LucasIt took all I had not to choke on the marvels of the Lord’s castle. The Lord of Baycrest was no different from the rest of the high society bastards in this place: prestige was everything.And yet, I found myself gassed by the gaudy decor. The over-the-top, tacky interior of this particular meeting room he had lassoed us all into. It was not usual for a lowly Lord of a poor and decrepit city to own such an expensive eye-sore of a castle.I moved with the crowd, but close enough that I could listen to the desperate rambling between Lord Mueller and Kronos. “Your majesty, please trust me. I hadn’t known a thing about this trade business. I certainly wasn’t involved myself.” He finished off with a laugh—a desperate, peculiar laugh, that was surely fooling no one.Especially standing in a room like this. I paused my eavesdropping to take a gander, soaking in the lavish decor. The velvet curtains, certainly purchased from abroad. The paintings, antique by the look of the crackling pa

ValerieVanilla seemed confused. She blinked at me, as if she’d said something wrong. “W..what do you mean?”“How do you know she was branded?” I asked again, my voice edged with something severe.Vanilla gave an awkward laugh. “Why do you sound so angry?” She looked around, making sure no one else was eavesdropping in one our conversation. There were certainly eyes on us from across the room, but I was certain they couldn’t hear. With all the conversations going on, it was difficult to make out any one discussion.Vanilla leaned in, cupping her mouth to whisper in my ear, “My master took me to the market when the branding company was offering services there. I saw her.”“When?” I asked, an icy feeling shooting through my veins.So I was right. That mark had been branded on her by her master.“Uh…a couple of weeks ago, I think,” said Vanilla. “My ,memory’s a bit fuzzy. That’s not exactly something you want to keep in your thoughts, you know?”“How can you be sure it was her?” I asked.

ValerieI was no longer interested in Lucas’s story. In tales of the prince, and love between beasts and humans. Vanilla was eager to keep blabbering on about the fairytale she’d painted in her mind, but I paid little attention to it.I was too frightened by the prospect of one day being trapped as a beast’s concubine. Of being slaughtered by his jealous wife.“It’s the best future we could hope for as slaves,” said Vanilla, as if she’s read my mind. “Truly, if your Master loves you enough to make you a concubine, you’re among the luckiest of us. You should do your best to earn a good merit with him.”I felt a sharp sliver of frustration stick into me. I did my best to bite my tongue so that I did not cause any waves, but Vanilla’s upbeat attitude toward this horrid life of ours was beginning to chafe me. We were not lucky and we would not live out romantic lives with the men who held us captive.I wanted to slap the smile right off of her face, but she didn’t deserve that.She was cl

LucasThe rest of the room had been so deeply devolved in chatter, that almost none of them noticed the wretched scream that spilled out over the valley.They were busy complaining about the blood shortage, the city infrastructure, the crime. Anything they could think of to devolve the conversation from the matter at hand. But the sound that had rung through the castle was clear.I noticed. And my father seemed to notice as well.Kronos stopped and raised a palm to quiet the room. Slowly, the chatter halted. The room went still and quiet, and we listened to minutes of silence go by.At first, I thought perhaps I had imagined the sound. Then another wretched scream rang out. The one was not mistaken. It was far too beastly to be human.I knew that sound. We all knew that sound.Suddenly, I was shoving my way through the crowd. Pushing aside vampires to make a break for the door.There was a dragon in our land. A dragon on vampiric territories. It was strange, but of course, not impossi

Valerie“He’s lying,” I muttered.I hadn’t realized I’d said anything at all, until the room fell silent. Every set of eyes shifted onto me with uncomfortable regard.I shouldn’t have spoken out. A slave was not allowed to take part in conversations, particularly when uninvited. And I had most certainly uninvited.A good slave was meant to play deaf. To act as if we heard nothing and to speak only when spoken to. We were to be flies on the wall—to be present in conversation, but never active unless it was expected of us.The vampires seemed displeased with my audacity. My heart sank an I lowered my head in a silent apology, my heart doubling at the thought of how I might be punished.“What was that?” asked Lucas. He sidled closer, a smirk on his face. “You had something to say, little bird?”I couldn’t bring myself to speak. I didn’t want to press the issue any more. I just wanted to return to Xavier’s castle. I wanted to sleep in that warm bed and watch the sun rise through the lovel