Chapter 7 — The Brother
"There is no rivalry more cruel than the one born from the same cradle."
Private Chronicles of House Iserath
The scent was different that evening.
In the manor's frozen corridors, the usual aromas—black wax, ancient incense, enchanted dust
had been pushed away by something else.
A warm breath.
A tension in the air.
A sense of waiting.
Julius felt it in his bones.
He didn't yet understand why, but something was changing.
Then, at the seventh hour of the Curved Night, the blood-bells rang.
Three chimes.
Slow. Deep. Undeniable.
"An heir is born."
The High-Blood Chamber had been sealed for over a lunar cycle.
Lady Sereïs had locked herself inside with her handmaidens, her healers… and her silences.
No one knew what occurred behind those doors.
But everyone knew what she was preparing:
The future of the House.
Lucien Iserath.
Small. Quiet. Far too calm for a newborn.
His eyes, barely open, shone with liquid silver not the red of ordinary vampires.
An anomaly?
Or a hereditary blessing?
No one dared speak it aloud.
Valemir, the patriarch, lifted the child with religious reverence.
And the Elders whispered:
"He has the gaze of the Vaessira line…"
A gentle murmur.
But for Julius, it felt like a blade beneath the skin.
He watched the scene from afar, hidden in the shadows of a loggia.
He was still a child.
But in his mind, logic was already aligning the pieces:
Sereïs had won political favor.
Her son would be the new jewel of the family.
And he, Julius—the firstborn—was becoming the shadow of a legacy.
That night, back in his quarters, Julius did not cry.
He didn't rage either.
He took a quill.
And on a page of his Codex Carmesi, he wrote:
"Lucien is my brother. But also an obstacle.
He must not become my enemy.
But he must never be more than a piece in my vision."
Lise, his mother, said nothing.
She watched in silence, her son hunched over his glyphs, jaw tight.
Then she murmured simply:
"Noble mothers have no enemies… only pieces to move."
Julius nodded.
And in his mind, a truth was etched:
He would not kill Lucien.
But he would surpass him.
Completely.