Fated to the Vampire Prince (Vampire Prince Duology #1)

Chapter 1

Voir

CLAIRE

Ispotted him across the ballroom and couldn’t look away. His golden hair was carelessly pushed to one side, and he wore a smirk that looked like he’d just awoken from a very good dream.

But I didn’t think anything Prince Bastien of House Allard did was careless, and he certainly didn’t dream.

He was a vampire, just like all the princes who ruled the Unified Territories.

And tonight, it was my duty to become his next sanguine partner—the person he exclusively feed from for the next year—bound to him by contract at the conclusion of his Sanguination Ball.

I was repulsed by the idea of getting close to him, but I had no other choice.

This was my fate. And if I failed… Suppressing a shudder, I touched the side of my neck, just above the black lace choker Mama bade me to wear.

The vein in my neck throbbed, keenly aware of all the reasons I had to be afraid of a vampire.

Blackness crowded the edges of my vision, and queasiness churned in my stomach. I stared at the floorboards, trying to slow my breathing.

Just thinking about the word blood made me lightheaded, which was something I struggled with over the years.

Now, I had no idea how I was going to convince a vampire prince that I was the one he was searching for.

What if I swooned at his feet during my interview?

That would put an end to my mission pretty damn quick.

My sister snapped open a paper fan and waved it in my direction. The cool air chilled my skin but did nothing to quell my nerves. “Don’t look,” Seraphina muttered, “but the Duke himself is staring right at you.”

I glanced up to find the pale blue eyes of Prince Bastien, the Duke of Roselyn, watching me from across the ballroom. His gaze cut through the pack of hopefuls crowded around him.

The eyes of my enemy.

Yet everything inside me stilled. My breath, my thoughts.

I swear, even my heart skipped a beat. He was painfully, hauntingly beautiful.

And like all predators, those eyes were crafted to lull me into a false sense of security.

The longer he stared at me, the more time slowed.

The people around me fading. Dulling. Blurring into the background.

The chamber music and conversation fell to a low buzz.

I shook my head to clear it, but that didn’t help. It was like I was underwater, and the only thing I wanted to swim toward was him.

A disgusting concept.

“Enchanté, my dear,” said a silky voice that was so close, I swore it was whispered in my ear. I looked around for who’d done it, but no one was nearby. A musical laugh hummed in my ear, and my attention snapped back to the vampire.

It couldn’t have been him… but by Diana… it was. He was speaking to me. Inside my mind. It was terrifying. And yet, I was elated. Against all odds, I must’ve done something right. I’d caught his attention.

“Care to join me on the balcony?” The voice slid into my mind like a guest. “You look like you could use some fresh air.”

The Duke pointed to my left, and I followed his finger to a set of ornate doors. I struggled to find words, but I wet my lips and whispered back to him, “Is this for m-my interview?”

His mouth didn’t move, but I heard his reply just the same. “Yes. And no.”

The bubble of hope expanding in my chest popped. What did that mean?

I had to secure this job as his sanguine partner.

I’d made a sacred vow to my coven, and even though I had no concept of what I was getting myself into, the fact remained.

I might be a witch without magick, good for nothing but tending the gardens and feeding the crows.

But I had to be better—different—than the girl I’d been if there was any hope of avenging Gran and the countless others who’d died at the hands of dark magick.

The vampires had failed to maintain the balance of good and evil.

I had to become a spy.

The vampire broke eye contact, and my senses screamed back to life. The music. The chatter. My sister beside me. It returned so fast that I was dizzy all over again.

“I told you not to look,” my little sister said through her teeth. She fluttered the fan faster, blowing the fine hairs framing my face so they caught in my eyelashes.

“Telling someone not to look is daring them to do it,” I bit back, tearing the fan from her hand. “And stop waving this thing in my face.”

A swell of guilt rose in my throat. I wasn’t mad at Sera. I was just… nervous. Something I couldn’t afford to be.

I untangled a lock of silver lilac hair from my lashes only to find the Duke of Roselyn chuckling like he’d heard our whispered conversation from across the hall.

I swallowed hard. If he could speak to me from across the ballroom and distort the noises of the guests, then surely, he could hear everything.

A good thing to know for someone who wished to deceive a vampire.

