LUNA
The vampire prince turned. Breaking my gaze, he gestured wildly in the air as he spoke with his companions. Their voices were low, and I couldn’t hear them.
I didn’t need to. He was angry. Why was he angry?
The air thickened impossibly further as the tension in the Great Hall increased, and my heart thundered in my chest. After a moment, the other two vampires nodded, and the prince crossed his arms. Shadowy wisps curled around his feet, and he scowled.
I stared at him. Half of me was hoping he never looked at me again, while the other half wished he would return my gaze.
He never did.
A plume of shadows as dark as the blackest night enveloped the winged male, hiding him from sight. When they cleared, he was gone. Something bitter surged through me, and I clenched my fists at my side.
Papa cleared his throat, shifting uncomfortably beside me. “Well, your future husband definitely knows how to make an exit, that’s for sure.”
I nodded, words escaping me. My fiancé was gone, and I felt like I could breathe again. Focusing on remaining upright—something which I hadn’t expected to be a problem—my gaze swept the room once more.
It was only then that I realized someone was missing.
My brows furrowed, and I frowned. “Where is Julieta?”
Papa ushered me into the hall. “She’s already in the Northern Kingdom.”
I mulled over that information as we walked down the red carpet. I knew the vampires were capable of some strange form of transportation—after all, I just witnessed it—but none of my research had ever explained how it worked.
We were halfway down the hall when a flicker of movement caught my eye. The blonde female disappeared from beside her companion, only to appear a few feet in front of me a heartbeat later. I stumbled back, releasing my grip on my father’s arm as my eyes widened.
“We can move through the shadows,” the blonde female said, answering my unasked question.
I stared at her. “I—“
The vampire smirked. “I heard your question.” Clucking her tongue, she tapped the side of her head. “You should probably work on keeping your thoughts to yourself, mortal. They’re very loud.”
My eyes widened, both from the implication that she could read my mind and also from the black, lifeless pits that were the vampire’s eyes. She spoke in the Common Tongue, but her accent was strange. Her words were a little longer than I was used to, as though she was drawing out all the vowels.
“I didn’t know you could—”
“Read minds?” The vampire moved through the shadows again, coming to stand mere inches from my face.
My heart pounded and I gasped.
“Not all of us can. It’s a… gift given to a few of my kind.” A wolfish smile crossed her face, and she pulled back her lips to display a pair of razor-sharp fangs. “I think you’ll find that there aremanythings you don’t know about us, human.”
She eyed my neck, and I gulped. Dark amusement flitted through the vampire’s eyes, and she chuckled, showing off those fangs once more.
“Don’t worry.” She gestured towards her companion, who was walking down the carpet with the ease of someone who did not have any compunctions about tardiness. “We already ate.”
I gulped. All the research in the world could not have prepared me for the sight of those fangs in real life. My stomach twisted and bile rose in my throat as I imagined the painful sensation of having them puncture my throat.
I was certain that being bitten by a vampire would not be a pleasant experience. Hopefully, it was one thing I would never have to find out. I was coming as a bride, not a blood donor. Certainly, they wouldn’t make me…providefor my husband in that way.
Right?
“Are you ready?” the vampire asked, her tone dripping with obvious disdain.
She moved out of my personal space, standing a few feet away as she glared at me. I stared at the intricate embroidery on her strange outfit, trying to tamp down the knot of fear making itself known in my stomach. The blonde’s black form-fitting tunic and trousers made my golden dress seem even more out of place than it already did.
Could one ever truly be ready for a life-changing moment? One that would rip them away from everything they knew and thrust them into a new world? I didn’t even know if I would be alive tomorrow. If the tales I’d heard about my new husband held even an iota of truth, then he was the most blood-thirsty, vengeful creature to roam the Four Kingdoms.