Chapter 1

After confirming that Isolde was also awake, I immediately called Caelum to tell him I wanted to sever the bond.

Two days of silence. He didn’t answer a single call or message.

“Our baby is gone,” I finally texted.

That got an immediate response. Caelum’s voice came through the phone, ice-cold with fury.

“Seraphina, is this how you are? You don’t hear back from me so you decide to get rid of our child? You’re out of your mind.”

“I told you to stay in the manor while you were pregnant. But you had to go wandering off. Then you called me nine times in a row while I was dealing with a crisis. Do you know what I was doing? Vivienne was in danger—hunters nearly got to her. She’s human, Seraphina. She could have died.”

“And let me be clear—I turned you. I gave you immortality. Everything you have, you owe to me. So stop using our child to manipulate me. If you want to lose the pregnancy, go ahead.”

From the background, I heard Vivienne’s soft, trembling voice: “Caelum, don’t be angry with her. She was just worried about you. This is all my fault...”

His tone changed instantly. Warm. Gentle. “Vivienne, this has nothing to do with you...”

He hung up.

I lowered the phone, smiling bitterly.

Of course. How could I ever compare to Vivienne?

She was the twin princes’ true love—the human girl who had grown up alongside them after her mother married into the royal household.

But she had refused to be turned—and that only made them want her more.

I placed my hand on my flat stomach. My baby had been five months along, growing strong. I used to feel its little kicks every morning. Now there was nothing.

The healer had told me the damage was severe. I might never be able to have another child. The weapon those exiles used had destroyed too much.

Caelum didn’t know any of this. He didn’t know that while he was busy saving Vivienne, he had lost not only his unborn child but any chance of future heirs.

The attack had never been random. It was targeted, and it was because of Caelum.

When the exiled vampires surrounded me, their leader struck me across the face. Through the dizziness, I heard him snarl:

“Your husband destroyed our home. Burned our entire settlement while we slept. Our hunting grounds, our shelter—everything gone because of him.”

“We heard his brother controls territory to the north. Once we have you, he’ll give it up in exchange.”

Hearing they only wanted territory, I felt a small surge of relief. At least they might spare my baby.

But after nine unanswered calls and Caelum’s cold rejection on the tenth, the exiles realized I was worthless to him. If the prince didn’t care whether his wife lived or died, what use was I as a hostage?

I had never known such terror.

I fell to my knees. I begged. I would do anything if they would just spare my child.

But my pleas meant nothing. The leader drove his blade into my stomach.

The pain was beyond anything I had ever felt. My baby was gone, just like that.

Yet only that morning, I had felt those tiny kicks inside me.

I began to lose consciousness. Without my baby, I didn’t want to live anyway.

Just as I was giving up, Isolde crashed through the trees.

She saw me covered in blood with my phone still clutched in my hand. Her face twisted with rage. “Why didn’t you call me? If I hadn’t felt something was wrong, what would have happened to you?”

She picked me up and called Dorian.

“Looking for Vivienne. Don’t bother me.” Those six words left her frozen.

She tried calling the border patrol, but we were too deep in the forest for the signal to reach.

She had no choice but to carry me and run while the exiles chased us.

They caught up. One of them drove a blade through Isolde’s shoulder, and the burning poison spread through her body. Others slashed at her arms and legs.

Still, she fought on, protecting me even as the poison destroyed her from the inside.

By some miracle, we ran into a border patrol. The exiles scattered.

But the damage was done.

In the infirmary, the healer confirmed what I already knew. My child was gone.

What I didn’t expect was the news about Isolde. The poison from the weapon had gone too deep.

Her vampire abilities—the speed, the strength, the healing—all of it was permanently destroyed. She was now a Thrall—the lowest caste, a vampire in name only, with no more power than the human she had once been.

My sister had given up everything to save me.