Blair's POV
Usually, every morning I wake up with a suffocating tightness in my chest, as if an invisible hand is squeezing the life out of my heart. But today… something is different. There is a warmth spreading through my veins—a foreign sensation, like a soothing hum of static electricity. It pulses from the spot where Damien marked my skin last night.
I stared at the ceiling of the grand chamber, and my memories drifted back to a time when I was nothing more than a tool.
My family—a noble clan that had fallen into ruin—never saw me as a daughter. To them, I was a golden ticket back to wealth. Since I was a child, they had pumped me full of experimental elixirs to "purify" my blood, hoping to sell me to magic collectors. That was what destroyed my heart. They drained my life for gold coins, leaving me to wither away in a cramped room devoid of love.
There was only one light in that dark time: Julian.
He was a commoner, a servant in our estate who brought me wildflowers every morning. We had promised to run away together, but Julian was a coward. He let my father beat him and throw him out, leaving me alone on the brink of death. My heart shattered then, yet a small, foolish part of me, the naive girl I used to be still carried a lingering ache for him. A longing that felt like a splinter in my soul.
When the announcement for the "Thirtieth Sacrificial Bride" was sent out by the Vampire Kingdom, my family had already given up on me. I was considered damaged goods. But I used the last of my strength to bribe the selection guards with the few scraps of my mother's jewelry I had hidden. I convinced them that my "poisoned" blood would be a unique amusement for the Prince. I chose to die at the hands of a monster rather than rot in the hands of my own kin.
"What are you thinking about, Blair?"
Damien's heavy, low voice broke my trance. He stood on the balcony, staring into the abyss of the Northern woods. He wore only black silk trousers; his powerful, muscled back was a map of ancient scars that told the stories of a thousand wars.
"Just a dead past," I replied, struggling to sit up even though my body felt oddly light.
Damien turned, his eyes glowing a lethal crimson. "The past is never truly dead if you're still keeping it alive in your heartbeat."
He walked toward me, his dark aura flooding the room. He gripped my jaw gently, forcing me to meet his gaze. "There is a foreign scent on your skin this morning. A disgusting scent of longing."
Suddenly, the heavy chamber doors slammed open. Two vampire guards marched in, dragging a man who was thrashing and whimpering. He was disheveled, his clothes torn, his face pale with absolute terror.
My heart skipped a beat. "Julian?"
Damien smiled—a cold, razor-sharp smirk that made the hair on my arms stand up. He dragged Julian toward the bed as if the man were a piece of discarded meat.
"He was caught scaling the outer walls of the castle, whimpering your name," Damien whispered in my ear. His cold hand slid over my bare shoulder, claiming me in front of the ghost from my past. "These walls are impenetrable to ordinary humans, unless there is a 'bond' pulling them inside."
Julian looked at me with tear-filled eyes. "Blair… I've come to save you. Let's get out of this cursed place!"
Damien laughed—a sound like rolling thunder. He pressed his boot into Julian's neck, making the man cough up blood. "Save her? You abandoned her when she needed love, and now you come for her when she is already mine?"
Damien turned his gaze back to me, his eyes demanding an answer. "Tell me, Blair. Should I rip his throat out right now, or do you want to watch him beg for his life at the feet of your King?"
I looked at Julian, then at Damien. Inside my chest, my damaged heart began to throb with an impossible strength. That warmth returned—a sharp, dangerous hunger. I didn't feel pity for Julian anymore. I felt… predatory.
"He is no longer anyone to me, My King," I whispered, my eyes beginning to shift colors as my emotions flared. "But that doesn't mean I want to watch him die. Do whatever you want with him… but don't kill him, My Lord."