Chapter 1

For ten years, I served the vampire prince Damon as his blood servant. The night I turned eighteen, he finally made me his woman. My dream come true. Except now I know the truth: I was just his practice run before he married into vampire nobility.

"One more time."

Damon’s voice echoed in the dark. His cold fingers gripped my chin, forcing my head up.

My body was limp, and I was gasping against his chest.

"I… I can't," I rasped.

"You can." He bit my earlobe, his fangs grazing my skin. "The night is young, Elena."

I closed my eyes and let him pull me back under.

This was my eighteenth birthday, and the tenth anniversary of the day I met Damon. Ten years ago, a rogue vampire attacked me in a dark alley. He appeared out of the shadows and saved me. To repay him, I became his exclusive blood servant.

At 3 a.m., Damon finally let me go.

He sat up, pulling me into his lap, his hands stroking me, still not satisfied.

"The Blood Moon Ceremony is tonight," I said, looking up at him with hope. "Will you… give me the Embrace?"

Damon’s hand paused. "We can talk after the ceremony."

My heart sank, but I quickly told myself he was just planning a surprise.

His phone buzzed on the nightstand. Damon glanced at it, answered, and said something in Latin. "Marcus, how are the preparations for the ceremony?"

I’d secretly studied the language, hoping to one day stand by his side as an equal. I’d never told him.

On the other end, my foster brother—or rather, the lesser vampire Damon had turned—answered, "Everything is ready, Master. Miss Serena’s gown is finished, and the crown is prepared."

"And my foster sister... was she to your satisfaction tonight?"

"Not bad." Damon turned, his eyes sweeping over me huddled on the bed, a smirk playing on his lips. "A little green. Not nearly wild enough for my tastes."

Marcus roared with laughter. "Well, she's been hopelessly devoted to you since she was a kid. Never even dated."

"Still, for a free, walking blood bag, she'll do."

"Don't tell Serena about Elena," Damon said casually. "I have to marry a noble like her in the end, and I don't want her upset. A little human like Elena… she's just good for practice."

I bit my lip so hard I could taste blood, my nails digging into my palms.

"Then after you marry Miss Serena, what about her…?" Marcus asked carefully.

"Just keep her around for now." Damon walked to the window, his back to me. "Humans don't live long anyway. I don't mind playing with her until she's gone."

They talked for a few more minutes, all about the Blood Moon Ceremony and how to make sure everything was perfect for the precious Miss Serena.

Not a single word about me.

After hanging up, Damon finally turned to me. "I have to go. Marcus needs help with a few things."

I forced a smile. "Okay."

He walked to the bed, leaned down, and pressed a cold kiss to my forehead. "Be good and wait for me. And use the healing salve to get rid of those marks."

"Why?" I asked before I could stop myself.

"Because I care about you," he said, a fond smile on his face that now felt like a complete lie.

He probably just doesn't want anyone to know we slept together, I thought. If Serena were lying in this bed, would he be so quick to erase the marks he’d left on her?

The answer was obvious.

He vanished into a black mist, gone from the room.

I sat there, numb, as silent tears streamed down my face.

I stumbled into the bathroom and flicked on all the lights. The girl in the mirror was pale and drawn, her neck covered in a delicate tracery of bite marks, like some shameful brand.

Shaking, I took out the vial Damon had left—a potion made from vampire blood that healed wounds instantly.

The moment the needle pierced my skin, a searing pain shot through me.

I watched in the mirror as the bites faded, one by one, disappearing just like my ten years of devotion, so easily erased.

Back in the bedroom, my phone lit up.

A text from Damon: [Have something to attend to tonight. Get some rest. Don't wait up.]

His "something," no doubt, was Serena.

I looked around the room I'd lived in for so long. The walls were covered in vampire histories, the shelves filled with books on the creatures of the night.

I was like some foolish scholar, trying to close the gap between our worlds by learning everything about his.

Pathetic.

I fell into a pained, exhausted sleep. I don't know how long I was out.

My phone rang, waking me. It was my best friend, Chloe.

She sounded frantic. "Elena! Check the video I just sent you! Now!"

I opened it. The Blood Moon Ceremony had already begun.

Damon stood in a perfectly tailored black suit. Beside him, the famous vampire socialite Serena wore a gown worth millions, a glittering diamond tiara on her head.

That tiara. Damon once promised he'd give it to me when I came of age.

On screen, Serena stood on her toes and pressed a kiss to Damon’s cheek.

He didn't pull away.

I remembered all the times I’d been weak after he’d fed, begging for a simple, comforting kiss. He always refused.

"Elena, I am a vampire prince, not some sentimental human," he would say.

Turns out, he just refused me.

Chloe was yelling something on the phone, but her voice was a distant buzz.

I just stared at that tiara, remembering Damon’s words as he once stroked my hair. "When you come of age, I'll give you a crown, so the whole world knows you're mine."

He gave away a crown, alright.

Just not to me.