Page 23 of Married to the Vampire Prince

I’m sorry, Grace. It’s because of me that you will have to suffer.

Maybe my wife would be alright at the ball? After all, I had received nothing but good reports on her progress. I would have to put my faith in her to succeed in showing our society that she was fit to be a princess.

I wanted to nod at mom, but her attention was already elsewhere. She turned around and walked over to two servants who were decorating the table.

“Do you think having a ball with that war looming on the horizon is the right thing to do?” I asked Luke.

Luke thought for a moment. “Since you’re going to tell the media not to speak about the war just yet, they will need another topic to cover instead. This ball would be a great distraction.”

“I hadn’t considered that benefit, but you’re right, Luke,” I gave him a grateful look.

“I pity your wife, though. Your mother is throwing her to the piranhas so soon.” The piranhas was the term Luke loved to call the vampire nobility.

I chuckled, but the sound was a grim one. “I’m going to do my best to stick to Grace’s side. I’ll help her through the ball.”

“We’ve returned from one battlefield only to find ourselves facing another,” Luke ruffled his hair.

“We have, indeed.”

Chapter Nine

Grace

This is the salad fork… and this one is the dinner fork.

Sweat gathered on my brow as I took account of my cutlery and plates and tried to tune out the overwhelming sounds of the ball happening around me.

The Queen had given me a three-day notice about the Fall Ball, and I had immediately requested to have most of my lessons be in etiquette until then so I could get a solid understanding of which forks, spoons and knives to use during the banquet. Savoir vivre was the area in which I found myself to be most lacking. I had never needed to know the proper way to dine before – getting food into my stomach had never seemed like a complicated action to me.

For a society where vampires ruled – vampires who only drank blood wine at such formal events – the court was oddly attached to ensuring proper table manners for humans.

I glanced down at the table. The only other humans invited to the ball were the vampires’ wives and husbands as well as some representatives of the Families. I took a good look at everyone, trying to match faces to names. I relaxed slightly, becoming aware that my lessons were paying off – I could name most of the important guests, the ones who sat closest to me, with certainty.

I stared down at the knives and forks again as if they offended me. I went over their names and purposes in my head once more.

Silas, who sat to my left, chuckled. “You’ll burn a hole through the utensils if you keep staring at them with such fiery passion.”

I gave him a wide-eyed look. “I wasn’t trying to-”

“You’ll do fine,” his small, charming smile warmed my heart.

I nodded, biting my lip.

Silas’ gaze landed on my lips. He opened his mouth to say something, but the prominent guest on his left, an old lord – William Malberry, I noted – suddenly spoke to him, pulling Silas’ attention away.

I let out a breath I was holding. Exchanging a few words just now was the first real conversation my husband and I had held ever since the morning after consummating our marriage. He still hadn’t come to see me again even once, and whenever I asked the servants about him they simply told me the Prince was busy.

Too busy to see me.

The thought stung. I wasn’t important enough for him to make time to see me.

Why had I hoped the reality of our situation would be any different though? Silas had only married me for my ruby blood. He needed blood daily, but we had never promised that he would partake of my blood only. Jealousy surged in my heart. Did my husband prefer other blood donors to me? Was he… as intimate with them as he had been with me on our first night together?

No, I had no real grounds to suspect my husband was… cheating on me. Besides, even if he did feed on others, it wasn’t really cheating as long as no sex was involved. I shouldn’t be trying to apply my human moral standards to Silas’ actions and desires.

If only I had been born into a Family – then I would have been more prepared to assume the role of Estone’s Princess. Iwas quickly learning, but I still didn’t feel ready to face the court today.

Silas’ mom had other ideas though. “The nobles have been asking to see their Princess,” the cheerfulness in her tone had been undeniable when she had told me about the ball. “We need to show you off.”

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