All Chapters of After Taking Vows With My Sister, He Begged Me To Return: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

I stood in the shadows of the crowd who were supposed to gather for my wedding with Alaric, my blood bound.Alaric, the Pureblood heir I had loved for a century, stood tall and lethal in his black coat. But the woman standing across from him, draped in a gown of shimmering silver, was not me. It was Celeste, a half-blood vampire siren, by my Dad.The High Priest’s voice echoed through the vaulted stone. "By the blood of the ancients, the union is sealed."Then came the "Rite of Possession"—the archaic tradition of the High Houses.In the chant for ‘Kiss on lips’, Alaric knelt. The crowd went silent. He moved with a deliberate, slow grace that felt like a blade to my heart.Alaric knelt before her, his movements slow and deliberate. As the crowd held its breath, he pressed a lingering, possessive kiss to the hollow of her throat—the spot where a blood-bond is most sacred.Celeste let out a soft, airy gasp, her fingers curling into the silk of his tunic. The crowd erupted in cheers; to t

The wolves sneered, their breath foul against my face. "He left you, little princess," one growled, raising the blade. "Seems you aren't worth the silver."I closed my eyes, waiting for the end, but it didn't come. Instead, a sudden, violent burst of shadow exploded through the cathedral.The Clan’s elder whom I had informed of the attack on time, had sent help.The trained fighter vampires materialized from the darkness. The wolves were flung across the hall, their bodies shattering against the stone pillars.One of the fighter vampires caught me just as my legs gave out. But as he pulled me against his chest, a sharp, agonizing cramp seized my abdomen. A warmth spread through my torn gown—not the blood from the wolves, but something deeper. Something final."The child..." I gasped, clutching my stomach as the world turned gray."Easy, little one," the stranger’s voice was a low rumble. "I have you."Three hours later, I woke up in a sterile, dimly lit room. The stranger was gone, but

The air in the rest chamber didn't just turn cold; it died. Alaric’s hand was a vice of iron around Celeste’s throat, his knuckles white, his eyes burning with a primal, predatory rage that even the werewolf Fenris took a cautious step back from."Alaric..." Celeste gasped, her hands clawing at his wrists. Her face, usually a mask of fragile innocence, was contorting. "You... you misheard. I was... I was practicing a script! A play for the charity gala!"A play?" Alaric’s voice was a low, vibrating growl. "You spoke of wolves. You spoke of Blackwood Bridge. You spoke of my child being dead."He slammed her back against the oak door. The heavy wood groaned. "The payment, Celeste. The dowry. The 'sacrifices' of our fighters. Was that part of the script, too?""It’s Elara!" Celeste shrieked, tears springing to her eyes—the practiced, shimmering tears that had always worked before. "She set this up! She’s using voice-mimicry magic to frame me because she knew you were leaving her! She want

Elara's POVSix months have passed by since I left the world I belonged and chose to make my residence in the Human world.The rain in the Human Realm didn't smell of ozone and sulfur like it did in the Highlands; it smelled of damp earth and exhaust. To me, it was the scent of freedom.I sat in a cramped, dimly lit apartment in the heart of a city that never slept. On the table before me lay the remnants of my past: a forged passport, a vial of silver-nitrate solution, and a rusted blade. That's all I needed for my defence.After I left my House, I only had to discover the city where the Sun rests most of the time. I joined the local university as a History Professor.When you have lived for centuries, your memory becomes the history for most of the people. Later, I was promoted to become the head of the Archeological research team and led several students to different parts of the world in seeking history.It helped keeping myself low profile and made it difficult for people to trace

First, I attended Millie's wedding, then I went to visit my Mom's tomb before leaving for good.When the car slowed to a crawl near the rusted iron gates of our ancestral lands, I stepped out into the damp night air.The transition was jarring; the polished leather of the sedan was replaced by the smell of wet earth and decaying leaves.I hadn't gone a mile when I saw a figure huddled against a weeping willow near the creek. The man was dressed in rags that might have once been fine silk, his frame skeletal and trembling.As I drew closer, the scent reached me—sour wine and the unmistakable stench of a broken spirit.He looked up, and for a heartbeat, I didn't recognize him. Silas, the man who had commanded legions and held the High Committee in the palm of his hand, was gone. In his place was a beggar with hollowed cheeks and eyes clouded by cataracts."Elara?" he wheezed, his voice a dry rattle. He tried to stand, his knees buckling. "My... my daughter?"I stopped five paces away, my