Chapter 1
I had been a lowly blood thrall for the Blackwood Coven for five years.
The Lord, Victor Blackwood, slit my wrist in front of everyone and fed my blood to his new lover. "A mongrel without being embraced is only fit to be Vivienne's nourishment."
I didn't struggle.
Amid the laughter of the vampires, I took my last breath.
A hundred years later, at the Supreme Council of the Night Union.
A pureblood vampire, crowned with dark red thorns, pushed open the heavy doors.
All the lords dropped to their knees. It was the Ancient, concealed for a millennium.
The Ancient lifted her black veil.
Victor's crimson eyes instantly widened in shock.
It was her.
On the Ancient's flawless neck, a one-of-a-kind golden sigil blazed like fire.
"Your Highness..." Victor dropped to his knees, shattering the marble beneath him, his voice trembling.
With a lazy twirl of her scepter, the Ancient's gaze turned to ice. "Drag this worthless bat out and hang him."
The Immortality Spell within Victor's heart began to rage out of control.
A hundred years ago, he found that one and only pureblood covenant too filthy to bear and destroyed it himself.
*****
"Elena, come here." Victor's voice was velvet-rich, chilled to the bone.
I bowed my head in submission and made my way through the crowd of perfumed, glamorous vampires, stopping before his throne.
The air was thick with the sickly-sweet blend of old blood and expensive perfume.
Cradled in his arms was his new lover, Vivienne, a stunning human, freshly embraced.
Vivienne fixed me with a defiant stare, her red lips twisting into a merciless smile.
I had been Victor's blood thrall for five whole years. I used to believe he treated me differently.
"Honey, I'm thirsty." Vivienne pouted, her fingers tracing along Victor's chest.
Victor's eyes landed on me, utterly devoid of warmth. He took my hand, and the silver dagger flashed coldly in the candlelight.
The sharp blade sliced through my wrist.
Eager drops of blood spilled, falling straight into Vivienne's hungry, waiting mouth.
I bit down hard on my lip, not letting a single sound escape. The pain in my wrist was nothing compared to the agony tearing through my heart.
"A mongrel without being embraced is only fit to be Vivienne's nourishment." Victor's voice was low, but it rang out clearly across the hall.
Snickers broke out around me. The low-ranking vampires who used to treat me with respect now looked at me with nothing but scorn.
My vision began to blur. Dizziness from blood loss washed over me in waves.
Vivienne licked her lips in satisfaction, and her cheeks tinged with an unnatural blush.
She curled up in Victor's arms like a seductive viper. "Lord Blackwood, her blood is delicious. It's such a pity that it's so filthy."
"Trash like this should be tossed out when it's no longer useful." Victor released my hand, as if he'd touched filth.
I couldn't hold myself up anymore. My body crumpled and I crashed onto the icy marble floor.
Blood still streamed from my wrist, spreading into a vivid, jarring pool across the stone.
I could feel my life draining away, and my body was turning cold.
The music and laughter in the hall felt like background noise from another world—distant, fading into emptiness.
I took one last look at the man on the throne. He was leaning down to kiss Vivienne, his gaze full of tenderness.
That tenderness used to belong to me, too.
Just before everything went black, one thought echoed in my mind. So, I was never truly loved, after all.
*****
I lost all sense of time and thought I was about to sink into eternal nothingness.
But then, a searing heat ignited in my chest, blazing out from my heart and flooding every nerve, every bone in my body.
It was as if I'd been hurled into molten lava. Every inch of skin and every bone inside me was melting and being reforged.
My eyes flew open.
The gilded splendor of Victor's palace was gone. In its place was an ancient underground palace carved from black crystal.
Above, runes of molten gold flowed across the dome, casting a shadowy, regal light over everything.
I looked down at myself.
My hands, once covered in calluses and scars, were now pale and delicate, my nails shimmering with a pearlescent sheen.
The deep, bone-baring wound on my wrist had vanished, and my skin was flawless as if nothing had ever happened.
"You're awake, Your Highness." A deep, respectful voice came from behind me.