All Chapters of The Vampire Prince Wore My Wounds: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

8 Chapters

Chapter 1

“Be still, little mortal,” Duchess Seraphina murmured. “This pain is nothing compared to the insult you have brought upon Prince Lucian.”Her smile remained gentle as she pressed the red-hot silver brand beneath my collarbone.My back arched.The stench of scorched cloth and burning flesh filled the chamber, and sweat soaked through the linen gown I had worn to supper.Seraphina pushed harder.“A human sleeping beneath the crest of House Voss. Wearing the prince’s protection. Allowing his court to bow to her.” She spoke as though reciting a list of crimes. “Every breath you take in this chamber profanes his bloodline.”I bit my lip until I tasted blood. Screaming would only please her.Besides, the pain burning through me was nothing compared to what Lucian must be enduring beneath the castle.The blood bond had already carried it to him.Ten times stronger.“Why so quiet?” Seraphina lifted the brand at last. “Have you finally learned your place?”She drew a white handkerchief from her

Chapter 2

Seraphina covered her smile with one elegant hand, as though I had said something unbearably amusing.“Do you truly believe His Highness cares for a mortal blood pet?”She crouched before me and stroked my hair.“Then let us see whether the great Prince Lucian spills even one drop of blood for you.”At her signal, Mirelle carried away the empty vial of Dawnfire. She returned moments later with a silver basin filled with dark violet liquid.The bitter, floral scent reached me immediately.Concentrated vervain—harmless on human skin, agonizing in an open wound, and poisonous to vampires.“The Dawnfire cleansed you from within,” Seraphina said. “Now we must purify your flesh.”Seraphina dipped one gloved finger into the basin and slowly stirred.“Your Grace, you are far too merciful,” Mirelle said, pretending to be concerned. “She has shown you nothing but disrespect.”Seraphina gave her a patient smile.“A lost lamb must be guided gently. Cruelty would only make us no better than the cre

Chapter 3

Seraphina straightened the collar of my gown as tenderly as if she were fastening a priceless necklace around my throat.Then my knees gave out.I collapsed onto the stone floor, my vision darkening at the edges. The silver chain around my wrist felt heavier with every breath.“Duchess Seraphina,” I managed. “The pain is too much. You’re going to wake him.”I forced myself to look into her eyes.I wasn’t threatening her. I was warning her.Lucian had endured the Dawnfire, the silver brand, and the vervain through our bond. Even in his blood sleep, there had to be a limit.Seraphina’s flawless smile never wavered.“His Highness is meant to sleep for ten years. Do you really believe your little injuries could disturb him?”She lifted her chin.“Take her to the Hall of Judgment. The entire court deserves to see the human who bewitched their prince.”She sounded almost excited, as though she were announcing a royal feast.Two members of the Royal Guard entered the chamber. They wore black

Chapter 4

As the runes of the fire blazed around me, Seraphina approached with a narrow black case in her hands.She opened it slowly.A slender spike rested on a bed of crimson velvet. Its handle was carved from white bone, while its long silver point glowed with a light so pure that every vampire in the hall instinctively leaned away.My blood turned cold. The Saint’s Thorn.Forged from consecrated silver around a shard of sunstone, it had been created to execute vampires too powerful for an ordinary stake. The smallest cut could set immortal blood aflame.Driven through the heart, it would reduce a vampire to ash.“The Blood Council brought this sacred relic from its vault especially for you,” Seraphina said.She lifted the Thorn by its bone handle and drew the glowing point along my cheek.It never broke my skin, yet heat scorched a path beneath it.If Seraphina drove it into my heart, what would happen to Lucian?Would the pain tear him from his blood sleep?Or would he turn to ash before

Chapter 5

Lucian stood amid the wreckage of the iron doors.The face I remembered as cold and flawless was covered in black cracks, the poison of the Dawnfire pulsing beneath his skin. Blood ran from thin wounds along his cheek and jaw—the same places Seraphina had traced with her silver needle.The flesh beneath his collarbone was burned and raw. Both wrists were torn open.And above his heart, blood poured through the plain black shirt he had worn into his blood sleep.Every wound matched mine.Only his were ten times worse.He had torn himself from a ten-year sleep after barely a month and climbed out of the crypt while the blood bond ripped his body apart.The entire Hall of Judgment fell silent.Only Lucian’s ragged breathing echoed between the stone walls.His crimson eyes remained fixed on Seraphina’s hands, still gripping the Saint’s Thorn lodged in my chest.“Did you think I would never wake,” he rasped, “or have you simply grown tired of living?” No one answered.The nobles stared fr

Chapter 6

“Your Highness has always had a taste for cruel jokes,” Seraphina said. “Mortals are prey. Nothing more.”She struggled to preserve what remained of her dignity, though her voice shook with every word.Still on her knees, she crawled toward Lucian and reached for the torn hem of his shirt.His eyes flashed crimson.An invisible force struck her squarely in the chest and hurled her across the hall.“Prey?” Lucian repeated.His gaze followed her with cold contempt.“You have spent five hundred years boasting of your pure blood, Seraphina. Pity it never carried any intelligence.”She flinched.Lucian looked toward the two Royal Guards standing beside the execution post.“Bind her.”The guards moved instantly.Seraphina screamed as they dragged her toward the post.“Your Highness, no! Please!”The same consecrated silver restraints she had used on me closed around her wrists. Smoke hissed from her skin as the metal began to burn through immortal flesh.Her composure finally shattered.“I d

Chapter 7

Lucian dipped two fingers into a jar of healing salve and spread it carefully over the burn beneath my collarbone.The coolness eased the lingering sting.“Because the bond was the only thing that made you stop trying to hurt yourself and chose to stay alive.”I stared at him.Lucian’s hand stilled against my skin.“When your family brought you to Blackthorn Castle, you looked at me as though I were a monster waiting to devour you,” he said. “You refused food. You tried to escape through a window three hundred feet above the ground. When my guards stopped you, you threatened to use a broken shard of glass on yourself.”His voice remained controlled, but something darker moved beneath it.“I could command every vampire in the Night Realm, Elara. I could not command you to value your own life.”He lifted his crimson gaze to mine.“Then the blood rite bound us. The moment you discovered your pain would become mine, you began eating again. You stopped fighting the guards. You handled every

Chapter 8

The steward rushed forward, wrapped the blue cheese in three layers of cloth, and carried it from the dining chamber. Another servant threw open the doors to the moonlit terrace.Only after the cold night air cleared the smell did Lucian return to his chair.Before I could escape, he caught me around the waist and pulled me onto his lap.“You grow bolder every day,” he murmured, pinching the tip of my nose. “First garlic. Now this. One might think you were trying to assassinate me.”I settled against his chest and toyed with the silver-free clasp at his collar.“Never. I was merely curious how many weaknesses the great Prince Lucian Voss possesses.”His expression softened.“Only one.”He leaned closer, his cool lips brushing the shell of my ear.“You.”Before I could answer, alarm bells rang from the eastern tower.Lucian’s arms tightened around me.The terrace doors burst open, and a bloodied sentry stumbled into the chamber. He dropped to one knee.“Your Highness, the eastern gate i

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