Sorry for the delayed update. Many thanks to Fierce Hathaway who caught an error I made in the last chapter. Tasha cannot be nominated as she's a Dhampir, it has now been fixed. Christian is still a Moroi in this story so he can be nominated, Tasha will be behind the scenes giving him a little push.

"I'm sorry, Lord Zeklos, but Mr Belikov is not eligible to stand for nomination. His link to royalty is distant, twice removed through his mother's line."

Off to Victor's side, Tatiana smirked, and then batted her eyelashes innocently, a look of 'innocent' surprise crossing her face.

Ivan's answering grin was ferocious and triumphant. "Ah, but he's not Mr Belikov. He is, through his father's line, Lord Lazar. Added to his maternal grandfather who was the late King Dmitrov Tarus, and Dimitri has more than enough Royal heritage to make him eligible. And in case you try to bring up the fact that he uses his grandmother's maiden name, he does so to maintain an element of privacy in his life, much like his mother does. For the purposes of this election, however, Dimitri will be fully embracing his Royal heritage, and as such, will be known as Lord Lazar."

Everyone in the hall stared at Ivan in shocked silence, and then as one, every gaze turned to see what Tatiana and Victor's would be.

Tatiana looked like she'd been slapped, her mouth repeatedly opening and closing like a fish. Victor, on the other hand, wore an expression that was a cross between amusement and admiration.

"Well said, Lord Zeklos. In that case, do I hear a second for the nomination of Lord Lazar?"

Tatiana shot to her feet, outrage the primary emotion on her face as the rest of the Royals glanced at each other. Ivan caught my anxious gaze and smiled. "The pause is for effect. Just watch. Tatiana's pitching a fit but this'll shut her right up."

"What?.." My confusion trailed off as Adrian Ivashkov stood, slowly but confidently enough that it caught attention.

"I second the nomination."

"Adrian!" Tatiana's betrayed shout echoed through the hall and Ivan's grin turned wicked.

"Adrian's her favorite, and only, grand-nephew. Him favoring you will boost you in the eyes of pretty much every Royal, especially the ass-kissers."

"How on Earth did you get him to second the nomination? Tatiana hates my guts because of the campaign. Surely he'd back her up?"

"Traded favors with him."

My expression said it all, and Ivan snickered. "Not sexual ones, you perv. He knows we work with the Alchemists because of the overlap with the human world. Apparently he met one a few months ago and she turned down his dinner invite. It intrigued him, but she's been pretty good at avoiding him. I promised to put in a good word for him if he backed you and did everything he could to help you get elected. If you actually do get elected I have to get her to agree to go on a date with him."

"Who's the lucky Alchemist?"

"Sydney Sage."

I burst out laughing. "Good luck."

Sage was notorious for her dislike of all 'creatures of the night'. Adrian's interest was bound to cause some controversy. Change was coming from every direction, and it was going to be fun seeing what happened when it all collided.

"I should nominate you as well. See which of us got the furthest."

He laughed and shook his head. "I'd much rather be your advisor. Keep that competitive spirit for when you face Christian. You know he's only running because Natasha's behind the scenes telling him what to do."

"Like you are?"

"Please. You know I have your best interests at heart. Natasha just wants power, and she's not above using her nephew to get it. And we both know that advising from behind the scenes gives us more freedom and power than we'd have if we were the ones in your place."

"Thanks so much for your consideration." My tone was dry.

"You're welcome. Now why hasn't the witch gotten her little puppet nominated yet?"

"The nominations have been in alphabetical order, so he's only just getting to the Ozeras."

Coincidentally, Victor had managed to shut Tatiana up, silence the whispering that had filled the hall, and chose that moment to restart the nominations.

"Any nominees for the Ozera family?"

My gaze flickered in that direction, tension crawling up my spine as I caught sight of Christian. If Tasha had been stood there I was sure that anger would have filled my chest. As it was, Christian looked bored; it was obvious that standing for election hadn't been his idea. His wife, Lady Dragomir was Rose's best friend and so we had all become acquaintances, but I had held back from becoming too friendly with Christian. He'd been at school when Natasha and I had been together, so we hadn't known each other all that well back then, and I didn't know how much of our relationship and break up Natasha had told him. If she had told him he had understandably taken her side, she was his family after all, and I didn't want to cause problems between Rose and Lissa, so I kept my distance.

Lissa nominated Christian, and then Natalie Dashkov seconded the nomination.

I frowned. It was a slight blow to blow to Adrian favoring us. The Dragomirs were one of the eldest Royal families and had the most Kings and Queens in their lineage. Lissa backing Christian placed a lot of favor on his side.

"Your nomination is accepted. Do we have any more nominations for Ozera family members?" No one else spoke up. "Very well. Then we move onto the Szelsky family."

Ivan settled down again. "Wake me when they're done with this and the Quorum. I don't care who gets elected."

I waited until he'd fallen asleep and grinned. Ivan thought he was the only one who could make sneaky plans. Hopefully Jesse had received my note about nominating Ivan for the Quorum. It would be horrifying for him and satisfying payback for me.

I'm still working on chapter 26, I have a busy few days at work so I will do my best to have it ready by Tuesday. I hope you all have a good weekend!