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Chapter 57: Seraphina's Charm

ผู้เขียน: Mary Sampson
last update วันที่เผยแพร่: 2026-10-19 21:01:56

Seraphina came in the afternoon, which was unlike her.

She usually appeared at mealtimes, with servants and chatter and a trail of scented silk. This time she came alone. She stood in my doorway in a soft grey gown, no jewels, and for a moment she looked younger than I'd ever seen her. Almost shy.

"May I come in?"

"Of course."

"I've been meaning to visit for days." She crossed the room and sat on the edge of the window seat, smoothing her skirts. "Everything has been so dreadful. The Ball, the
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  • The Vampire Prince's Human Bride Has No Heartbeat    Chapter 60: His Mother's Death

    I didn't say I was sorry. It's what everyone says, and I'd learned that it never fits.I stood there in his coat, with the cold stone under my feet, and waited. After a while he let out a long breath, as though something had been tied tight around his chest for years and he'd just felt it shift."I was twelve," he said."Tell me.""It's very short. That's the worst of it." His eyes were fixed on the dark towers across the court. "She went out one morning. She often did. She didn't say where, and I didn't ask. I was reading in the window seat when she left. She touched my hair on the way past." His mouth moved. "She had a way of doing that. As if she were checking I was still there."I said nothing."She didn't come back that night. Or the next. On the third day they brought her home." A pause. "She was covered. I wasn't allowed to see.""Who told you?""My father." His voice stayed perfectly level. "He knelt in front of me in the passage outside the nursery. He held my shoulders. And

  • The Vampire Prince's Human Bride Has No Heartbeat    Chapter 59: Balcony Talk

    He came after midnight, as he always did.I'd stopped pretending to sleep. When the guards changed over at the third bell, I got up, put a shawl over my nightdress, and opened the glass door onto the little balcony off my sitting room. The stone was cold under my bare feet. The courtyard below lay silver and quiet, and above it the sky was so full of stars that it looked like spilled salt.I heard the door behind me. Quiet, careful. A pause, as if he was deciding whether to come out."You'll catch a cold," Adrian said."I'm used to it. The roof leaked at home.""That isn't a recommendation.""No." I moved over. "Come and look. It's the only good thing about the view."He came and stood beside me at the rail. Not close. A careful arm's length, like two people waiting for the same carriage. He'd taken his coat off and was in his shirt sleeves, with the collar open, and he looked tired in a way that had nothing to do with the hour."I saw the Queen this morning," he said."And?""She den

  • The Vampire Prince's Human Bride Has No Heartbeat    Chapter 58: Adrian Confronts Seraphina

    Adrian knocked once and went in without waiting.The Queen's solar was a bright, warm room on the sunny side of the castle, hung with pale green silk and full of small expensive things. Cushions. A harp nobody played. A writing desk inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The carpet still smelled very faintly of goat.Seraphina sat by the window with a cup of tea and a piece of embroidery, in the middle of a stitch. She didn't look up straight away. She finished the stitch, bit the thread, and laid the needle down."Adrian. What a surprise.""Is it?""I'd hoped you'd visit sometime." She set the embroidery aside and smoothed her skirt. "Sit. Will you take tea? It's the good black, the one you used to like.""I'm not here for tea.""No, I didn't suppose you were." A small, sad smile. "You have your father's way of walking into a room. As if it owed you something."He didn't sit. He crossed to the window and stood with his back to the light, so she had to tilt her head to see his face."Yesterday

  • The Vampire Prince's Human Bride Has No Heartbeat    Chapter 57: Seraphina's Charm

    Seraphina came in the afternoon, which was unlike her.She usually appeared at mealtimes, with servants and chatter and a trail of scented silk. This time she came alone. She stood in my doorway in a soft grey gown, no jewels, and for a moment she looked younger than I'd ever seen her. Almost shy."May I come in?""Of course.""I've been meaning to visit for days." She crossed the room and sat on the edge of the window seat, smoothing her skirts. "Everything has been so dreadful. The Ball, the Court, that business with Vane. I've felt terrible that I haven't been a better friend.""You've been very kind.""I've been *absent.* It isn't the same." She glanced at the guards through the open door. "I do hate seeing you shut away like this. It's not right. A girl your age."I smiled. I'd been practising the smile for a fortnight now. It sat comfortably on my face, like a coat I'd worn a long time. "I'm quite all right, Majesty.""Seraphina, dear. Please." She reached into the fold of her s

  • The Vampire Prince's Human Bride Has No Heartbeat    Chapter 56: Cassian's Gifts and a Sealed Letter

    Cassian turned up four days later, with his arms full.I'd been sitting by the window with a book I wasn't reading, listening to the guards change at the door. Then the door opened, a voice said "Thank you, gentlemen, no need to announce me, I'm the Prince, I announce myself," and there he was. Hair out of place, green coat, a grin he'd obviously practised."Good morning, Princess. You look like you've been sentenced to read.""I have.""Terrible. I've come to commute it."He kicked the door shut behind him and began unloading things onto the table. A small paper bag. A bundle wrapped in brown cloth. A flat tin with a picture of a ship on the lid. He arranged them with great ceremony, like a conjuror, while I put my book down and watched."Figs," he said, tapping the bag. "I told you I'd never let you go without them.""You said that?""I thought it very loudly." He pushed the bundle toward me. "And that's from the human quarter. I went down yesterday. I'm told there's a woman there w

  • The Vampire Prince's Human Bride Has No Heartbeat    Chapter 55: Vane's Threat

    I read the note three times, and each time it said exactly the same thing.*Come alone.*Across the courtyard Adrian was talking to the captain of the watch, his back to me, one hand resting on the carriage wheel. He looked exhausted. I opened my mouth to call his name. Then I closed it.*It concerns your safety, and a great many things you have not been told.*I'd been told so little for so long that the sentence went into me like a hook.I told myself I'd be quick. Ten minutes. I told the nearest guard I wanted air, and he fell a few paces behind me with the sort of reluctant courtesy I'd come to know well. I walked across the court and up the east stair. At the top I stopped and said, quite pleasantly, "I'd like to be alone for a moment. I'll be just there."He hesitated. Then he took up a post at the foot of the stairs, and I went on up.The gallery behind it was narrow and unlit, a long stone corridor with tall windows down one side. The last of the daylight fell through them in

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