"She is only a slave. You dare stand to treat your sister harshly for an outsider who has no value," Lady Fleurance spoke up not liking the way Damien was steering the conversation. 

"She might be an outsider to you but not to me," Damien declared for a shocked gasp to come from the older vampiress in the room. 

"I told you! He is going to bring shame to Quinn's name. That girl is going to be the fall of us all," came out the dramatic tone of Lady Fleurance while speaking about it to her husband who had a frown on his face. Coming from the highly renowned lineage of pureblooded vampires. Even his own father wasn't happy to hear that his son was speaking fondly of a slave who didn't suit their family. At the same time knowing what and how Damien was, there was little to no chance to have his mind changed as he seemed fixated on the girl. 

"Is it true, Damien?" his father confronted him, "She is a slave."

"She isn't," Damien deadpanned, receiving confused expression from everyone including Grace. 

"What do you mean, she isn't? Do you think you can switch a slave to a lady by your mere words? A slave is lower than us in status. Not just us in every name and form in the society that we live in!" Lady Fleurance demanded what was going in his head. 

"It is sad how people don't listen to what is being said in this mansion. Like I said she is not a slave, she has no branding on her back," he smiled in glee to have everyone stunned and speechless, "She has never been branded except for me."

The lady's mouth hung open, "What do you mean...?"

"I placed an irreversible bond on her," apart from his older sister Maggie who appeared to be less shocked and just merely taken aback the rest appeared to be still processing it.

The irreversible bond was one that wasn't used now. It was almost a forgotten bond that had died down in years, the knowledge on how to put it where only some carried and knew it. Unlike the soul bond that was used to interlink the souls until death did them apart, the irreversible soul allowed to reach out to one another's thoughts. In an ancient myth, it was told that there were some souls that could reincarnate and if they did, they would abide to have the very same person.

If people knew about it, they would make use of it but the bond had turned worse than a whisper which no one knew of. At the same time, it wasn't spoken because unlike the soulbond where mutual feelings were necessary to form one, this didn't need the approval of feelings. Which in turn had a side effect. If the person couldn't take in the bond, it would not only kill the taker but also the giver without a question. 

"You didn't..." Grace whispered unbelievably. 

"Father," Damien spoke, his eyes meeting his father's which looked serious, "Penelope is not a slave and she hasn't once been branded which makes a free soul. A soul that has been untouched where your son has decided to take her as his wife. Do you have a problem with it?" he tilted his head in question. 

"No." 

Maggie looked at her father who rather gave out a quick question. Even though he was a quiet man, he knew his children and the way things worked. There was no way now anyone could reject the girl and call her to be a slave. At the same time, she couldn't stop wondering how s.a.d.i.s.tic in nature her brother was and it was only going to turn worse with the time that was ticking on the wall clock. 

Looking at the next person who was her step-mother, she could see the shocked expression where she failed to speak right now. Damien had been dropping one note after another where people were taking time to recover. 

"Mother often said to protect things and people who belong to you. She protected us well and she was a remarkable woman. Mother Fleurance was saying how I should respect and place family first. Now that Penelope turns out to be my family, I wonder whom should I listen to," he asked thinking in wonderment, "Grace...I have warned you enough. Once? Twice? It was more than twenty times but chances can only be given so far before you break the last line. I am sure at least two of them will agree here." 

"If she really wasn't a slave you should have said it so in the beginning. It would have avoided the confusion," his little sister spoke through her teeth.

"You still don't get it, do you? The words were to follow and not to break. You broke the family code which you couldn't follow. You are a disgrace and I believe you should have the same treatment with what you have done to her," Grace's eyes turned wide before she gave him a smile. 

"You can't do that. I am one of Quinn's and you have a family to honor which includes me."

"You have disgraced the family enough to speak about honor right now," Damien's eyes blazed with fire. The antic.i.p.ation making him lick his lips. 

"This stupid and-" Lady Fleurance went to step forward again but this time it wasn't Damien's action which stopped her. It was her husband who placed a hand in front of her. 

"Damien is right, Fleur. This family is built on values and laws. It is not the first time for Grace to break it and she has broken it far too many times that we can consider to overlook the matter," the man was older than the rest but not blind to what was right and wrong, "I am disappointed that you did not heed to my words, Fleur."

Lady Fleurance's lips parted, "What?" 

There was a deep frown on their father's face as he spoke, "When Grace asked me about the girl, I told her to take Damien's permission. Not to do anything without his word. You should have made her understand instead of being lenient about the matter. You reap what you sow. It is not Damien who will handle what he needs to do with her," he said sighing in the end. 

"But she is our daughter," the woman looked at him disbelievingly. The man said nothing but continued to look forward with a calm expression on his face.

Grace who had been confident all this while that nothing would happen to her not looked scared at Damien who looked at her with mirth in his eyes. She looked at her mother who looked helpless and her father who didn't look at her right now, leaving her in the hands of Damien.