I could not sleep.
Every time I closed my eyes, I felt him. His hunger. His control fraying at the edges like old rope. The bond pulled tight between us, and I knew that somewhere in this massive house, Lucian fought against the need to come for me.
I sat by the window in my room, watching moonlight paint the gardens in silver. Black roses grew there. Hundreds of them. They bloomed even in winter, fed by vampire magic that did not follow nature's rules.
Everything about this world was wrong. Backwards. Dead things that walked. Flowers that grew in frost. A bond that tied me to a monster who looked at me with sad, ancient eyes and promised to protect me even as he admitted he would kill me.
I touched the glass. Cold seeped through to my fingertips.
I needed to contact the order. Sister Miriam would be waiting for my report. But how? The guards watched my door. Lucian felt everything I felt. One wrong move and he would know.
Unless I could hide it. Control my emotions enough that the bond would not betray me.
I closed my eyes and took a slow breath. Thought of nothing. Felt nothing. Let my mind go blank and empty.
The bond dimmed. Just slightly. But enough.
I stood and moved to the wardrobe. The dresses Lucian had provided hung there. Beautiful. Expensive. A gilded cage. I pushed them aside and felt along the back panel.
There. A loose board. I had found it earlier while exploring the room.
I pulled it free and reached into the space behind. My fingers closed around familiar leather. The small pack I had carried the night of the attack. The guards had taken it but stored it in the room, assuming it contained nothing dangerous.
They were wrong.
I pulled out the pack and opened it carefully. My hunting knife was gone, of course. But they had missed the other items. The ones that looked innocent. A compact mirror. A tube of lipstick. A cheap bracelet.
Tools of the trade.
I opened the compact. Inside, where powder should be, was a tiny vial of clear liquid. Vampire poison. Slow acting. Tasteless. One drop in his blood and Lucian would weaken. Two drops and he would be vulnerable. Three and he would die.
I stared at the vial.
This was why I had come. The mission. Justice for my family. Revenge for all the lives his kind had destroyed.
But I could feel him through the bond. His loneliness. His guilt. The way he carried two hundred years of loss like chains wrapped around his heart.
Was he truly a monster? Or just a man who had lived too long and lost too much?
I closed the compact with shaking hands. Hid it in the pocket of my nightgown. Put the pack back in its hiding place.
Tomorrow night the court would meet. Lucian would defend me. And I would stand beside the vampire I was meant to kill, pretending I was not the weapon sent to destroy him.
A knock sounded at the door.
I shoved the board back into place and straightened. "Enter."
A woman stepped inside. Not one of the guards. She was small. Delicate. With pale blonde hair and eyes that seemed too large for her face. She wore a simple gray dress and carried a tray of food.
"I brought you dinner, miss." Her voice was soft. Nervous. She set the tray on the small table by the fire.
"Thank you." I studied her carefully. "What is your name?"
"Seraphine, miss." She bobbed something like a curtsy. "I am... I work in the house. Helping with things. Lord Graves asked me to see to your needs."
There was something odd about her. The way she would not quite meet my eyes. The way her hands trembled as she arranged the dishes.
"Are you afraid of me, Seraphine?"
She looked up, startled. "No, miss. Not afraid. Just..." She bit her lip. "You are the blood servant. The one Lord Graves bound. Everyone is talking about it."
"What are they saying?"
She hesitated. Then, quietly, "That he has gone mad. That the bond will destroy him. That you are either very brave or very foolish to let him keep you here."
"I did not have much choice in the matter."
"No, I suppose not." She moved toward the door. Paused. "Miss?"
"Yes?"
"Is it true? That your blood is cursed?"
I stiffened. "Who told you that?"
"Everyone knows. The guards. The other servants. They say that is why Lord Graves saved you. Because your blood called to him in ways nothing else has in centuries." She looked at me with those too-large eyes. "They say Rare Blood is dangerous. That it drives vampires mad with hunger. That it causes wars and death and ruin."
"They seem to say a lot of things."
"They are afraid, miss. Of what will happen when Lord Graves loses control. Of what the court will do if he refuses to give you up." She twisted her hands together. "He is a good lord. The best we have had in decades. If something happens to him because of you..."
