already read it, I highly suggest you check it out again!
Anyway, remember to add and support! Love you guys.]
Damian looked up at Lavinia. She still sat on top of him, but her face was once again twisted in guilt, and Damian sighed wryly. To be honest, if he wished, he could probably use her guilt to make her submit to him right now… but that's not even close to what he wanted.
He was still a little concerned about the exact story of his heritage, but… he never cared much about the father he'd never met, either. When he was ten years old and started asking questions, Lavinia told him his father was assassinated by a rival within the family shortly after Damian's birth.
That story was never challenged by anyone, so he accepted the situation without much fuss. Lavinia never talked about Marcus much afterwards, and Damian never really brought it up again, either. He could always see a kind of tension in his mother's expression whenever Marcus was brought up, and Damian didn't care enough about it to put her through that.
His mother and sister provided him with all the familial love he wanted or needed, and outside of that, he'd been far too preoccupied with his ambitions and goals. He enjoyed life, so why complicate it needlessly?
As for his mother, he wished the same for her. So long as she wasn't about to reveal something truly horrible, he didn't want her to feel this guilt, either.
So, he sighed and smirked up at her. "What happened to my dominant mother just now? I refuse to believe that whatever you did was so bad."
Lavinia raised her downcast eyes and looked at him with a sad smile. "I… don't feel qualified to judge that. But what I'm really worried about is your reaction to it. Not… necessarily how you'll feel about me, but… how you'll feel about yourself. Not to mention that life will become harder for you now."
Damian scoffed and waved his hand. "Come now, Mom. I'll be fine. Don't you trust me?" Mischievously, he winked. "If I'm going to claim you in the future, I'll need to be reliable, you know?"
At this point, Lilith decided to chime in. From her position, nestled into Damian's side, her head resting on his shoulder, she looked up playfully at Lavinia. "Yeah, Mom! Stop being so serious! The sooner you start talking, the sooner we can deal with it as a family!"
At first, Lavinia blinked her beautiful lashes a few times as if surprised. Then she giggled a little and nodded, as much of her previous tension quickly drained away. "Fine, you brats."
With a sigh, she dropped off Damian's hips and let herself fall onto the bed, at his other side. There, Damian wrapped an arm around her, and she took much the same position as Lilith.
When everyone was comfortable, it first remained silent for a moment. Lavinia was gathering her thoughts, and her children gave her the time to do so.
Finally, she sighed and began. "As you both know, I wasn't always the Moroi heir. It was my brother, as the elder sibling, who was supposed to inherit the position of family patriarch."
Damian nodded, his eyes focused on the ceiling. "Yeah. But then he was assassinated by unknown forces, and you were next in line."
"Not so much unknown, but we'll get to that," Lavinia growled as a hint of anger seeped into her voice. "Before I became the heir, I was actually a biologist. Specifically, I was a geneticist focused on investigating the origins of our species and differences between the various types of Eldkin."
This revelation caught both Damian's and Lilith's interest. They'd never heard about this before. Lavinia talked very little about her early life, and they'd simply assumed she was a regular, ambitious Moroi scion. Basically, a female version of Damian.
In fact, if she didn't always speak fondly of her late brother, they might have even considered the possibility of Lavinia killing him herself to become heir. Not that they'd ever mention that to her…
Lavinia noticed their surprise but didn't give them time to react. Instead, she continued.
"It was in that time that I'd meet Marcus…" she continued, a little bitterly. "And he swept me off my feet. At the time, I was still young, naive, and far weaker than I am now. It was only later I realised he was deceiving me. It was all manipulation to get what he wanted… my expertise."
Damian and Lilith blinked as they turned to look at her strangely. They couldn't imagine their powerful, confident mother being manipulated by anyone. Among elite and pleb alike, she was hailed as the queen of intrigue, coercion, and seduction. Who could possibly pull the wool over a woman like that?
Lavinia noticed their scepticism and narrowed her eyes threateningly. "Stop looking at me like that, you brats, or I'll have both of you over my knee! We were all young once, and I wasn't really trained in the family business until the death of big brother Lucius…"
Smirking wryly, Damian and Lilith looked away again. "So… your expertise…?" Damian coughed, trying to change the topic.
With a snort, Lavinia continued. "Right…" She remained silent for a moment again. This time, because she was about to make a significant revelation, and wasn't sure how to bring it.
Eventually, she sighed and decided to just rip off the bandaid. "The thing is, he also had an easier time manipulating me because… he enticed me with secret knowledge."
She sat up a little, and looked at her children with a sombre frown. "Understand that what I'm about to tell you is a heavily guarded, government secret. Do not mention it to anyone, alright? We'll all be in trouble if you do."
Obviously intrigued, Damian and Lilith voiced their understanding, which was good enough for Lavinia. She trusted her children more than anyone else.
So, she sighed, sagging back into the sheets and Damian's arm. Another moment of silence followed.
When she finally spoke again, neither Damian nor Lilith truly expected the kind of mind-shattering information she revealed to them.
"The truth is," she began softly, "we, the Eldkin, as a species, were genetically engineered. The first of our kind were created in a lab."