Written in five minutes using the prompt, “please try to persuade him to come, for my sake.”
“Please try to persuade him to come, for my sake.”
I knew I would.
She had a lingering fondness for the only child she’d ever created. He had attracted her with his roguish charm, though that had been the trap. She had wanted him to be charming, to bend rules and thumb his nose at polite society while still being acceptable, to continue to challenge her and those around them, but only gently, pushing the envelope, not shredding it and setting it on fire.
Which is of course what he did. Part of why we were even having this discussion. His resentment of her only had only grown as she tried to reign him in, until he finally cut ties. I’d heard him wish her dead. I’d heard him express his rage towards her for dragging him into vampire society, trying to force him into this rigid structure when he could never even fit into human society. His self-hatred projected onto everyone around him, and onto her the worst. Maybe because she still genuinely loved him even as she tried to dampen his flame.
I knew I would try to talk to him.
She and I both knew this trial was a sham. That she would be put to death for crimes that did not warrant such a punishment. A thorn removed from council’s side. We both knew that her progeny was at least part of why. We both knew this would be the last time she might be able to see him.
I knew he wouldn’t come. I knew he would express acceptance, even happiness at her demise. How he might react in private, I wasn’t sure, but I knew with everything in me that he wouldn’t come to see her and would probably attack me for asking. Verbally or physically or both, I didn’t know.
I would go anyway. She wanted me to try, and so I would.
If only she had chosen me instead of him.
“Of course,” I said.
She gave me a small smile with sad eyes.
