Page 5 of Forced Vampire Mate

I was Elara Tideborne, and I would save my sister.

Chapter 3

The sound of the orchestra was still playing as I slipped through the halls of the palace. Guests and servants were everywhere, making it difficult to evade them all, but I finally reached the gardens.

Despite the night still being young, I was exhausted. The cool gardens, with their soft lights, provided a respite from the crowds of people who kept telling me what a good match I was. The ones that pressed their congratulations on me as though they were bestowing me a great favor. The ones that simpered and fluttered around Luken like moths on the flame.

Worse were the women who made no secret of the way they were throwing themselves at him. It was clear from all their behavior that Luken wasn’t expected to stay faithful to his new human wife.

DidIexpect him to be faithful? I wasn’t sure. I didn’t want to care if he did or not… but I knew in my bones that if he slept with anyone else, it would devastate me. Despite everything that was between us… or maybe because of it. I just wanted one thing I could actually trust him with. But I didn’t know him.

How could I trust him when I didn’t know him? All I wanted from Luken was safety, to feel like I had someone in my corner who could take care of me.

“Elara?” a voice whispered behind me.

I jumped and turned. Thessa crept in the shadows, flitting closer to me. I could barely make out her face in the glow from her brown eyes. Relief washed through me, and I rushed over to her, pulling her into a tight hug. I wasn’t sure either of us could sneak away from the party when I’d whispered for her to meet me here.

“Did you get everything we need?” I asked anxiously.

Thessa nodded. “It was difficult to sneak past the guards, but I was able to do it in my panther form. Once they find it missing, though, they’ll be able to smell I was the one who took it all.”

She passed me a small rucksack. Inside was a dagger, a canteen, and several packs of dried food. The item that she had just taken for me tonight was a map of the kingdom. Not just any map that you could buy on a corner of the city, but one that was magically enhanced. It would show us where we were at any given time and map our route to where we were going, like a GPS.

The location of the temples was a highly guarded secret, but the vampires who collected the tributes had to have a means of getting them to the temples. And this map was exactly how they did it. It was the most vital of all the supplies we’d been building the last few weeks. Even my staff, my weapon of choice, wasn’t as important as this square of paper.

“And you have weapons for yourself?” I asked her.

She nodded. “I told Marissa that I didn’t feel safe in my room and that I wanted to keep a staff with me.”

Her words made me release a short breath. “Are you safe in your room?”

She flashed me a smile. “Oh, yes. Very safe. The king told me right from the start that if anyone tried to mess with me, I was to tell him or Marissa, and they’d deal with whoever was making my life difficult. The other vampires might not be happy with me being around, but they all know I’m under the king’s protection.”

My heart fluttered at her words, though I tried to push it aside.

“We’ll have to wait until the newness of the marriage wears off,” I murmured, looking up at Thessa. “You’ll have to come to my room tonight so we can make plans for getting out of here.”

“On your wedding night?” Thessa asked doubtfully.

My stomach clenched as I shook my head. “Yes, on my wedding night. Luken already knows that I’m not receptive to him. He won’t come to my room tonight. We’ll have privacy.”

Would he take one of the gorgeous women from the party to his room? I hated this feeling of jealousy, of uncertainty. I didn’t want to care if he slept with someone else or not. If Marissa was to be believed, Luken didn’t even look for a bedmate in the past four years, since he thought I was dead. But it wasn’t as though I could really trust Marissa, either.

Thessa’s fingers brushed against my hand. I flinched back out of instinct, rolling to the balls of my feet as I prepared to defend against an attack. She flinched in response, harder than I had, and bit her lip.

I let out a shaky breath. “Sorry. This whole wedding business just has me on edge.”

“Um, that’s what I wanted to ask you about,” Thessa said uncertainly. “Are you certain you want to do this? Especially with the wedding…”

I straightened, smoothing down the front of my old-fashioned white dress. “We only have a few months before Darcie is lost to us forever. We have to save her. There’s no other choice here.”

My hands clenched into fists as panic threatened to start swelling in my throat. Four years ago, Luken’s half-brother Greyson killed my parents, all of my family except my younger sister Darcie, and framed Luken for it. I’d nearly died in the attempt, too. It was only because I’d hidden Darcie earlier that she was able to pull me out of the fire that scared me so badly.

Those days were bleak, but even bleaker was when Darcie had been claimed as a tribute to the gods. The last person I had in this world was ripped away from me. I’d spent every moment of the last four years getting stronger and planning how to get her back. I wasn’t going to give up now.

“I don’t want to give up on her, either,” Thessa murmured. “I know that you gave up your chance to save her when you saved me.”

It was true. To win the Blood Trials, I had to stab Thessa through the heart. I killed her, earning myself one wish to be granted. When entering the Trials, it had been my plan to use that wish to save Darcie from being sacrificed. With Thessa’s blood gushing over my hands, I’d instead begged Luken to turn her into a vampire, saving her life.

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