Page 13 of Married to the Vampire Prince

I didn’t want to be a puzzle to him.

“What’s the real reason you’re here so early, hm?” Luke asked when I didn’t reply.

My first instinct was to lie to him. Luke was my best friend though. It wasn’t right to lie to friends.

“I’m fond of my wife,” I admitted. That much was the truth.

“And?” Luke arched his eyebrows.

He knew there was more to the story.

I furrowed my brows and scratched my head. Vampires didn’t get headaches, but if I could have, then now – when my best friend was questioning me – was when it would have happened.

Luke continued looking at me with a sparkle in his eyes, waiting patiently for me to speak.

I found it hard to tell the truth. “And I don’t want to be fond of my wife,” I finally admitted.

Luke laughed out loud, throwing his head back and slapping his hands on his knees. “I knew this was going tohappen from your first reaction to her picture,” he said when he finally stopped with his mad laughter. He wiped tears from the corners of his eyes. “You did rather like that woman. I just didn’t think you would… develop feelings so soon.”

“These are not feelings,” I said seriously.

“Sure they’re not,” Luke winked at me.

I shook my head. “Not in the sense you mean. I like the way she looks, our chemistry is great, the blood is delicious. But… that’s the extent of what I’m feeling.”

“These feelings are a great foundation for a loving marriage,” Luke said. “I can’t have a ‘loving marriage’ with so many enemies around,” I finally voiced my greatest fear. “They would stop at nothing to kill her.”

“Ahh,” my best friend prolonged the sound as my meaning sunk in for him. “So that’s what you’re worried about. Don’t you think we can protect her, though?”

“There have been so many assassination attempts on my mother, and she’s a vampire. Grace is just a human. I shouldn’t have picked her to be my wife in the first place,” I mumbled, my frown deepening.

Yet, the thought of not having Grace as my wife unsettled me. It would mean she would be married to someone else – a reality I hated imagining.

“But you did and you married her, and now you have to deal with everything that’s going to come,” Luke said, dropping his smile. His tone was matter-of-fact now – serious.

I gave him my full attention. He was speaking as my spymaster now, not my funny best friend.

“You needed to marry a human with ruby blood. You chose Grace because you were drawn to her. Now stop fretting. You have so many good people working for you. Just give the order to protect your wife at all times, and she’ll never even know if there are attempts on her life,” Luke said.

“I just… hate to have pulled her into this world so suddenly. She understands nothing about vampire politics, about the danger she’s going to be in as the princess. There’s a vast amount she doesn’t know – history, etiquette, dancing. She will have to learn so much and so quickly. Just because I took a liking to her and–”

“Are you seriously saying you expect her to be unhappy living the life of a princess? With you by her side and all the riches she’ll have access to? Damn, Silas, she’s going to live the dream of so many women of Estone,” Luke frowned at me.

I shook my head. “Maybe the part about being rich and important is a dream of many women, but… I’m not the ideal husband candidate.”

“There you go again with belittling yourself. I wouldn’t be your best friend if I didn’t enjoy your company. Grace will grow to like you too, and she will learn all the things she needs to know to be a princess – just give her time,” Luke tapped his hand on his knee. “Sure, if you picked a woman from one of the Families, she would already know the things that are needed to be a princess. But what’s done is done.”

“Yes, the twenty Families with humans who are most likely to have ruby blood teach their members the skills needed to fit into vampire society. Grace, on the other hand, was not born into a Family. She’s a simple shopkeeper's daughter,” I pointed out.

“She’s not stupid though, right?” Luke smiled.

A soft smile appeared on my lips. “Far from it.”

“Then she’s going to learn everything she needs to know soon enough. She will get the best tutors. Just support her on her journey. I don’t think you’re going to regret your choice of a wife.”

I looked down at my hands, imagining Grace growing into a princess, complete with all the skills she would need to becomequeen. I could see her shining, no longer a diamond in the rough but a sparkling precious jewel.

She had accepted me as her husband, and she really would become the best wife.

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