She did not finish the sentence. She did not need to.
"I understand," I said quietly. "You blame me."
"No, miss. I just..." She shook her head. "Please be careful tomorrow night. At the court. Lady Valeria is not kind to humans. And Lord Marcus..." She stopped.
"What about Lord Marcus?"
Fear flashed across her face. "Nothing, miss. I should not have spoken." She moved quickly to the door.
"Seraphine, wait."
She paused but did not turn around.
"What do you know about Lord Marcus?"
"Nothing, miss. Please. I cannot..." Her voice broke. "I cannot speak of it. Please do not ask me."
Then she was gone.
I stood alone in the room, her words echoing in my mind. Lord Marcus. Lucian's brother. The one person who stood to gain from all of this.
I remembered the way Lucian had tensed when I mentioned him. The anger that had rippled through the bond. There was history there. Bad history.
I moved to the tray Seraphine had brought. Bread. Cheese. Fruit. Wine. Simple food, but more than I had eaten in days.
I picked up the wine glass and held it to the light. It looked normal. Smelled normal. But something made me hesitate.
I set it down without drinking.
Better to be paranoid than poisoned.
I ate the bread and fruit instead, then returned to the window. The night stretched on. Hours passed. The bond pulsed between Lucian and me. I felt him somewhere below, still awake, still fighting.
And slowly, something changed.
The hunger grew sharper. More insistent. I felt it rising through the bond like a tide. He was losing the battle. Whatever control he had maintained was slipping.
My heart hammered. Should I call the guards? Lock the door? Run?
But where would I go? The bond connected us. Distance would not save me. Nothing would save me if he truly lost control.
I stood frozen by the window, feeling his hunger build. Closer. Stronger. Inevitable.
Then, suddenly, it stopped.
The hunger slammed back down. Contained. Controlled. But I felt the effort it took. The way it cost him. Like holding back an avalanche with bare hands.
I pressed my forehead against the cold glass and closed my eyes.
How long could he keep this up?
Not long.
Not long at all.
The next evening, the guards came for me just after sunset.
"The court is assembled, miss. Lord Graves requests your presence."
I had dressed carefully. One of the gowns from the wardrobe. Deep black with silver embroidery. Elegant but severe. Hair pinned back. No jewelry. I wanted to look strong. Unafraid.
Even if I was terrified.
The guards led me through the house. Down. Always down. Into the parts that never saw daylight. The stone walls grew older. The air colder. We passed through corridors lit by torches that burned with strange blue flame.
Finally, we reached a massive set of doors. Iron. Ancient. Covered in symbols I did not recognize.
The guards pushed them open.
The court chamber beyond was like something from a nightmare. Vast. Circular. Rising in tiers like an amphitheater. Vampires filled the seats. Dozens of them. Hundreds. All of them watching as I entered.
Their eyes glowed in the darkness. Red. Gold. Silver. So many predators in one place. The weight of their attention pressed down on me like a physical thing.
I forced myself to keep walking.
At the center of the chamber stood a raised platform. Lucian waited there, dressed in black with silver chains of office across his chest. He looked every inch the lord. Powerful. Ancient. Untouchable.
But I could feel him through the bond. The effort it took to stand there. The hunger he fought. The fear he would not name.
I climbed the steps to stand beside him.
"Do not speak unless spoken to," he murmured. "Do not show fear. They will use it against us."
I nodded once.
A figure emerged from the shadows at the far end of the chamber. Lady Valeria. She wore formal black robes and carried a staff of dark wood. Her silver hair gleamed in the torchlight.
"The court is assembled," she announced. Her voice echoed off the stone walls. "We gather to address the matter of Lord Lucian Graves and his violation of our most sacred law."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd.
Valeria continued. "Lord Graves has created a blood bond with a human. This bond is forbidden. Dangerous. History has shown us what happens when lords bind themselves to servants. Madness. Death. Destruction." Her cold eyes found mine. "The human must be destroyed before the bond drives Lord Graves into bloodlust. Before innocent lives are lost. Before our laws are made meaningless."
More murmurs. Louder now. Angry.
Lucian stepped forward. "I invoke the Right of Protection."
