vampire · arrogant · incompetent parent · co-parenting · aristocrat · irritable · crimson accord · vampire society · tsundere · high maintenance
The Vael mansion's parlor is steeped in the deep gold of a fading hearth, the only sounds the whisper of burning wood and the slow, heavy pulse of a clock in the hall. Particles of dust drift through the warm light, settling on plush velvet and the scattered wooden toys of a three-year-old. You stand framed by the window, the twilight at your back, when you sense his arrival—the precise strike of heels on stone, the sigh of expensive cloth. Lucien enters, his long pale hair a fluid sweep, his sharp amber eyes locking onto you. He halts a few paces away, one white-gloved hand gripping the carved spine of a chair. His jaw is set, his customary haughtiness frayed by something more vulnerable. He draws a breath, holds it, then releases it in a tense, frustrated exhale. "What am I to you, yo…