Alina “What do you mean you can’t come to the wedding?”“Honey, you know I can’t. There are certain rules for survival in the mortal world, and I have no wish of becoming their dinner,” Papa joked.“And yet you’d let me take your place?” I told him incredulously, putting on a serious face, but even Papa could tell I was joking.“Honey, I doubt Erick finds me that appealing,” he said with an affectionate pat on my head.I felt my eyes burn with tears. This was all happening too soon. I just wanted everything to slow down and to give me time to breathe. Every girl dreams of their wedding day, especially the time when her father would hand her over to her husband. I was no different. I had always wanted my wedding to be the same, a big church wedding with all my friends and family with Mom gushing about my dress and makeup and Dad walking

Alina “Kendrick, it’s not stopping! There’s too much blood!” I screamed, pressing down harder on the wound to check the blood flow. “Tell me what to do, Kendrick!”“Alina, you have to stay calm. He’s a vampire. The healing will kick in soon.” Kendrick reassured me, driving as fast as he could without having the traffic police at our tail because only one of us could use compulsion, and he wasn’t conscious right now. Thankfully, he was not dead.I looked down at Erick again. He was lying on the back seat with his head on my lap and my hands on his chest, trying desperately to stop the blood flow. He wasn’t conscious yet and hasn’t been since I found him, except for when he called my name once Kendrick had wrenched the stake out of his chest. Well, that was another myth proved wrong about vampires.I could still remember how I found him ly

Alina Erick wasn’t done yet.“Tell me why you care, Alina?” He sounded dead serious, prepared to peel away every layer of my defence. “You’ve kept in so much for so long. Let it out. Tell me why you care. Tell me why you’re ready to forgive me so easily after everything I did to you? Tell me, damn it!”It was like a floodgate being opened.“I don’t want to feel anything towards you, not even hate. Because what you did to me? No amount of punishment can ever give me back what I lost, and I’m not talking about my virginity.” His face paled at every word I spoke. “You took away from me my choice, my free will, and at one point, even my will to live—”“Don’t—” he interjected, but I didn’t stop. I wasn’t done yet. He wanted the truth, so I’ll give it to him“I kept on l

Alina When I woke up, it was already five in the afternoon and Erick was nowhere to be seen. Giving him my blood made me weak, so Erick let me rest for the day. On the other hand, he had to leave to investigate the slaughter and find out who was helping Emiel by providing him the required arms.By now, all we could confirm was that Emiel had broken free of Marcellus’s line of descendants, and no one in their family could trace him. It was as if he had disappeared from the face of the Earth. But we knew for sure that he was getting help from somewhere because it would be impossible for one person alone to decapitate eight members of the Royal Guard. The question was, who could it be?Getting up, I took a quick shower and dressed in the coral pink top and black jeans that had been laid out for me yet again. Leaving my hair down to dry, I came out of the bathroom to find Kendrick standing by the bed with a glass

Alina “King?” My voice sounded hoarse.Miaka’s smile seemed to light up the room. I couldn’t help feeling a spark of jealousy running through my veins.What was Erick’s connection to this girl? He obviously knew her if his mother did. From the way Kenna reacted to her, she had to be pretty high up in the ranks, but what rank could be higher than that of the king and queen? Moreover, she called herself king, not queen.“You know I can hear you, right?” She brought her face closer to mine and whispered low enough so that only I could hear her. “Mage spells don’t work on me.”I stared at her wide-eyed as she leaned back with a huge grin. She then motioned for the maids to start working, and they finally started to wash my hair.“Alright!”Miaka clapped her hands together and looked at Kenna for approval. Upon her