My Vampire Fiancé Left Me at the Altar 33 Times

Silver dust from an enemy clan's attack burned in my veins, but I refused the vial from my aide, Heidi.This was my thirty-third blood-bonding ceremony with Caius. My blood had to be pure for the ritual.But I waited at the altar for three hours. He never came.“My lady…” Heidi’s voice trembled. “Caius is still at the graveyard. The fledgling… Evangeline. She says she’s scared of the thunder and won’t let him leave.”Thunder?There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky tonight.I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and swallowed the coppery taste of blood rising in my throat.I reached for him through our communing stone.Once. Twice… On the tenth try, he picked up.“Larissa, what is it now?” His voice crackled through the connection, laced with impatience, not a hint of apology. “Evangeline almost attacked a human! You know how fragile fledglings are. She’s my responsibility.”“The ceremony starts in ten minutes.” My voice was terrifyingly calm, even as my hands began to spasm.“I’m on my

“Here are the finalized illusion-wards for the Western Coven. I’m done. They’re yours now.”The next day, I finished my last task for the council and tossed the scroll to Orion.He was the Captain of the Council Guard and the only one I’d call a friend over the last hundred years.Orion caught it, his brow furrowed. “Are you serious? That position was your…”He trailed off as a commotion started on the other side of the hall.Caius was standing there, holding a black velvet box.He opened it. Inside lay a “Shadow Amulet,” glowing with a faint purple light.It was an incredibly rare defensive artifact, allowing the wearer to instantly melt into the shadows when in danger.Even senior elders didn't all have one.And now, he was fastening it around Evangeline’s neck.“Oh, Caius!” Evangeline gasped dramatically, her fingertips tracing the amulet. “This is too much… I don’t deserve it.”“Anything for your safety is worth it,” Caius said, his voice thick with affection.Evangeline turned her

Caius’s POV“Where is the Guard? Seal every exit out of Chicago! Now!”I strode into the Council Hall, my power as the Adjudicator Lord making the chandeliers flicker violently.A few Elders paused their conversation, their expressions bored.“Calm yourself, Lord Caius,” Elder Eldred said, setting down a scroll. His tone was utterly bored. “A city-wide lockdown… for a common-blooded woman? It is beneath your station.”“She’s missing!” I snarled, fighting back the searing pain from the backlash. “She is my fiancée. An attack on her is an attack on me!”“Missing?” another Elder, a woman, chuckled. “She severed all her connections half an hour ago. She left on her own.”She waved a dismissive hand. “It’s for the best. Caius, forgive my frankness, but her common bloodline has always been a blemish on your name. Now that she has finally shown some sense, you can choose a consort worthy of the Lord Adjudicator.”They were so casual, so arrogant it was suffocating.To the Council, Larissa’s d

Larissa’s POVCaius froze, his hands holding the box suspended in mid-air.“What… did you say?”“I said,” I repeated, “that this is worthless to me.”I pinched the necklace between two fingers, disgusted by the scent of his life force clinging to it.A ripple of contemptuous laughter went through my kinsmen, mocking his inferior blood.“Once, because I loved you, I treasured even the cheap glass beads you bought from a street stall. I wore them day and night.”I looked at him, my voice flat. “But now that I don’t love you, your heart’s blood is just a foul-smelling piece of scrap.”As the words left my mouth, I let go.Using my magic, I flung the necklace toward the bottomless “Abyss of Despair” behind the castle.It was where the Devereux family disposed of failed magical artifacts. An eternal, unquenchable fire burned at its base.“NO—!”Caius let out a heart-wrenching, desperate scream and lunged for it.But he was too slow.The necklace traced a bloody arc through the air and plung

Larissa’s POVFifty years later, at the Global Vampire Summit.“This way, Your Majesty, the Queen of Illusions.”The President of the North American Council personally escorted me, his back bowed so low he didn’t dare meet my eyes.A red carpet stretched from the airstrip to the heart of the venue, flanked by the frantic flashes of countless cameras.Fifty years is a blink of an eye for the immortal, but it’s enough time to change everything.Now, my mastery of illusion was legendary. I was the de facto ruler of the Devereux family and a recognized power in the dark world.No one dared to even speak loudly in my presence.The Elders who had once mocked my bloodline now couldn’t even bring themselves to look at me.The banquet was held on the top floor of a cloud-piercing skyscraper, a glittering affair attended by vampire nobility from across the globe.The moment I appeared, the chattering hall fell silent, replaced by awed whispers.“It’s the Queen of Illusions.”“The Princess of Dev