The words fell into the hall like a blade that had been quietly drawn and then suddenly pressed against the throat of reality itself.
For a moment, nobody breathed.
The vampires of the Moonshade family, the ordinary ones and not the ancestors, stood frozen where they were, their bodies still bent in kneeling positions or halfway through rising, their hands still clutching their military tokens or pressed against the cold stone floor.
Their crimson eyes widened, and their expressions shifted from reverence to pure disbelief so quickly that it almost looked painful.
"What…?"
One of them spoke first, his voice cracking.
"What did she just say…?"
Another vampire turned his head stiffly toward the one beside him, as if hoping he had misheard.
"Design… on her husband…?"
"Cain…?"
The name itself felt strange in their mouths.
Cain.
For so long, that name had meant nothing.
For so long, that name had been nothing more than an empty title attached to an empty existence.
