INDISCRETIONS OF THE PAST 

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After lunch, Dante excused himself and Giselle to converse in his study. He sent Rose back to the greenhouse. She began to water and care for the revived plants. It was all Rose could talk about during their meal. Dante loved hearing the exhilaration in Rose's voice.

The Count spoke to his second in command in a frosty tone, "Giselle, you are no longer to be involved with Rose's care or day-to-day activities. I have decided you should be dedicated solely to working on the upcoming ball. I feel it's more than Carrick can handle on his own. There will be an outside etiquette tutor brought in for Rose." Dante leaned back, relaxed, puffing on a cigar and blowing smoke rings as he spoke with Giselle.

"Dahlia has been designated as Rose's handmaid."

She nodded in agreement with his new orders. "Yes, Master." Giselle was relieved that her duty to Rose had ended.

"Regarding safeguarding my daughter, I will handle that from here on out. You failed me miserably today." Giselle sat quietly and listened to the Count castigate her for her poor conduct at breakfast. "You are lucky Rose didn't stab you in the gut with that dagger. It's a dangerous weapon." The Count stubbed his cigar in the ashtray while he continued speaking.

"My Father and I created it to slay disobedient night creatures, but no entity is immune to the damage that blade can cause. Of course, you already know this. In all honesty, I should have let Rose butcher you today. What were you thinking raising a hand to my beautiful child?" Dante ground his teeth, and Giselle saw his jaw clench shut. She knew he was irked at her.

Giselle eyed the Count as he walked to the wall of armor in his study. She could see he was losing his composure and unable to restrain his rage. He ran a trembling hand over the swords and pulled one from its sheath. Dante swung it just short of decapitating Giselle.

"You have forced me to do something I was not ready to do." He hissed at her.

"I will disclose information I did not want to reveal to Rose about our relationship. I had to make this deal, so she would stay. It's all because of your actions this morning. She will soon know the filthy truth about many things in this family."

"Giselle, I recommend you stay out of my sight for a while and keep away from Rose. That is a direct order, or I will dispatch you myself!" Dante said ominously. He gave her an icy glare.

"We are finished here!" The Count removed the blade from her neck, and she swiftly retreated from the study.

~~~

The conservatory was tranquil, and Oscar had returned from his day in the forest. Rose carried him around as she cared for the new foliage. The cat could sense someone coming down the hall. Oscar squirmed and meowed at Rose to let him loose. He ran to the entrance of the greenhouse and waited. The door opened, and Carrick entered with tea and refreshments. "His Grace instructed me to inform you he was on his way."

"Thank you, Carrick."

The butler noticed Rose clipping flowers and placing them in a vase to take to her bedroom. She was blissfully ignorant of everything around her. Rose's only concern was the plants.

"Your welcome, Contessa Rose." He also observed the lady looked much better than when they picked her up in Covent Garden.

"I will leave, if that is all?" Carrick was always very formal in his dealings with the mansion's inhabitants. The man knew what was expected of him. He turned on his heel and agilely walked out of the greenhouse.

The Count sauntered slowly down the hall to the conservatory and rubbed his temples. He was preparing himself to discuss his family's history with Rose. He hoped she could handle the unvarnished truth he was about to give her. Dante saw Carrick walking towards him. "Did you serve afternoon tea?" he asked the butler.

"Yes, Your Grace." Carrick was happy the young woman was in a cheerful mood and felt that Dante should know. "The Contessa indeed seems to be enthralled by the conservatory." The butler bowed and took his leave.

Dante felt guilty about disrupting Rose when she was at such peace, but he didn't want to delay anymore. Rose deserved to know what kind of family she was dealing with.

"Good afternoon, darling girl," Dante greeted Rose with a low, deep voice as he entered the conservatory to start their discussion about the De Sang family lineage. "Why don't we have some tea and talk for a while? I know you want some answers about our family. It's time for me to share our history." Rose sat at the table next to her father. She served their tea and listened to him begin his life story.

"I was born in northern Gaul, an area extending from the southern Netherlands to the north of France. My uncle was a Visigoth warrior and served Clovis I, the first king of the Franks, in 481 AD. I was born several years later, in 499. "

"I am the child of Maëlle De Sang. She was my uncle Gautier's youngest sister. He was eager to maintain his power and control of the lands granted to him by King Clovis. My uncle made a deal with the darkest powers and literally sold his sister's body to the fallen angel Satan to keep his eternal youth. Giselle and I are the products of that arrangement. To keep the deal, Gautier had to ensure that Maëlle didn't run away from the dark prince and that she would bear him a male heir. She failed with the first child. It was a girl."

"Giselle is my sister and Satan's daughter. I was born eleven years later. I am the dragon's son, his feared heir of hell. This, my child, makes you the granddaughter of Satan." Rose sat in stricken silence at the words pouring forth from her father's mouth.

There was a long period of speechlessness between Dante and Rose. She played with the gold-stitched flowers on her dress and tried to digest the information she was given. After much forethought, Rose took a sip of her tea and spoke. "Why does your sister Giselle call you 'Master'?" Rose gazed into her father's eyes, seeking his explanation.

"Dante sighed and revealed the truth. He could tell from the connection of the gems that Rose was feeling distraught over his words. "Regardless of the age or who is born first, the oldest male will inherit the ruling powers of the royal family. At least, that is what you will find in most feudal systems. After my birth, it removed Giselle from being the heir apparent to me, as I am the firstborn male. This infuriated our mother, Maëlle. Our uncle tricked her into marrying Lucifer Morningstar and bearing the inheritor to perdition. Maëlle felt she was owed a debt for her wifely duties to Santan. Mother could control and manipulate a young Giselle into doing her bidding. Whereas I was not so easily twisted by her influence once I was placed on the family throne." Dante stopped for a moment and pinched the bridge of his nose as in deep thought. He hoped what he told Rose would not make her run screaming into the abyss.

"I have done some questionable things in my life, dear. This part of my past is one of them. Maëlle had installed Giselle as the heir and was ruling as regent. After my birth, my uncle Gautier made Maëlle remove Giselle as the future Contessa to give me the title of heir and future Count. Things had been volatile in the De Sang household for a long time. My uncle was a violent warlord, a bloodthirsty fiend, and a deviant of the worst kind. He was slowly going insane from being power hungry." Dante paused to check if Rose was still okay. She seemed calm. So, he continued with the story.

"In my twenty-first year, I entered the age of majority and was given supreme ruling authority, and time had run out for Maëlle to make her move. My mother's depths of contrivances knew no end. She devised a plan to give Giselle to our uncle for his sexual pleasure. In return for satisfying my uncle's nasty unnatural desires with his niece, the man would kill me. She would use the knights to turn on my uncle for his sick behavior. Leaving my mother to rescue Giselle from the clutches of a madman and make her look like Giselle's savior. It would indebt Giselle to our mother, and the knights would swear allegiance to her. Maëlle could wrest control of the financial and political powers of the De Sang dynasty from behind the scenes."