Vail wasn’t sure what he had expected when he’d approached the Crest ladies, but Diana’s nonchalance gave him clearance to relax. She was much more accepting of him than Peter ever had been of Victoria. Despite the fact that he had used her daughter for her blood again and fooled around with her in the bathroom—as was made obvious due to his state of undressed when she’d arrived—the widow was surprisingly calm and didn’t even spare a single comment about their relationship. Her inviting nature was like a breath of fresh air after his own family had reprimanded and ridiculed him for ‘playing with his food’ as his cousins had so tastelessly put it. He liked how much simpler everything felt when he didn’t have to be on a constant defense.

“I’m well aware of that,” he sighed when Diana reminded him about the potential consequences of Peter’s stubbornness. “He’s too set in his ways to believe me either though. I’m doing everything I can, but as long as he’s the patriarch of our clan, my hands are tied.” The most he could get away with was gently nudging his other family members to stay in pique condition without directly telling them that he was pushing back against his father’s wishes. Since word had gotten out about his romance with Lady Crest, he’d lost all credibility among the Hygraces. It was the most frustrating place he could be when a war was looming on the horizon. He just hoped that if or when the time came, he could persuade the rest of the clan to rally so that they wouldn’t be massacred by the Wynters.

As Victoria declared that she wouldn’t allow Lord Spencer to have her, Vail nodded in agreement. He had tiptoed around her fiancé for long enough. Now that he was both certain and confident about his feeling for the Crest heiress, he intended to fight for her. He wouldn’t allow the rival vampire to take advantage of her again. And to his delight, it seemed like the villain was no longer holding all the cards. “You did?” he turned to Victoria with raised brows as she informed him that her engagement was off. The annulment was long overdue, but he was still impressed that she had cut ties with Spencer when the Order had been backing him since the beginning. “Good,” he smiled at her, supportively lacing his fingers with hers. “It’s about time he understood that he’ll never have you, because you’re mine.”

His father was another story. When Victoria mentioned him, Vail said nothing. Unlike Diana, Peter was openly hostile to the idea of his only son getting involved with a mortal. It didn’t matter how much she mattered to him because the clan leader couldn’t see past her human skin. “Thank you,” he inclined his head politely to the widow as she exited the room, appreciative of her acceptance. Between himself and the Crest heiress, he had inarguably gotten the better future in laws—assuming they would be able to get married one day, that was.

Privately, he wondered how furious Peter would be if he requested to move into the Crest manor for the decades that remained of Victoria’s limited life. It was unorthodox, since a bride was usually adopted into her new husband’s family, but nothing else about their relationship was conventional. Besides, he preferred the thought of living with her someplace where they wouldn’t be berated constantly by people who thought they were fools. Her family’s estate would certainly be more peaceful than his in that regard.

Walking alongside her to the door, he considered her question. “My intentions are to keep loving you,” he replied after a pause, glancing at her sideways. “I wish I could tell you that I had some sort of grand plan to win my father over, but I don’t. With everything else that has been going on recently, I haven’t had time to think about it. I’ve made it clear to him that I’m not going to change my mind about you and that he’s going to have to accept it since he can’t pass off my inheritance to anyone else without causing an uproar among our relatives. Anything else I try will have to wait until my family is no longer in danger.”

He leaned down to press a kiss to her temple. “I don’t know what lies ahead, my love, but I promise I’m not done fighting for us yet. I’d like to one day be able to call you [i]my[/i] fiancée, and later my wife. For now, though, you’re just going to have to trust me. I’m not going anywhere, even if my father disapproves.”