Chapter 1
In my past life, I formed a Blood Bond with the Vampire Prince. I took a hunter's silver blade for him, hid his identity for him, and knelt before the Elder Council for three days and three nights on his behalf.
The night he ascended the Blood Throne, he pushed me into the sacrificial pool with his own hands.
He said, "Vera, your blood can make me a true king. Didn't you always say you'd give everything for me?"
When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the rainy night he first begged me for help.
He lay beneath my window, a silver arrow buried in his chest, his pale fingers clutching the hem of my skirt.
"Please, save me."
In my past life, I slit my wrist and fed him my blood.
In this life, I looked down at him and gently pulled my skirt free.
"Sorry, Your Highness."
"I don't want to get dirty."
*****
Black rain was falling over Mistport when I stood by the window, polishing a silver blade.
The blade reflected my face.
Seventeen. Dark hair, grey eyes, pale skin. My wrist was clean—no trace of the dark red mark a Blood Bond leaves behind.
I stared at my wrist for a long time, until a dull thud came from below.
In my past life, I would have rushed downstairs in a panic.
Because the one who'd collapsed beneath my window was Lucien, the Vampire Prince.
He'd been hunted by the Hunter's Guild, a silver arrow lodged in his chest, drenched in blood—yet still beautiful, like a defiled icon.
He looked up at me with those dark crimson eyes and said weakly:
"Vera, only you can save me."
Back then, I was just the daughter of an ordinary apothecary in Mistport.
No—more precisely, I was the orphan of a hunter bloodline, hidden away in my adoptive father's shop.
I didn't know how precious my blood was, or why Lucien happened to collapse beneath my window.
I thought it was fate.
So I saved him.
I pulled out the silver arrow, slit my wrist, and fed him my blood.
Three days later, he woke, kissed the back of my hand, and said:
"You saved my life. From now on, my life belongs to you."
I believed him.
Later, when the vampire elders hunted him, I hid him.
When the Hunter's Guild found his trail, I led them away.
He needed the Blood Bond to stabilize his power, so I gave him my blood.
He wanted to reclaim his title as prince, so I followed him into vampire territory and endured every humiliation before the Elder Council.
I knelt on the cold black stone floor, listening to those highborn vampires mock me:
"A human, standing beside the Prince? How laughable."
Lucien didn't help me up.
He said, "Vera, just bear it a little longer. Once I take the throne, you'll be the vampires' one and only queen."
So I endured.
I endured until the very end—until he truly wore the Blood Crown.
But on the night of the Blood Moon, I walked toward him in a white wedding gown, thinking he was about to keep his promise.
Instead, he slit my wrist and pushed me into the sacrificial pool.
As the blood-red water rose past my chest, I heard him say softly:
"Vera, don't blame me."
"Vampires don't need a human queen."
"But they do need your blood."
I died to the sound of his coronation bells.
When I opened my eyes again, I was back on that rainy night in Mistport.
Lucien lay beneath my window, exactly as before.
"Please..."
He reached out and grabbed the hem of my skirt.
"Save me."
I looked down at him.
Rain slid off the eaves, plastering his silver hair to his face. The silver arrow was buried deep in his chest, blood seeping through his black coat and pooling dark red on the ground.
He was beautiful.
Even on the edge of death, he still carried that fragile, aristocratic grace.
That same fragile grace had fooled me for an entire lifetime.
I crouched down.
A flicker of relief crossed Lucien's eyes.
He thought I'd go soft, just like before.
But I only reached out, took hold of the hand gripping my skirt, and pried his fingers open one by one.
"Your Highness," I said quietly.
"The hunters are closing in. If you don't leave now, you never will."
Lucien froze.
He probably hadn't expected a girl who'd never met him to address him by his title.
"How do you know who I am?"
I smiled.
Then I stood and shut the window.
From outside came his stifled breathing.
He was fighting the pain.
In my past life, every time he breathed like that, I'd lose all reason in my panic.
In this life, I just thought the rain sounded lovely.
Moments later, hounds bayed in the distance.
A squad of hunters moved through the alley, silver lanterns raised.
"Blood trail over there!"
"The silver arrow hit him—he can't have gotten far!"
I blew out my lamp and stood in the darkness.
Lucien didn't beg again.
He dragged his badly wounded body into the rain-soaked night and vanished.
I knew he wouldn't die.
A Vampire Prince doesn't die that easily.
In my past life, he'd used me to survive.
In this life, without me, someone else would save him.
But from tonight on, he would never get my first drop of blood.
Never get my mercy.
Never get the Blood Bond that could make him king of all vampires.