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Mina woke in a sauna. Shifting beneath her blankets, and furs, she remembered vaguely that the fire had never been put out, and her heavy curtains were still closed, trapping all of that warmth in one place. She’d inadvertently created her own dark cocoon. She knew she should’ve gotten up to remedy it, but her limbs just wouldn’t move. Exhausted from tossing and turning all night, her body simply refused to wake up.
Even as her stomach growled, signaling she’d likely slept through breakfast, she couldn’t even bring herself to care.
It wasn’t until the door to her bedroom opened in the distance that she groaned and squeezed her eyes closed even tighter. Willing the intruder to vanish, she tried to stay as still as—
“AHHHHH!” A female voice let out a shrill scream, and Mina startled, snapping upright in bed, whipping around to see what had caused such a stir.
Mina’s hand instantly fell on the soft petals of a rose. She looked down and her eyes went wide in horror. Surrounding her on the bed, filling up every space she hadn’t been, were roses. Dozens of them, layered on top of each other. Roses the color of blood.
“Princess,” Aria gasped, but when Mina looked up her eyes weren’t on the bed or the roses but the wall above her.
Scrambling from the sheets, Mina turned and sure enough, a blood-red ouroboros had been painted across the white marble.
The guards burst into the room half a heartbeat later. They drew their swords, and then the Captain of the Guard Jamison Hyde swept into the room. His eyes scanned over the space for a threat, his black eyes settled on her for a moment and then went back to the mark on the wall.
“Princess, I believe you should dress. Your father will want to know about this,” he grumbled.
Aria darted to her side and shoved her towards the dressing screen in the corner of the room. “Sit. I’ll get you some clothes.”
“I…I…” The words refused to form. She was marked. She’d been chosen. The vampire king wantedherfor his wife. A singular face floated through her mind. The man from the woods, the vampire from her dreams. Had that been…
“Here,” Aria said, crouching to slip her legs into a pair of pants. “These will have to suffice. I’m sure your father will insist we ret—”
“Ari?” Mina swallowed. “Please tell me I’m dreaming?”
Their gazes met, and Aria’s lower lip trembled as tears gathered in her eyes. “I wish I could.”
Mina closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath. She had to be stronger than this. The vampire king wanted her, but that didn’t mean she had to let him take her. She’d spent most of her early life training, for what, if not for this?
Exhaling, Mina opened her eyes again and stood up, pulling her pants up and fastening her belt. “Alright. Let’s do this.”
“Do what? What do you mean?” Aria asked, helping her trade her sleeping gown for a black shirt, and her favorite corset.
She shook out her hair, and Aira stood behind her quickly braiding it in one long, thick plat. “By the goddess, we’ll have to run, as far from the border as fast as we can.”
“What?” Mina asked as she finished the tie on the end of her hair.
Aria gave her a blank look. “To keep you safe I mean. We’ll have to run.”
Mina shook her head. “No. I’m not running.”
“I…we can’t discuss this now. You’re in shock, and we need to see your father.” Shoving her by the shoulders, Aria turned and forced her toward the door, guiding her around the crowd of gathered soldiers.
“Colton, Ritter. Go with them. Stay close,” the captain of the guard barked behind them as they reached the door. “We don’t know what kind of allies the monster has. He might attack during the day; one cannot be overly cautious when it comes to vampires.”
Mina bit back the protest that rose to her lips, and squared her shoulders, marching in the direction of her father’s chambers on the opposite side of the temple. The King was always kept separate from his family to protect them against any would-be assassins in the night who might want a chance at eliminating an entire royal line.
Though the temple they’d taken residence in wasn’t nearly as large as the one in the city of Dee where they lived. Anyone with half a mind to kill her and her father could do so with ease in these walls. Mina had thought about it many times since they’d arrived. All it would’ve taken was a soft foot and a quick jog from one bedroom to the next.
Colton and Ritter fell into step behind her, but as they moved more and more guards seemed to pool from the inner rooms of the building, filling up the hall. By the time she reached her father’s room, she could barely walk without running into one of them and their clockwork enhanced armor.
Stopping just short of the door, Mina growled under her breath. “This is ridiculous! I can’t even see the room in front of me.”
Aria, who had pressed in close to her shoulder bit her lip and cleared her throat. “They are protecting us, Princess. They are trying to keep you—”
“Safe?” Mina laughed. “If Dracula wants me, stone walls aren’t going to keep him from taking me.”
