The Vampire King's Contract Bride
gain at exa
venth nigh
, deliberately-gliding over bare skin, brushing past my neck and sho
errifying. When those hands reached the most private pa
or resist, I remained trapped-fully aware, wholly he
eatherlight brushes and firm, claiming pressure. When I whimpered, someth
en...
t, and devas
aid. It will
sharp, but slow, like ski
ritual vessel, marked by blood and submission. The agony blurred my mind, and
d with... gr
I didn't yet understand. Only t
**
Clara. Clar
those who once offered their daughters to
carry a key
key to
to obe
was promised to...
his b
e than
a sac
dragging me into a world of blood and sha
ortal of the night. In their words, it was an ancient vampire rite, older than the R
what most would h
st far enough to avoid questions,
uskgraves had dealt in thin
s, relic hunters, and s
family's not-so-small antique business-a front, rea
elry that whispered. Mirrors th
ve by name, gr
ather really had crawled out of a crypt
have expl
turned out to be th
s born, somet
r family like a cold w
did. The strong. The promising. The ones who stil
uskgrave name had drawn too much attention. That we had broken an old
Thunder roared. A flash flood destroyed the o
me, surrounded by candleli
y great-grandfather found so
ri
ving flesh. It glowed faintly, pu
w where it
ared at it, then sighed and
ught me to the cellar benea
ellar,
otten noble family, hollowed out centur
d a sarcophagus, carved from obsid
s my br
ook place on
was laced
s were
led it a
ed it
dows that had lingered over my family began
he offering-the livi
the cerem
e at a cost. I w
something back with me. Something cold.
neck-the same one that had a
ft from the one who c
me to live thr
s meant to die and re
I li
screamed.
neve
e back from the ancestral manor to liv
life was quiet
in sweat and silence, choking on dre
h a logical mind, kept asking
ned that ni
clinical. But even he
ain being claimed by so
tmares w
I'd jolt awake with tears on my chee
t night, it woul
co
ha
vo
lt dreamlike. It was t
ch of me with the same unsettling reverence a
-possessively-along my
t in fear,
s ago had carved so
echo in every bre
d, his voice like ve
wi
ried. He didn
calculated-cold, co
g places that still remembered the first
inst mine, his touch
was no
ever ha
dark and steady again
till f