All Chapters of The Vampire Prince's Forsaken Queen: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

My five-year-old son, Noah Blackwood, and Ella Hart, the human woman my husband had just turned, were trapped inside the vampire hunters' Sunfire Array. Fifteen minutes remained before it detonated.My husband, Prince Arthur Blackwood, stepped in front of Ella without a moment's hesitation and barked an order at me."Give Ella the Shadow Shield! Now!"I froze.The Sunfire Array blazed before us, its ultraviolet beams weaving a lethal net through the air.An amethyst countdown burned above it: 15:00.On the left side, Noah huddled into a tiny ball.His small hands clutched the hem of his shirt, tears pooling in his eyes."Mommy, it hurts," Noah whimpered, his voice so faint it could dissolve in the wind.To his right, Ella was clutching her chest."Arthur, I can't breathe. Am I dying?"Arthur whipped his head toward me."What are you waiting for?" Arthur jabbed a finger toward Ella."Serena, Noah is pureblood. He can last a little longer. Ella has only been a vampire for two months. She

I walked out of the Elder Council Hall. A full moon hung high in the night sky.Before I could make it through the castle corridor, my handmaid came stumbling toward me in a panic."High Priestess! Something terrible has happened!""The Prince never destroyed the images!"My eyes widened."What do you mean?"The handmaid was sobbing so hard her whole body shook."The images of ghouls tearing out Lady Helen's fangs were copied onto hundreds of memory crystals and spread across the territory!""Everyone out there is saying she's a fraud, a lowborn impostor pretending to be noble..."Something inside me snapped. My last thread of reason burned to ash.I shoved past the handmaid and transformed into a streak of black mist, shooting toward the rooftop terrace.Below the terrace, over a hundred lower-ranking vampires and guards had gathered, oblivious to the truth.Ella stood at the front with a memory crystal in hand, doubled over with laughter."Everyone, come look! This is our High Priest

That same evening, after I left the castle, disaster struck again.Arthur's adoptive father and mentor, Lord Victor Blackwood, returned from a patrol of the southern border with two senior Elders.As they passed through the canyon outside the city, the landscape around them warped.Golden and purple runes wove frantically through the air."A Sunfire Array! The hunters!"Victor blanched.Overhead hung the same familiar amethyst countdown timer.Fifteen minutes."Quickly! Send a message to the High Priestess! Only her Shadow Shield can break a Sunfire Array!"Grand Elder Benedict Crowe shouted.Arthur received the distress signal and raced to the canyon with a squad of elite warriors.He activated his communication rune and called my name desperately."Serena! Get back here and save them! Now!"From the other end of the rune, nothing but dead silence.Malcolm Reed, the castle steward, knelt behind Arthur, trembling."Your Highness... the High Priestess has withdrawn from the High Council

The day after the Council stripped him of authority, Arthur was confined to the castle's main hall like a prisoner.Disaster after disaster crashed down on him.The dungeon interrogations had produced results.The captured hunters confessed everything before the torture instruments were even brought out."Ella paid me two thousand gold coins to do it!"Before Arthur could catch his breath, Malcolm Reed, the old castle steward, fell to his knees and confessed."Your Highness... feeding Helen Warren's ashes to the ghouls, spreading those memory crystals...""Ella Hart paid me in gold to do all of it!""And... she poured three vials of high-grade holy water into the Sacred Flame Array before Serena used it.""She wanted to cripple Serena for good!"One crime after another.All of it, irrefutable and damning.Arthur's eyes burned red. He clutched his hair, ragged breaths tearing from his throat like a wounded animal.Every lash I had endured, the sight I had lost, every drop of blood I had

In the bitter blizzards of the North, the southern court's corruption could no longer reach me.I stood at the innermost altar of the frozen citadel.My eyes remained a sightless white, but my sharpened senses caught every whisper of wind."Rise!"I thrust both hands upward.The Shadow Barrier I had reclaimed from Arthur's territory fused with the First King's ancient wards.A vast dome of shadow blotted out the sky and sealed the frozen tundra behind an impenetrable wall.Lucas Kane stepped forward to face hundreds of kneeling northern lords, his voice carrying through the blizzard."You have witnessed her power. Though she cannot see the runes, she fused two barriers into an unbreakable shield.""She remains the most powerful Shadow Wielder on this continent!""From this day forward, this barrier is the foundation of Queen Serena Warren's sovereign power. While she stands, it stands. As she grows stronger, so does the North."He turned and offered me his hand, guiding me to his side,