Page 54 of Sold to the Dark Vampire Prince

“But won’t that just increase the craving?”

She thought of her stepmother Nadine and her struggle with blood addiction. In the last months before she’d finally moved out, it had gotten so awful that her hands would shake constantly. She’d been unable to sleep, pacing the kitchen at all hours of the night as if desperate to keep herself from going out onto the streets in search of her next fix.

“When a vampire finds a human whose blood calls to them like this, there are only two outcomes.”

“Which are?” Dani’s stomach had begun to hurt. Evan gripped her hand.

“The vampire must either get mated to their blood bonded, or—” Serafina hesitated, not quite able to look at her.

Dani tensed, sensing she wasn’t going to like the answer.

“Or what?” Evan demanded. “Spit it out.”

“Or the human has to die.”

The room fell silent. And then—

“That’s not an option,” Alexander growled.

“I wasn’t implying it was.” Sera held up both hands. “I’m just giving you the information I’ve been able to pull so far, which to be fair, is very limited because this is a rare phenomenon. The binding ritual would have to be completed, typically within the next several moon cycles, before the blackouts and feeding urges overwhelm either of you.”

“So it’s going to get worse?” Dani asked.

“Very likely.”

“What’s involved with the binding ritual?” Alex paced across their small kitchen.

“You would need to formally take each other as mates.” Sera hesitated. “And that would require Dani to be turned.”

“Do humans ever survive being turned?” Dani’s fingers found the vein at her throat. “I thought it was outlawed because there were so many deaths.”

“It’s a risk. Turning a human poses nearly a twenty percent fatality rate. It’s dependent on the strength of the blood of the vampire who is turning them, and the health of the human host. We don’t actually have data on what percentage of turnings carried out under ideal conditions might result in survival because often the circumstances are less than ideal.”

“Forced turnings, you mean,” Evan said.

“Yes.”

“This entire conversation is a nonstarter since we all know Father is forcing me to marry Lara,” Alex said tiredly. “What are our other options? There has to be a way to sever the bond.”

Sera shook her head. “If there is, I’m not aware of it.”

“Find another way,” he growled. “It’s my fault Dani’s family is in danger. We have to get her disentangled from this mess that is my palace-scripted tele-drama so she and her sisters can return to their regular lives.”

“Fine, but I need time to figure out how to get the mark removed. We’re putting pressure on Father to stop him from going forward with the marriage contract, but I doubt anything will stop him at this point, short of you disappearing the way I have.”

“And then he’ll just force Dante to marry Lara,” Alex said. “Though I doubt they’d consider him a suitable alternative.”

“If Dante refuses to marry Lara, Isabella will be matched with Luciano Cavalieri, despite him being forty years her senior. They will find a way to marry someone in their family onto the throne, one way or another.”

“Fuck,” Alex muttered. “I should have seen that one coming.”

“The king will use anything he can as a pressure point,” Sera said grimly. “On that note, we should move Dani and her sisters to a safe house until the danger passes.”

“I’m not going.” Evan shook her head. “I can take care of myself.”

“At least let me assign Henri to protect you,” Alex said. “If not for your sake, then for Ava’s. I don’t like this, but I think Sera’s right. With Dani at the castle, I’ll be able to better protect her while we figure out how to erase the binding marks.”

Dani touched the strange collection of swirls at her wrist, and saw Alex close his eyes, softly exhaling. Every time she grazed the mark linking them, it was as if an invisible tether between them pulled taut.