The Gift.

18

"Hell!" Jesse says and walks away. Carlo gives Jesse a chastising look but turns around to face the king.

"Your majesty, might I present Princessa Esmeralda, the chosen mate of crown Prince Jesse and of princes Desanto, Santo and myself." Carlo says coming up to the king with Esme on his arm.

"Delighted Princess. I would love to hear how you managed to ensnare the heart of the four vampires that hated humans more than anything." The king decides to tease his son and his brothers a bit.

"Yes, so I found out not so long ago. Honestly when they found me, I had no idea that Jesse hated humans. He has always been all that was kind and good to me. That is until I asked him to remove the marks then the pain from that was greater than anything I've ever felt before."

The king looks at her consideringly. There is something in her eyes that speaks of great pain and he doesn't think it all has to do with the pain she suffered when the marks were being removed.

"I would be honored if you would be willing to share with me the circumstances of how you and my son became acquainted." The king says and offers her and the others seats.

Jesse comes back over and takes a seat and pulls Esme on top of his lap. The twins take seats on either side of him and Carlo too restless to sit stands behind Jesse's position on the couch.

"In order to understand the context of what happened you need to know how I subdued my territory." Jesse takes a moment to gather his thoughts.

The king waits patiently, this is something he has long desired to know but Jesse refused to tell him just how he took over all the land and controlled both the supernaturals and the humans.

"Eight hundred and some years ago you gave me this untamed land and ordered me to tame it. As was normal for the time, war was common. The devastation from the wars alone was enough to cause problems. Before I could fully take over many of the smaller villages were flat out destroyed. Many of the cities were damaged greatly. The humans would run from one place to another looking for refuge.

"Then, as that wasn't the only thing they had to suffer through, there is a large population of various supernatural creatures that call the forest home. They had made it a practice to deplete the human villages even further.

"They didn't do that without problems though. The wolves had been nearly depopulated completely. There had at one time been more than ten packs that made the forest home. By the time I was able to enforce peace there remained only enough for one pack and it was a fraction of it's former size."

"What the fuck!" Is heard by those in the room. They turn to see that both Areon and Benjamin were in the room.

"Forgive me, majesty, my lords, but I knocked. I thought you would like to know as soon as Alpha Areon arrived." Benjamin says once they have the attention of the whole room.

Esme jumps off Jesse's lap and runs to Areon's arms. She relaxes as his arms enfold her into a comforting hug. 

Areon reluctantly releases her as he hears the low growling and hisses from the various Lords. Only then does he take a look at Esme. "What the hell!" He looks angrily first at Benjamin who looks down in shame then at the vampire lords. "What the hell did you do to her!"

Esme places her hand on his arm to get him to calm down and he just shakes it off. Esme tries hard to not take it personally but so soon after her mates' rejection she can't help recoiling in pain. It is the pain that he feels that makes him stop glaring at the vampires and back to Esme.

"I'm sorry, Esme. Forgive me?" He asks leaning his head against hers.

"Of course. Come listen to story time as Jesse explains how he met me to the vampire king." Esme says pulling Areon behind her and Benjamin takes up a position next to Carlo.

"Your majesty, this is Alpha Areon, my friend." Esme says making the introductions.

"Alpha, you sure know how to make an entrance." The king is more than a little amused by everyone's reaction.

"I try, sire. Forgive my words, but that is not the history we were taught growing up."

"Oh, I have no doubt. But you can be sure that Jesse is telling the truth, he was there after all."

"I know. After living here with him for seven years I've never once heard him lie or break a promise." He looks confused at Esme's snort with his words.

"Ah, well change comes to everything. Please make yourself comfortable as Jesse tells me things I've long desired to learn." Jesse gives the king a dirty look with those words.

"As I was saying," Jesse says only once Esme returns to his lap. "The wolves were decimated as were all supernaturals that preyed on the humans.

"As I took over the human lands and the wars stopped they started increasing in numbers, but were still being attacked by the supernaturals. And the supernaturals were still warring amongst themselves. One by one I forced them to stop their wars and forced them to stop attacking the humans. I made them sign a treaty with the humans. 

"As long as one female was given as sacrifice every year at a set time, then all the villages were given my protection. Each year one village was chosen to sacrifice one of the females over sixteen that was a virgin.

"Seven years ago, it was Esmeralda's village that was chosen to sacrifice a female. Her village chose her sister, but her sister had made herself ineligible by becoming pregnant with the headman's son's child." Jesse clenches down on his teeth.

Esme holds to him. The king looks to Carlo to continue the story. "The elders of the village had made it so that there were no females over sixteen that were pure. They would have either the father's, brother's or neighbor's of the females violate them if they were unmarried and still virgins.

"The elders had paid Esmeralda's parents to have her take her older sister's place.

"They left her hungry, terrified, and disowned in the sacrificial glade.

"I was the first to make it to the glade and was shocked that one so tiny could put off so much terror. It was intoxicating and taxed my control more than I've ever been tested. Shortly after I got there the twins showed up. As we looked at the girl something inside us claimed her. By the time Jesse showed up we were willing to fight him to protect the girl."

By then Jesse had himself under control and took over telling the story. "I at first thought she was the sacrifice, but quickly realized that she was far too small to be the proper age. That made her a gift rather than a sacrifice. That meant that I could kill her." Jesse holds Esme close to keep her from leaving as he continues.