Chapter 8 - The Price of Submission

Angelica’s POV

The air was damp, thick with the scent of mildew and old and mossy stone.

The dungeon beneath Charlottenburg Palace was no ordinary prison—it was a tomb of forgotten souls, a place swallowed by history itself.

And yet, here I was.

Somewhere above, the palace stood in all its grandeur, a relic of Prussian might, its gilded halls a stark contrast to the rotting underbelly where I was kept.

And within those halls lived Velan Prussianheardt, the last of his bloodline, a relic himself. A vampire prince, bound to an empire that no longer existed, yet still clinging to its ghost.

And I was his prisoner.

His breeder? The very thought disgusted me.

I had never felt so alone, abandoned, hot and cold at the same time. This prince or whatever he was made my skin crawl. Every time he looked at me, I felt nauseous.

I was locked in. Everything was dark and pitch black yet I could still see. At the bottom of my cell, a small pool of water had gathered on the rough edges of the stone floor.

I recoiled from my own reflection. I didn’t recognize myself. My eyes glowed red in the darkness—they terrified me.

What had he done to me?

That bastard.

I clenched my fists until they tasted blood and sank onto the cold ground.

What he had made me do made me feel even more sick.

Fantastic.

How had I ended up here?

He kept babbling about my mother’s blood as if she were some kind of royalty.

He was insane, completely unhinged. Isolde von Schönberg—my mother’s maiden name. So what? I wouldn’t let him stain her name.

A dungeon.

Great.

He locked me in here so I could “come to my senses.”

What senses? I could see everything clearly—even in the dark!

I looked awful.

My neck was bruised.

I reached up and touched it carefully.

Ouch. It hurt.

I wished my dad were here. He always knew what to do. If only money could save me now. I sighed.

I clutched my stomach as it twisted in pain, growling with hunger.

I felt so empty, so thirsty—so, so cold.

I cursed the day I ever crossed paths with that sadistic monster. Me worshipping Velan? He’s delusional!

I’d fucking kill him!

That pompous prick or whatever royal bloodline he thought so highly of!

And Beatrice?

I felt ashamed for not thinking of her sooner.

She didn’t even know me, yet she had tried to save my life.

I owed her.

But first, I had to find a way out of here.

Just as I thought of an escape plan, Velan stepped into the dungeon again.

I shivered from fright.

“Angelica, Angelica… sweet, sweet Angelica. Are you hungry enough yet?” he asked, leaning in closer, eager and desperate for the answer he so maddeningly craved.

We both heard my stomach growl. He knew. Of course, he knew.

That’s why he put me here in the first place.

”No!” I defiantly yelled in his face.

I saw that look, the same one you’d give a disobedient dog, disappointed it hadn’t learned its lesson.

Then he opened the iron-cage door, loomed over me, and lashed out.

The first strike hit me across the back, and the pain exploded like fire, searing through my skin.

I cried out, my voice ragged, but Velan was relentless.

Another lash, sharper this time, tore across my shoulder, and I screamed as my body jerked from the impact.

My vision blurred, my body swaying with the force of each blow.

The third strike landed on my side, sending a shock of agony through my ribs.

Blood splattered across the stone floor, and I gasped, feeling lightheaded. My pulse was frantic, erratic, as if I were drowning in the pain.

“Please,” I begged, gasping for air, my words shaky, broken.

“Stop, Velan! Don’t do it! I obey! I obey! I’ll do anything!” Each word felt like it was being ripped from me as violently as his lashes.

I could feel the bile rise in my throat, disgusted by my own early surrender.

But all I could think of was getting the pain to stop.

And of course it didn’t stop.

He whipped me again and again, each lash sending waves of pain crashing through me.

I could feel the blood, warm and sticky, pooling beneath me, but there was no escape, no end.

My body shook uncontrollably. Panic set in—fingers trembling, my chest tightening, the air around me suddenly too thick to breathe.

My mind spun, out of control, overwhelmed by the desperate need to survive, to feel something other than the burning pain.

I wanted to go home. I wanted my father.

Wouldn’t Daddy start looking for me soon?

”Daddy! Save me!” I cried out, but no one was coming for me.

I tried to resist, but Velan Prussianheardt was relentless.

He whipped me like a dog, pushing me further into the depths of my torment.

Worse than that, his words stung just as much as the lashes. “Bitch, kneel for me! Beg for me!”

I trembled beneath his cruelty, my body breaking with every word he spat.

“Don’t worry, Angelica,” he taunted, his voice low and dangerous. “I will make you mine. We have plenty of time.”

”Do you hear me, my love? My dear Anna-Lise!” His voice was frantic, feverish, his eyes wild with obsession. It was clear, he was losing himself. There was nothing but madness behind that look.

“I’ll wake you up, my love. Don’t worry! I’ll visit your necropolis soon. I’ll talk to you, so you don’t feel lonely, my love.”

His words made my skin crawl.

”Anna-Lise, Anna-Lise, Anna-Lise” it was like Velan was stuck on repeat, reminiscent of the past.

He wasn’t even seeing me anymore.

He was lost in his twisted fantasy, projecting it all onto me.

He reached for my arms, his fingers digging into my flesh, making me want to gag.

“I’ll resurrect you, and with Angelica’s help…” He paused, as though savoring it. “She’ll be my mistress, my concubine, nothing more. No need to be jealous, my love. I’ll only have you in my eyes.”

His hands fumbled with my clothes, rough and unrelenting, like he was stripping away any dignity I had left.

The warmth of life?

He would pour it back into her, into his obsession, and I was nothing more than a tool in his sickening plan.

“You’ll rise from the grave my love, and we’ll finally be together again, I have forgiven you for all your wrongdoings now” he whispered, a twisted smile playing at his lips.

Bloodstained hands gently caressed me, as if the filth of it all didn’t matter to him. He was lost in his own delusions.

Who was Anna-Lise? I didn’t know but she was already dead. So, I supposed in some way, she was luckier than I was.

At least she had an escape. I had nothing.

Nothing but the cold, dark reality of his obsession.

And his twisted reason for all this his desire to make me his surrogate only twisted the knife deeper.

A vampire, apparently, couldn’t have children after resurrection, which made me nothing more than a tool, a means to an end.

I guess the dead couldn’t bear children; in some sick, twisted way, it made sense.

And of course, he made sure to tell me, to explain it all in excruciating detail, as if his madness had a logic of its own.

He didn’t want me, not really. He just wanted control over everything—her, me, everything. And I was just another part of his sick mind games.

I could feel it, the push and pull of his love and control, the desperation in his words, and I was caught in the middle.

He wasn’t conflicted. He was consumed.

But what terrified me more than his madness was how I was trapped in it, tangled in his need to break me and remake me. Mold me into something else.

Something that wasn’t me.

He sniffed my damp blonde hair, running his filthy fingers through it. My hair was dirty. He was dirty. And with every touch, he made me feel filthy too.

All I could hear, aside from my own sobs, was his maddening laughter, echoing off the cold, stone walls of the dungeon.

But no one could hear my screams.

No one but Velan and that dead girl Anna-Lise in the Necropolis next door.

And he seemed to relish every quivering sound I made. My breath came in ragged gasps as I tried to stay quiet, hoping it would make him stop. But it only seemed to fuel his anger more.

I had no strength left to fight back. I sank into the darkness, surrendering to the void, to the agony, to the helplessness.

I closed my eyes as my mind drifted away.

I guess even vampires could feel pain.