Page 50 of Married to the Vampire Prince

Luke huffed. “Isn’t that what being in a real relationship is all about? Sharing honestly and openly together, trusting each other not to turn away when one of you is at their worst?”

“I have no idea. I’ve never been in love before,” I said. “I’ve never been married to a woman that I care for more than myself.”

“You won’t know if Grace’s opinion of you can change again until you tell her everything there is to know about yourself,” Luke said.

I stared out at the plains. The army continued to move. Life went on. I couldn’t remain stuck in this painful place, too worried to explore all my options. There had to be a way out of my current bleak situation with Grace. I should be able to make amends and repair what was broken somehow, right?

I had to have trust in Grace and in myself.

“Alright,” I nodded. “It’s going to be difficult to talk about all my baggage with her. But I will do it.”

Luke chuckled. “Nobody said relationships are easy.”

“You’re right. Still, I’m glad I chose her and that we’re married. I really want Grace in my life,” I said.

“Then let her into your heart for real. Show her your true self, not just glimpses of the good and bad.” Luke smiled.

“For someone who’s unmarried, you sure know a lot about relationships,” I gave him a look.

“My sisters talk to me a lot about their husbands,” Luke laughed out loud. “And I’ve been in relationships. No proper marriage just yet, though.”

“But what if Grace only ends up even more afraid of me after I confess everything to her?” Worry rose in my heart again.

“Then you will at least have the comfort of knowing that you have tried everything in your power to make things right,” Luke sobered up. “You don’t have to speak to her today or tomorrow; prepare your heart first for any possibility. But have faith in her too. She’s not evil. She’s just young and afraid.”

“And human,” I whispered.

“That too. She views the world differently than us. Probably. I’ve never been with a human, so I actually have no idea how they see us. I’ve heard stories, though. Some humans think vampires are excessively violent.”

“And I’ve proven to her that we are.”

“You did,” Luke said. “Your actions didn’t seem excessive to me, but to her they probably were. That’s just a matter of perspective, though. Grace is now a part of vampire society. With time, she will grow to understand us better. She can’t learn though unless you tell her things instead of avoiding her because you’re afraid.”

I paused. Yes, Luke was right. I was scared of further messing up my relationship with Grace, just like how Grace was afraid of me now.

How fitting.

“Your Highness,” a runner came our way.

I gave him my full attention. “What is it?”

“Enemies sighted. There are more of them than usual,” he added.

“Tell the army to get ready to fight,” I gave him the command.

Luke called on the other runners who were on standby, and they took off to relay my orders to the rest of our forces.

“I’m going to go command my flank, then,” Luke nodded at me and ran off as well.

What were our allies doing? How come there were more enemies than expected? Had a part of Rosworth’s forces not gone to where Athalis waited to ambush them after all?

I quickly found out that we were indeed fighting way too many enemies to handle. Despite Luke’s and Thomas’ efforts, our flanks couldn’t hold their ground. The main force, which I commanded, wasn’t faring much better either.

I called for my second-in-command and told him I would be going onto the battlefield myself. There was no other way of evening out the scales of war between our two armies unless I intervened.

Once among my troops, I threw myself into battle, even though I knew my actions would once again prove to Grace that I was indeed the monster others always accused me of being. This was war though – there was no time for hesitation or half-measures. I had to protect my country, my people… and Grace too, who was still in our camp.

As enemies armed with stakes threw themselves at me, I fought them off one by one. Yet fresh troops just kept coming and coming. I quickly lost count of how many lives I took. I didn’t even have headspace to be disgusted with myself. I just continued fighting.

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