Page 112 of Sold to the Dark Vampire Prince

Alex stared at Henri, at the knife pressed to his throat. He thought of Daniela, who would surely be watching, and knew he had no choice.

“I’ll do it.”

Lara smiled, and he was reminded of ice forming at the edges of the windowpanes on the darkest days of winter. She squeezed his hand.

In the depths of her depraved mind, did she actually believe any of this was real? That he could ever want her after she’d tortured and imprisoned him?

“This doesn’t have to be difficult.” Her makeup team approached, applying a fresh touch of powder to her cheeks. The camera crew arranged their hands with the addition of a blanket, so that it looked as if he were merely leaning towards her, wanting to hold her hand with both of his, rather than being held her prisoner.

The fucking irony.

The lights glowed brighter. Lara gave her glossy brown hair one final shake before facing the cameras.

“Alex and I know that you’ve all been very concerned for us the past few days given the news reports that have surfaced. I can now confirm that there was a coordinated terrorist attack carried out against several sites that were bombed throughout the sector. When our intelligence sources began to close in on the aberrant organizers of these attacks, they revealed a shocking discovery.”

Lara looked down, pausing for a moment, and it took every bit of press training Alex had ever been forced to suffer through over the years to keep his face composed for Henri’s sake, rather than throw up.

“These attacks were led by Daniela Girard. She is an aberrant spy whose goal from the start was to insert herself into the royal palace in order to gain access to Alexander and the king. We are fortunate that there weren’t more injuries. Alex and I are asking for the public’s help in finding her. She must be brought to justice before any more lives are threatened.”

Lara turned to him, smiling as she pretended to brush away a tear.

“One blessing has come from this betrayal. Alexander has asked me to be his wife. I will lead the sector forward into a better future as your queen.”

Alexander looked at the knife pressed to Henri’s throat, thought of the tears that must surely be streaming down Dani’s face as she watched.

I’m so sorry. Forgive me.

He bent to kiss Lara’s cheek. “And I couldn’t be happier.”

CHAPTER 18

One Month Later

DANI PUSHED HER PLATE of roast chicken and potatoes away. Cinder, seizing the opportunity, hopped up onto the table with a quiet mrrrow. Evan snatched her up before she could pounce and deposited her back on the floor.

“You’re still feeling sick? Do you need to feed again? I can get Sera to draw more blood.”

“It’s getting better, I think,” Dani lied.

“It’s been a month. You’re sick every day. This doesn’t seem right.”

“It’ll be fine,” she said, pointedly cutting a look in Ava’s direction.

Evan frowned, but went over to the cupboard to pull out the loaf of bread from breakfast that morning. With Lara’s men combing the sector looking for them, they couldn’t risk accessing the money in their accounts, and neither could Sera or Dante.

It was thanks to Finneas that they had a steady supply of fresh food. Every day someone from Thornwood arrived with produce, fresh milk, and loaves of bread that were still warm from the oven and had a nice nutty flavor.

When Dani’s nausea and shakiness had persisted through the first week, Sera had brushed the symptoms off, saying they were to be expected. Her transition to vampirism had been violent. It had taken longer than expected to get blood into her system after being shot.

Sera initially prescribed a schedule of feeding every other day for the first two weeks, from Evan, who she could take blood from without the risk of addiction due to them being sisters, and from her and Dante as well. When that hadn’t helped, she’d asked Finneas to increase their daily allotment of meat, cheeses and nuts, thinking that lack of protein was the problem.

Now a month had passed. She could see Sera was worried the change wasn’t taking, and was at a loss for what to do, even if she refused to admit it.

“Mom texted me again today,” Ava said, scooping up Cinder and burying her face in her soft gray fur. “She asked where I was.”

Dani exchanged a worried glance with Evan. “You didn’t say anything, right? Remember, we talked about this.”

“No, I get why we can’t tell her right now.” Ava’s voice went wobbly.