Chapter 6

Elena's POV

Not long after, my father arranged a new engagement for me.

The news came while I was in the study, sorting through the estate ledgers of the past decade.

Ever since Adrian and I ended the engagement, my father had finally stopped treating me as some future appendage of the Prince's domain.

He began drawing me back into the family's affairs.

It was practical.

And ironic.

In the past, to marry Adrian, I had willingly set aside so much that should have been mine.

Power.

Land.

My place in the family succession.

I had thought that becoming Adrian's wife was the best fate this life could offer me.

Only in the end did I learn it was a grave I had walked into with my own two feet.

When my father pushed open the door, he held a black letter in his hand.

A silver wax seal was pressed into the envelope.

It bore the crest of House Blackthorne.

"Lucien Blackthorne."

My father set the letter down in front of me.

"A vampire duke. The current heir of House Blackthorne."

I had heard the name.

House Blackthorne was ancient nobility as well.

They held the northern territories and had balanced against the Prince's domain for centuries.

Lucien rarely appeared at banquets.

Rumor held that he was cold by nature, indifferent to society, yet steady in his methods and heavy with power.

My father looked at me.

"He knows you've just ended your engagement with Adrian."

"He knows what people are saying out there too."

"And still he's proposed an engagement to you."

I lowered my eyes to the letter.

"Why me?"

My father was quiet for a moment.

"He says House Blackthorne needs a mistress of high enough birth, and clear enough of mind."

I gave a soft laugh.

Clear of mind.

Set against the woman I used to be, the phrase hardly fit.

All of vampire society knew I had loved Adrian until I lost every shred of dignity.

But now, having died once, I supposed I had finally earned those words.

My mother sat to one side and said gently:

"Elena, if you don't want this, we won't force you right away."

"But you should understand that the matter with Adrian has already blown far out of proportion."

"You need a fresh start."

Of course I understood.

The dignity of vampire nobility never gave anyone room to breathe.

I had just ended my engagement with the Prince's heir, and I had ended it of my own will.

But the people outside wouldn't care about the truth.

They would only say Elena had lost.

Lost to a human girl who had wandered into vampire territory by mistake.

I asked, "And the wedding date?"

My father said, "If you agree, one week from now."

I lifted my eyes.

My mother explained at once:

"It isn't that we're rushing you. House Blackthorne is willing to make the engagement public quickly, to put down the gossip for you."

One week.

Soon.

Soon enough that everyone would assume I had grabbed the first man within reach just to spite Adrian.

But Lucien's standing was high enough that, if he wished, and if I were willing, we could dress our marriage up as a beloved tale whenever we liked.

I thought for a moment, then laughed softly.

"I agree."

My father was visibly startled.

"You've thought it through?"

"I have."

I closed the ledger.

"Please reply to Lord Lucien that I'm willing to meet him."

That same evening, Lucien came.

He wore a dark grey coat, tall and broad of frame, the cuffs marked with the sigil of House Blackthorne.

His eyes were a deep red.

When he looked at someone, he was very still, with neither pity nor disdain.

He nodded to my father, then turned to me.

"Miss Elena."

I returned the courtesy.

"Lord Lucien."

Over dinner, he and my father discussed the hunter purges in the northern territories.

Now and then he asked for my view.

When I finished speaking, he listened seriously.

He would take up my point and carry it further.

In that moment, I felt oddly unfamiliar with the experience.

In my last life, after marrying Adrian, I had once tried to help him with matters of governance.

But he always said:

"Elena, you don't need to concern yourself with these things."

"Just be a good wife to me."

And later, when something went wrong, he would look at me in silence.

As if I were the one who had failed in my duty.

But Lucien was not like that.

He didn't treat me as anyone's appendage.

And he didn't treat my broken engagement as a joke.

After dinner, he stopped at the edge of the garden.

"The wedding date is very soon."

He said.

"If you're unwilling, I can postpone it."

Lucien's voice was even.

"I know you've just come out of a long relationship."

"I won't ask you to love me right away."

My fingers stilled.

He went on:

"You can treat this engagement as a partnership."

"If, in time, you come to truly accept me, I'd be honored."

"And if not, I'll still give you all the respect you deserve."

The night wind moved through the garden.

Standing there, I felt something in my chest go suddenly light.

It was the first time a vampire noble had ever treated me as an equal like this.

Not charity.

Not taking my love for granted.

But respect.

I said in a low voice:

"Thank you. But there's no need to postpone it."

Lucien looked at me, and slowly, he smiled too.

"All right. Then in one week, I'll come to marry you."

Before long, word spread through the Prince's domain.

Elena was going to marry Lucien Blackthorne.

Adrian didn't come to me. But just when I'd assumed he was wholly bound to Clara, he sought me out before my wedding.

When the door swung open, my maid dropped to her knees in fright.

Adrian stood in the doorway.

His face was cold, the wound on his shoulder not yet fully healed.

But his eyes were fixed hard on me.

"You're getting married?"

I waved the maid away.

Only the two of us were left in the room.

I nodded calmly, adjusting the ruby necklace at my throat.

"Yes."

Adrian stared at me.

"To Lucien Blackthorne?"

"Yes."

"You only just ended things with me."

I looked at him, calm.

"And?"

He seemed caught on the word.

After a moment, his voice dropped lower.

"Do you understand him?"

"Do you know what kind of place House Blackthorne is?"

"You're marrying a stranger out of spite. Doesn't that strike you as absurd?"

A sudden laugh rose in me.

"Adrian, I'm not spiting anyone."

"I'm getting married in a week."

The room fell quiet.

Adrian's expression finally broke.

Shock, anger, and a kind of panic that couldn't accept what it was hearing.

He stepped forward.

"A week?"

"You're really going to marry him?"

"Yes."

I looked at him.

"By then, I'll be Lucien's wife, and I'll go north."

Adrian's breathing turned heavy.

Watching the seriousness on my face, he realized I wasn't using this engagement to force him back.

I truly meant to leave.

After a long while, he spoke suddenly.

His voice low and rough.

"Didn't you say you would love me forever?"