Newborn-A Vampire Academy FanFiction

Chapter 17

"Guardian Hathaway. Glad to have you join us."

I looked to the far end of the room, where the voice came from. Lissa was sitting in the middle of the table with the entire royal council around her. I recognized most of them—Princess Evette Ozera, Prince Rufus Ivashkov, Prince Alexander Voda, Prince Marcus Lazar, Princess Ava Drozdov, and Prince Howard Zeklos. And surprisingly, Jill also sat among the council, in the Dragomir family’s seat. I guess it was expected that she’d take the title as princess since Lissa was now queen, but I hadn’t seen her in a long time. In fact, I hadn’t seen her for at least a month, and I’d been wondering where she’d disappeared off to.

There were also other Moroi in here, some I recognized but some I didn’t. Surprisingly, my old man, Abe, was also in here. Eddie too—he was sitting in one of the chairs at the table. I immediately pondered the chances of him being in trouble and wondered if I was, too. But I hadn’t done anything wrong lately—I was sure; except maybe for when I was late and Lissa got angry at me. But that wouldn’t be something that they’d punish me for, right? And besides, the royal council wouldn’t have anything to do with it, anyways. If I was being punished it’d be Hans. But don’t get me wrong, I still didn’t like the idea of getting punished by him—again. Even though I loved protecting Lissa, I hated doing garden work. The same thing went for filing. Those were the worst things that could ever happen to me.

“Please, take a seat,” Lissa said, motioning towards the empty seat next to Eddie.

Everyone looked at me as I sat down hesitantly. I started to wonder if I was wrong about getting punished. But then, there was also the thing that happened yesterday—Ariana’s death. Her family’s seat was empty, since she was no longer… alive. Perhaps… Today’s meeting was to discuss the Szelsky princess’ death?

“Where is Guardian Belikov? He should be—” Before the Lissa could finish her sentence, we all heard the faint beeping sound from the scanner. A second later, the door opened.

“Your Majesty. Princesses. Princes.” He bowed and acknowledged the entire royal council. “I am sorry for my lateness. I was held back due to…” I turned around slightly, and Dimitri’s gaze caught mine for a few seconds before flickering back to the Lissa and the royals. “circumstances,” he finally said.

“Your lateness is excused.” Lissa cleared her throat and looked at the royal council. “Now that everyone is here, we should get started now.”

Dimitri nodded and sat down—right next to me.

I had the urge to bolt out of the room, but I gripped the arm rest tightly—so tight that it was on the verge of breaking. Did he sit next to me on purpose? Why did he just choose to sit somewhere else? My thoughts were cut off from Lissa’s stern voice.

“All of you have been invited here for a reason,” she said. “And before we start…” Her eyes swept over the entire room. “I want you all to be aware.” She paused a few seconds before continuing. “The following matters that will be discussed in this room are very severe… It is very, very, important, that what is said in here stays in here. You must be very discreet.” Lissa paused again, letting her words sink in. “Anyone that fails to do so may be sentenced for treason…” Lissa glanced at me and I could read the fear from her eyes although she was trying hard not to show it. She was doing a good job, but anyone that knew her like I did would know that she was scared to death right now. It must have been really hard for her to say these words aloud. She took a silent, deep breath before finishing her sentence, “and a death punishment will take place by execution—no matter your title or status.”

No one said anything as Lissa sat down. I guess the feeling that this meeting was serious had gotten to everyone.

“Now, the first issue that I would like to talk about today…” Lissa flipped her folder open. “I’m sure most of you already know about what happened yesterday. If you haven’t, there is a detailed description in your folder. You may read over it later. Right now I want to introduce someone to the royal council first, the person who shall take over the Szelsky’s family title as Prince—Prince Lee Szelsky.”