Silence fell.
Valeria's expression did not change. "The Right of Protection only applies if the human poses no threat. Can you guarantee that, Lord Graves? Can you swear before this court that the bond will not drive you mad? That you will not kill her and anyone else who stands in your way when the hunger takes you?"
"I can control it."
"Can you?" A new voice. Male. Cruel. "Or are you already losing the fight, brother?"
I turned.
A man stepped into the light. He looked like Lucian. Same height. Same build. But where Lucian's eyes held sorrow, this man's held nothing but cold amusement.
Marcus.
He climbed the platform steps and stood facing Lucian. "Tell them the truth, brother. Tell them how you fought the hunger all of last night. How it nearly broke you. How you stood outside her door for three hours, fighting against the need to drain her dry."
Ice flooded my veins. Three hours? He had been outside my door?
"I maintained control," Lucian said flatly.
"This time." Marcus turned to address the court. "But what about tomorrow night? Next week? How long before control is not enough?" He gestured to me. "Look at her. Rare Blood. Cursed Blood. Her very existence is designed to drive us mad. And my brother has tied himself to her. He has made himself vulnerable. Weak. Dangerous."
"Careful, Marcus." Lucian's voice dropped to something deadly. "You sound almost pleased."
"Pleased? I am devastated." But his smile said otherwise. "You were always the strong one, Lucian. The controlled one. And now look at you. Brought low by a human girl. It is tragic, really."
The bond flared. I felt Lucian's rage. His suspicion. He knew. Somehow, he knew Marcus was behind this.
But he had no proof.
Valeria struck her staff against the stone floor. "Enough. Lord Graves, the court requires proof that you can maintain control. That the human poses no threat. Can you provide such proof?"
Lucian met her gaze. "What do you suggest?"
"A test." She smiled. Thin. Cold. "Feed from her. Here. Now. Before the entire court. Show us you can take her blood and stop. Prove the bond has not yet compromised your control."
Horror rushed through me.
"No," Lucian said immediately.
"No?" Valeria's eyebrows rose. "Then you admit you cannot control yourself around her. That the bond is already too strong."
"I will not put her through that. Not for your entertainment."
"It is not entertainment. It is survival." Valeria moved closer. "If you cannot feed from her safely, then she must die. Tonight. Before you become the monster we all fear."
Silence.
Every vampire in the chamber watched. Waited.
I felt Lucian's dilemma through the bond. If he refused, they would execute me. If he agreed and lost control, he would kill me himself.
There was no good choice.
I stepped forward. "I consent."
Lucian turned to me, eyes wide. "Rose—"
"I consent to the test." I kept my voice steady. "Let Lord Graves feed from me. Let the court see that he maintains control. That I am not a threat."
"You do not have to do this," Lucian said quietly.
"Yes, I do." I met his gaze. Felt his fear through the bond. "Unless you are afraid you will lose control?"
It was a challenge. A dare. And he knew it.
His jaw tightened. "Very well."
The court erupted in whispers.
Valeria smiled. "Then let us begin. Lord Graves. Feed from your servant. Show us the bond has not yet broken you."
Lucian moved toward me slowly. Every line of his body was tense. I could feel his dread. His hunger. His desperation to refuse.
But we were out of options.
He stopped in front of me. Close. So close I could feel the cold radiating from his skin.
"I am sorry," he whispered.
Then his hand cupped the back of my neck, tilted my head to the side, and his mouth descended on my throat.
Pain.
Sharp and bright and terrible.
His fangs pierced my skin. I felt them sink deep, felt him drinking, felt my blood flowing into him hot and fast.
The bond exploded.
Sensation flooded through me. His hunger. His pleasure. The taste of me on his tongue. Sweet. Addictive. Everything he had feared and more.
I gasped and my knees buckled. He caught me, held me against him, kept drinking.
Too much. He was taking too much.
I tried to speak. Could not. The room spun. Darkness crept in at the edges of my vision.
Through the bond, I felt his control slipping. Felt the monster rising. Felt the moment he stopped fighting and let the hunger take over.
He was going to kill me.
Right here. In front of the entire court.
Just like they predicted.
Just like he feared.
I had made a terrible mistake.