"Why should three? Why not two or four or ten?" she asked again.
"That's a fair question," Lucien said as he moved around the table, then flipping through the pages until he found the particular page with a series of smaller illustrations. "Theodoric documented several divine hybrids throughout history, including their mate configurations."
He tapped to the first illustration. "This woman had only one mate. She went mad within five years and died in a power surge that killed herself and her mate.
His finger slid to the next drawing. "This one had two mates. She managed twenty years before the same thing happened."
"This one had three," he pointed to another. "She stayed stable for over a century until death from unrelated causes."
"And this had four mates. In theory , she should have been more stable, right? Well, she wasn't. Maintaining four bonds while holding that much power shattered her mind. She lived thirty years in constant pain before her mates mercy-killed her," Lucien continued, his voice turning grim.
"Three is the balance point," Dante said calmly. "Enough grounding to stabilize the power, but not so many bonds that the hybrid is crushed by them. It's about equilibrium."
Lilian stared at the drawings, her thoughts reeling. "One scholar from a thousand years ago can't be the only proof. That's not exactly convincing."
"Yeah, you're right," Adrian said, already walking to another section of shelves. "Which is why he isn't."
He returned with three more books, each one ancient and looked carefully preserved. He laid them out on the table beside Theodoric's tome.
"This one," Adrian said, tapping the first book, "was written by a witch in 950 CE. The other one is from a divine hybrid herself, one of Isolde's ancestors. The last one from the Council's own archives, copied with their permission. Official vampire records of every known divine hybrid and their mate structures over the past three thousand years."
Dante opened the Council record to a page marked with a red ribbon. " This is a statistical breakdown of forty-seven documented divine hybrids."
He pointed to a chart that had been meticulously written down by hand.
```
No mates: 3 hybrids (all died within 1 year)
One mate: 8 hybrids (average lifespan: 4.2 years, all died from power collapse)
Two mates: 12 hybrids (average lifespan: 18.3 years, 75% died from power overload)
Three mates: 21 hybrids (average lifespan: 127 years, only 15% died from power-related causes)
Four+ mates: 3 hybrids (average lifespan: 22 years, all described as tormented)
```
"Twenty-one out of forty-seven had three mates, and they lived the longest," Lilian murmured.
"Yes," Dante confirmed. "Most of them died from normal causes. Childbirth, war, old age in a few rare cases. They lived full, stable lives. The others did not."
Lucien brought out another book from one of the shelves farther away.It looked slightly modern, but still aged. "This maybe from two or three hundred years ago, from a vampire doctor who studied divine hybrid biology, and reached the same conclusion."
He opened it to a page with detailed anatomical sketches and dense writing, and read aloud. "Divine energy functions in three distinct frequencies. Physical, mental, and spiritual. Each mate bonds to one of these frequencies, creating a complete circuit. Too many mates would creates interference between the frequencies."
Lilian felt overwhelmed by the sheer volume of evidence laid out before her.
"There's more. We can bring it all out if you want," Dante said gently.
"No, no need," she said weakly. "So now you all believe I need.. all three of you to stay alive...?"
"We don't believe it," Adrian said quickly, tensed. And so with the other two vampire princes. "We know it. Your power signature, the way it fluctuates, the instability. It all matches every record."
"We're trying to save you," Lucien added, his usual bluntness softened by something close to fear. "And honestly, ourselves. Because if you burn out, it won't just kill you. It'll take us with you."
Lilian looked at them one by one. They all were looking at her with desperation in their eyes, making her felt painfully guilty.
This felt so wrong.
"What do you mean? If I don't want to chose any of you, why should all you still be with me?" Lilian asked. "You really believe I'll go mad and die without completing bonds with all of you."
Their expression paled. The only one who first to recover was Adrian.
"Not like that. We really want to help you. There is also the rogues and the Council," he corrected her misunderstanding. "This isn't only about what we want, Lilian. We do want you. But this is about what you need to survive as well."
Lilian sank into one of the chairs at the reading table, her legs suddenly feeling weak. The responsibility, the inevitability, and the sheer impossibility of her situation felt suffocating her completely.
"I'm scared," she admitted quietly, her voice was shaking, like she was about to cry.
They all moved to her immediately, wanting to console her.
"You should be," Lucien said, pulling up a chair beside her. "To be honest, that's terrifying. You're being asked to accept something completely beyon human logic, to trust us about things you can't fully prove yet."
"We will stay with you for as long as it takes," Adrian said, taking the chair on her other side. "You have us. You're not alone."
"And we're not asking you to complete the bonds now," Dante added, sitting on the edge of the table in front of her. "We're just asking you to understand that this isn't manipulation or some elaborate seduction scheme."
Lilian looked at each of them in turn again. Dante with his dark eyes full of hidden emotion, Adrian with his gentle blue gaze, and Lucien with his green eyes blazing with barely restrained passion.
"Can I..." she opened her mouth, then paused, gathering her courage. "Can I take some time to process this? Maybe read through some of these texts myself?"
"Of course," Dante said immediately. "Take all the time you need. The archive are yours to explore."
"We want you to be sure of your choice, not forced," Adrian said, squeezing her hand gently.
"True," Lucien added, though his voice was strained. "If you decide you don't want this and find another way, we'll help you. Alternatives, or other solutions, anything to keeps you safe. Even if that means not be with us."
Lilian felt her chest tightening painfully. They already had the pleminary bond with her, and the idea of severing it hurt in a way she couldn't explain.
"I don't mean to sever the bonds," she said quietly. "I just need to understand it better..." She took a deep breath. "...Before I commit to something for a lifetime. A vampire lifetime..."
"That's completely reasonable," Dante said, and she could see the relief in his expression despite his controlled demeanor. "Take as much time as you need."
Lilian nodded, then turn her attention back to the books spread across the table. As the princes began sharing the stories of those who came before her, she settled in to listen.
She had a lot to learn about her heritage, her power, and her future.