Chapter 51: Marianthus, Part 1

Aubrey tilted his head back, looking up at Ruthven, still behind him. "What are you talking about?"

Elisabeth looked ready to cry.

François gaped. "Wait, what - you really are the Consort?"

Ruthven sighed and looked down at Aubrey. "Five dukes, goes the legend, who chose to defend their tsar at the cost of their own lives, simply so that he could murder all his people." His eyes flashed. "To hell with that. I have been alive for more than two hundred years, and I still do not believe my people are so despicable we deserve to be destroyed. Are humans any better? I've seen humans do much worse than drink blood, yet no one wants to wipe them out. But I suppose we vampires were the only ones who could have. Who knows, if animals were able to speak with us, maybe they would wish for humans to vanish, but I don't think completely annihilating any species or race is ever an acceptable solution."