Clasping his hands behind his back, the vampire strolled toward the set of ebony-stained doors he’d pointed to, casually shrugging off the questions of those around him. He glanced back and gave an encouraging, beckoning me forward. The look on his face was curious, but I was wary.

I didn’t want to follow him. I was scared of what might happen. But at the exact same time, it was all I wanted to do. There was no room for fear.

“I have to go,” I told my sister.

My attention drifted over her shoulder to the dais. If I impressed him during the interview, I’d be summoned before the court to complete the sanguination ritual. Whatever that meant. Mama was scant on the details. All I knew was that there was no turning back once the contract was made.

I would be his for the next year. And he would be mine to spy on.

I took one step forward, and Seraphina blocked my path, hands planted on her hips. She looked so different without her white hair, which she’d charmed to match my lilac hue as a disguise before arriving.

“Why are you acting so weird? You can’t start freaking out now. You vowed—”

“Shh!” I said, silencing her before she could say something to give us away. I opened the fan and held it between us, blocking our faces from the vampire. “I can’t explain what just happened, but he spoke inside my head and invited me to the balcony.”

“He spoke inside your head?” she repeated.

I could feel the Duke’s attention through the thin black paper fan. Something told me he wasn’t accustom to waiting. “I think he wants to interview me.” Her bow-shaped lips parted. Clearly, she was just as surprised as I was. “Wait here for me, okay?”

She gently took the fan and folded it, then playfully tapped the side of my cheek. “You can do this, Claire. I know you can. Just be confident.”

I offered her a wry smile. “Thanks, Sera.”

My little sister was everything I wasn’t. A witch born with the Magick of the Light in her veins. One of Diana’s chosen daughters. Trained to hunt the sources of dark magick on earth and destroy them. She’d take over our family coven when Mama stepped aside.

I wanted to protect her from the Dark Witches. The same ones our vampire monarchs had never held accountable for murdering innocent Witches of the Light.

I hated Prince Bastien Allard and his brothers for what they were and what they failed to do.

But if I wanted to learn his secrets, I had to pretend that I was entranced by him, like the rest of these soft humans fawning for the right to be his pincushion.

Straightening my spine and rolling my shoulders back, I strode across the ballroom with slow, deliberate strides, trying not to trip over the hem of the black lace gown.

At my approach, the vampire opened one of the doors and held it for me.

I lingered at the threshold just long enough to meet his curious gaze.

Like the other vampires, he wore a ceremonial black frock coat with gold trim that made him appear dark and severe.

But the Duke added something extra—a black leather holster that cut across his muscled chest. Nestled against it was a jeweled dagger.

It was the kind of weapon you wore not for battle, but as a statement. A promise. I found myself wondering what kind of promise he meant to keep with it here, at a ball thrown in his honor.

Before I lost my nerve, I dipped my chin and stepped out into the cool night air.

Wind kissed the exposed skin on my cheeks and arms, and I resisted the urge to wrap myself in a hug as I walked to the stone railing that overlooked Chateau Corbin’s famous hanging gardens.

They were surely beautiful in the light of day, but now, in the dark, the bushes and trees looked as monstrous as the gargoyles sitting atop the buttresses.

As monstrous as my midnight companion.

I didn’t hear his approaching steps, but I felt him standing behind me. It was as unsettling as walking in a graveyard at night. If the gravestones intended to drain your blood.

On the weeklong voyage to the capital, I’d devoured every scrap of information Mama had packed on the vampires, but didn’t learn much.

Rumors more than facts. Save for the bit about their diet.

I’d never seen one up close before, much less been interviewed by one, but I imagined that a vampire would want someone soft and sweet to feed from.

Unfortunately, I’d never been either of those things, preferring plants and books to people. But I supposed there was a first time for everything.

Steeling my nerve and fighting against every reflex in my body screaming to run, I turned around, coming face to face with the Duke of Roselyn. The moon was a spotlight on him, bathing him in an eerie glow. What I knew about him I didn’t like, but what I didn’t know held my curiosity.

“Your Grace,” I said, dipping into a curtsy.

When I lifted my chin, I found him contemplating me with a strange look. He shifted his weight, leaning heavily on the head of his cane, which looked much more ornamental than functional. I held my breath in my chest.