"I never took my anger out on you. I didn’t like that he picked you-"
"Why?" Josephine interjected. "Because I’m not one of your precious five families? I’m still a pureblood. I come from a family whose name is well-respected, so it wasn’t like your brother made an awful choice. So, what did I do to upset you?"
Camilla looked down at the floor to avoid Josephine’s gaze. "I don’t want to do this now. I am going to leave so you can go back to enjoying your happy family moment."
"No, you don’t want to talk about this because you don’t want to admit you hated me for no reason. I could understand if I did something to you before I married Nathaniel or I said something to upset you, but I didn’t," Josephine said, certain of it.
Josephine vividly remembered Camilla being one of the few Blackthorns giving her the cold shoulder.
"You hated me because I was one of the things Nathaniel got his way for. You talked about me like I wasn’t around, so when it came time for you to lose your fangs, I laughed," Josephine confessed. "I laughed like there was no tomorrow, and I was well within my right to laugh."
"It was evil to do," Camilla said.
"I never said it wasn’t, but when someone I hated is getting tortured, I am going to enjoy it. I wasn’t going to pretend then, like I am not going to pretend now that I don’t want you here, but it’s not my home. It’s up to Selene or Xavier to throw you out. Excuse me," Josephine said, leaving before another argument started.
Josephine needed a drink to get her mind off of Camilla being present.
Camilla pinched herself to check that she was awake. The last time she saw Josephine, they were close to clawing each other’s eyes out, but Josephine walked away before it could reach that point.
Camilla looked at the door. She could sneak out now, but rather than leave, she wanted to have a night around family. To see how her father would be around Selene or how he planned to apologise to her.
Camilla walked away from the door, following Josephine to meet up with the others. "Am I allowed to stay or do I need to go?"
"If you can behave yourself, then you can stay. You wouldn’t want to ruin this night and upset your favourite nephew," said Xavier.
"Now that is out of the way, when are you going to introduce me to your wife, or should I wait for her to finish another glass?" Orlork asked, patiently waiting off to the side for this moment.
"Oh," Selene set her glass down. "I am Selene Blackthorn. It is an honour to meet you, Orlork Blackthorn." She offered her hand for Orlork to shake.
"Honour?" Orlork chuckled, shaking her hand. "That’s a first."
"You are Orlock Blackthorn. It is impossible that no one has ever been honoured to meet you," Selene said, confused as to why it was surprising.
"Everyone is always too afraid to meet him to be honoured. He’s oddly calm at the moment," Xavier said, starting to be suspicious of Orlork’s motives.
"When you’ve had time to sleep for many years, you don’t bother yourself with things you would have before. There are better things I could do with my time than to scare your wife. I could if you need me to," Orlork offered.
"No, this is already too much for me. Sorry," Selene apologised. "Before my marriage, I never thought there would come a day I would meet you, and when I thought about meeting another Blackthorn, I wasn’t expecting to be accepted."
"I’ve been around Xavier long enough to know trying to convince him to leave the women he picked would take a lifetime before I have my way. I didn’t meddle with who Nathaniel picked, so I won’t do the same for my grandson. I would have if you weren’t so special," said Orlork.
"Me? I know as much as you know," Orlork replied.
He had been around the Everharts during the war and noticed how fast they were to get away from the other purebloods. It had always been a topic of conversation about what they could have been hiding.
Orlork had his suspicions, but he kept them to himself since he didn’t like to bother himself with matters of other families unless they were going to cause trouble.
"So, are you trying to accept me because I am also an Everhart? Are you trying to learn their secrets?" Selene asked, curious about what Orlork’s intentions were.
It would make sense if Orlork was out to get the family secret so he was so accepting of her.
"I know where the Everharts ran off to. If I was curious about what they were hiding, I would have voted with the others to drag them back here and torture their secrets out of them. The Blackthorns have their secrets. I think we should let others keep their own," Orlork explained his reasons.
Orlork continued, "One of the Evertharts ended up with my grandson, so I made the right choice. I am not going to bother you two because I know you will have much to deal with if they come for you. I am hoping they don’t come before the big moment."
"Big moment?" Selene asked, confused. Why was there so much to learn?
"The old bastard is talking about us having a child. I believe I gave you one rule," Xavier said, ready to throw Orlork out.
"I called it the big moment. You mentioned a child. You should see yourself out," Orlock responded since Xavier broke his own rule.
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