Page 182 of Galaxy Circus Act One

“Yes. What you are talking about is treasonous,” Xenos warns dangerously, but neither female is particularly adept at picking up social cues.

“No, what’s treasonous is him bonding with the Skarrian slut,” Estrella spits, jabbing a finger in my direction.

A low growl comes out of my chest at her calling Lila a slut. “Enough!” I shout, jumping to my feet. “I propose an official clan dissolution. Lila is my blood rose, which is an automatic accepted reason for clan dissolution. That will allow the rest of you to either reform as a clan without me or form new clans as you wish. All financial assets will be divided according to the contract and what you brought into this relationship, and since our place of residence is a suite in the queen’s castle and, as such, belongs to none of us, there will be no property disagreements. It should be clean cut and straight forward.”

“That sounds reasonable. I agree to this,” Hale says, and it doesn’t look like I am going to get an argument from Xenos, Dante, Kavita, or Velorina either. All of them appear resigned to the plan, but I know they are happy for me, just as I would be for any of them if they were ever fortunate enough to find their blood rose. Unfortunately, it isn’t very common on Vilax anymore. Only a few blood rose bondings happen each year.

“Absolutely not,” Radella screeches. “I will not allow this. I will fight it to my last breath.”

“That can be arranged,” Xenos threatens, and Estrella gasps.

“You wouldn’t. We are your clan. Killing your clan members is forbidden.”

“Unless the clan member does something so heinous that none of the others would forgive them, and all other clan members are in agreement,” Kavita points out, eyeing the two females like she would relish the opportunity. The three of them have always clashed, which is why she wasn’t sad to see our clan light-years apart for the last few years.

“Now don’t be so hasty.” Velorina holds up her hands, trying to keep the peace between the three of them.

Poor thing has always been smack bang in the middle of the females’ drama. I think she was hurt when Kavita stayed behind with Xenos, as they were previously lovers, and neither Radella nor Estrella are inclined that way. They wouldn’t even let her feed from them, which is unheard of for a clan. I should have known then this would never work. All clan members should be free to feed from each other as needed. Hell, I even feed from Hale when necessary, even though I’m not interested in him in a sexual way. The only person I don’t feed from is Xenos for obvious reasons and him me.

“I don’t think we’ve quite gotten to the killing part of the program. I’m sure we could come to some mutually beneficial arrangement.”

“That’s because you come from money, Velorina. You won’t be walking away from this clan with nothing, unlike the two of us,” Estrella sneers.

Dante starts to chuckle. “That’s what this is about? Money? You have got to be joking.” He shakes his head in disbelief.

“Why are you so surprised?” Kavita glares at the two girls. “Why do you think they pursued our clan so fiercely in the beginning? They are two power hungry whores who saw our clan as a ticket to the big time.”

Radella and Estrella were the last two members we invited into our clan. They impressed both Xenos and me with their viciousness during their military stint, and we thought having them in our clan would make us stronger and a force to be feared. In truth, it’s been nothing but hard work.

“Well, I guess we are going to have to go to mediation and resolution then,” Hale says reluctantly. “It’s only going to make things worse for you two,” he warns. “The queen oversees all resolutions, and she is not going to be impressed that you’re contending the existence of Saxon’s blood rose.”

“Are you sure about that?” Radella smirks. “I’m pretty sure the queen isn’t going to be impressed that her nephew’s blood rose is a slutty Skarrian with multiple mates. How do you think that will look to her court?”

“I think my aunt is going to be thrilled.” I’ve sat here quietly and listened to them argue for long enough. “After all, she sent the blood rose cup with Xenos so that Lila could transition smoothly.”

“What choice did she have? It was either that or you die,” Estrella screams, and I smirk.

“Ah, so you do concede that she is my blood rose, and without her, I would have died,” I point out, happy that we backed her into a corner.

“Blood rose matings can be broken. Once she realizes the optics of the situation, then it’s only a matter of performing the ceremony and putting that bitch to death. I will be happy to deal the killing blow,” Radella crows, not even blinking at threatening my blood rose.

I fly from the couch, wrapping my hand around her throat and pinning her to the wall with such force, it cracks, and the metal groans in protest.

“If you so much as look at her threateningly, I will make sure you are the one that bleeds. I will have you dismembered quicker than you can blink then scatter your parts amongst the galaxy so you will never be able to heal but will never die, forever suffering in pain,” I snarl.

“You would be punished for harming a clan member without everyone’s vote.” Tears stream down her face, but she is still defiant.

“No, I won’t, because trying to harm someone’s blood rose is an automatic death sentence. In fact, I am well within my rights to kill you now, considering you suggested to the warlocks that if Lila and I were to bond, she might not survive the process.”

Her eyes widen with surprise, and fear enters them.

“The only reason the two of you are still breathing is because I want to see you punished in front of the entire court, and if, for some reason, you survive, I want to see you suffer for your remaining years when no one will take the potential killers of my blood rose into their clan. You will be clanless and reliant on begging and scheming to get blood to feed yourself.”

“Dare I say they will need to whore themselves out in some back world brothel, exchanging their bite for blood just to feed. Oh yes, that would be a glorious punishment,” Kavita says triumphantly.

“Saxon, I always knew you were vicious, but that is impressive.” My brother steps over and removes my hand from her throat, pulling me away. Radella slides down the wall into a heap, her mouth open wide as she gasps for air.

“You wouldn’t.” Estrella shakes her head. “You love us. We love you. Haven’t we fed you and satisfied your needs all these years?” She is still deluding herself.