The Vampire King's Contract Bride

in at exac

venth nigh

A chill that was not of this world wrapped around me, not as a touch, but

or resist, I remained trapped-fully aware, wholly help

.. a

t, and devas

aid. It will

s if my very essence was being gently, irrevocably altered. My senses blur

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