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Crimson veil

Crimson veil

Lexi copper

5.0
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Title: Crimson Veil In a city cloaked in secrets, where vampires influence humanity from the shadows, 21-year-old Aria Vale leads an unremarkable life, managing her aunt's cozy antique shop. Everything changes one rainy evening when she crosses paths with a mysterious, badly injured man. That man is Lucien D'Aragon-an exiled vampire prince with a deadly past and enemies that want him erased. When Aria helps him, she triggers an ancient, forgotten ritual that links her soul to his-an act with consequences far beyond what either of them expected. Drawn into a hidden world of supernatural politics, feuding vampire clans, and long-buried prophecies, Aria is forced to confront truths about her family's past and powers she never knew she had. As danger closes in and her connection to Lucien grows more intense, Aria must decide who to trust and what she's willing to risk. With passion rising and old rivalries threatening to ignite a war, she and Lucien must choose between obeying fate-or defying it for a love that could destroy them both.

Chapter 1 Shadows and Strangers

Chapter one:

Rain always poured heavier in the city's oldest quarter.

Aria Vale lingered under the faded awning of *Vale & Vine*, her aunt's cluttered bookshop, watching the downpour twist streetlights into hazy gold smudges. The storm muffled the usual sounds of the city-tires rolling over wet pavement in near silence, footsteps lost beneath the relentless drum of water. She tugged her coat closer, the damp chill seeping through despite the layers.

The shop had been closed for hours, but she'd stayed behind to catalog a new shipment of rare books. Her aunt was off in Florence, chasing another impulsive purchase, leaving Aria to manage things alone. Not that she minded. The quiet of the shop, with its scent of aged paper and forgotten stories, was a familiar solace. A gentle kind of enchantment. Predictable.

Until tonight.

She turned the key in the tarnished lock, the click barely audible over the rain, when movement flickered at the edge of her vision. Across the street, tucked in the narrow gap between a shuttered café and an abandoned music store, something shifted.

Not a person-something else. Too fast. Too unsteady.

A sound followed-a rough, guttural noise that didn't sound human.

Aria froze, pulse hammering. Logic told her to walk away, to call for help, to act like she hadn't seen a thing. But the noise came again, weaker this time. Agonized.

Before she could second-guess herself, she crossed the street, her boots kicking up water. As she neared the alley, the shape resolved into a man-barefoot, bruised, and slumped against the damp bricks. His clothes were drenched, streaked with rain and something darker.

"Hey-can you hear me?" she asked, voice nearly swallowed by the storm.

Nothing.

She crouched beside him, reaching out. The second her fingers grazed his shoulder, his hand snapped up and clamped around her wrist. His grip was ice-cold. Unyielding.

His eyes flew open-pale, almost metallic, and brimming with something wild. For a breathless second, she thought he might lunge at her.

Instead, his voice was a ragged whisper. "You weren't supposed to see me."

Then his body went slack again, unconscious.

Aria stared, heart pounding. Every nerve in her body told her to bolt, to forget this ever happened.

But something kept her rooted-an inexplicable pull, as if the storm itself had chosen this moment to tear apart the quiet life she knew.

She looked down at him, questions swirling.

Who *was* he?

And why did it feel like nothing would ever be the same?

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Warning: 18+ content for mature audiences. Book Excerpt: Donovan's POV Her enchanting green eyes that were alive with passion the day I told her she could go shopping are pale with only despair dancing in them. "Oh, I'm quite aware of my duties as your wife, Mr. Castellano." My eyes darken at the formal use of my name. I've told her to stop doing that. It feels wrong. Like she doesn't belong to me. I clench my jaw as I wait for her to finish her sentence but her cold smile widens. "Ah, you don't like when I call you Mr. Castellano, right? Too bad. You can't force my mouth to say what you want to hear." Blood rushes to my groin as her words settle in the tensed air between us. Does she realize the gravity of what she'd just said? Does she know she'd moaned my name while I had her wet cunt in her mouth? Does she know how needy she'd been when she wanted me to take her even though she wasn't awake? And is she aware that I know how bad she wants me in her dreams while she pretends in real life to hate me? She glares up at me while I seethe, looking down at her. "It's Donovan," I say darkly, resisting the pull of her lips and maintaining my vision at her eyes. "Mr. Castellano," she retorts. My face draws closer, getting ready to give her a punishing kiss but a harsh sound fills the room and then I realize, belatedly, that I'd just been slapped as my face swings to the side, turning away from Eliana. Eliana slapped me. Luis Santario's daughter just slapped me. Just like her father had done many nights ago. Shame fills me but it's quickly trampled upon by hot, violent anger. How dare she? How dare the whore?! Her cheek instantly goes red with the imprints of my fingers. Blood trickles from her nose and her hair that was up in a messy bun scatters all around her face. Eliana's head remains bowed as the blood from her nose drips onto her white bedcovers. ***** Eliana's POV I know I'm signing my death warrant by provoking him like this but what else can I do when he's already planned to kill me? I could just as well make it easier for him to by getting on his nerves. If I don't push him away, I'm scared I'll start to blur the lines between my dreams and reality. The Donovan in my dreams is drastically different from the one in real life. If my plans to escape from this marriage don't work, I may end up dead or worst, in love with Donovan Castellano. And I'd rather die now than to fall in love with him and die later. *** Many years ago, Donovan Castellano went through something that irrevocably changed him for the worst, and Eliana's father was to blame. Years later, Eliana's father dies. Eliana doesn't know her father's dark past or why Donovan Castellano bought her and then married her. But she knows he's out for blood and wants to kill her, but how long will she continue to defend herself when the way he touches her and kisses her in her dreams is starting to blur the lines between reality and fiction? Will Donovan succeed in finally getting revenge on Eliana for what her father did to him and will Eliana succeed in resisting her possessive mafia husband's advances even when he says he wants her dead? Read on to find out.

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