by Leigh Walker
He turned to face the crowd, his hand never leaving mine—probably because he thought, correctly, that I would try to make a run for it. “It is with great honor that I announce my choice, Lady Victoria, who hails from Margate!”
The applause was less enthusiastic as the villagers eyed me, the stranger who’d laid claim to their prince. No doubt some of them were disappointed that their favorite candidate hadn’t been chosen. Perhaps some of them were put off by my flaming-crimson gown. The tall girl with the toffee curls sniffed as the prince led me down the platform to the center. She wrinkled her nose as we passed, as if she smelled something putrid.
But Dominic seemed oblivious to both her angry stare and the general apathy of the crowd. He beamed as he brought me toward his parents. “Father and Mother, this is Lady Victoria.” He put his arm around my shoulders. “I hope you both wish us good tidings.”
I felt like a trout caught on a fishing hook, being introduced to the people eager to pan-fry me.
“Good tidings and many blessings,” said the queen.
“Splendid. Congratulations,” said the king. But his smile looked strained as he eyed the dejected-looking girls on either side of us as well as the hushed crowd. “D’you think we should do something to cheer the others up?”
“Absolutely. I’ve made preparations,” the queen said smoothly. She stepped forward on the platform. “Guards! Bring out the caskets of our finest wine.” Eyes, shining, she raised her hands to the crowd, and they warmly cheered in response. “We must celebrate the prince’s choice, which binds our family to yours. The royals love our people so much, we will enter into an everlasting union with you. We shall have a toast in the happy couple’s honor.”
She turned back to me, and I was again momentarily transfixed by her beauty. “I am very pleased that my son has chosen you, and look forward to getting to know you better. Please excuse me for a moment while I meet with the other girls to give them my gratitude and blessings. They’ve much to be proud of.”
The queen clearly knew how to please the crowd. The audience watched, spellbound, as she met with each of the girls. She approached the candidates one by one and hugged them, holding them tight and whispering in their ears. The young women looked at her in worship. After Her Highness kissed the brunette’s hand, the girl clasped it to her chest and began to cry. The queen spoke to each candidate for several minutes, and she seemed to be intent on getting to know them, maintaining eye contact and making several of the girls laugh. Her Highness was a natural politician. I glanced at Dominic, wondering if he’d inherited more from his mother than just her good looks.
By the time she had comforted all of the candidates, the casks of wine had been brought out. Liveried servants poured glasses and handed them out to the villagers as they lined up. Several servants brought goblets to the contestants, and also to us. The mood in the crowd lightened, the feeling of jubilance returning. Even the rejected candidates seemed cheered by the queen’s generous efforts toward them, along with the offer of a toast.
Dominic, who hadn’t taken his arm off of my shoulder, winked at me over his glass. “Cheers to my new bride. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.” He laughed at some private joke he had with himself while I stared.
“I don’t think any of this is funny.” Especially the part when your eyes flashed. I refused to think about it, especially while he was so close. I would mull it over later, when I was alone and I could properly fall apart.
“Someday we’ll have a laugh about it. And until then”—he leaned in closer, and his breath trailed over my neck, making me shiver—“we’ll get to know each other a bit better. No need to rush things, eh?”
“You proposed after talking to me for less than one minute,” I reminded him, careful to keep my voice low. “That seems like rushing, if you ask me.”
“I didn’t need longer than that, my lady.” The teasing tone left his voice. “I know you. I know who you are. You do me a great honor by accepting me.”
“But you don’t know me. You can’t.” I looked around to make sure no one could overhear us. The king was talking to a nearby guard, and the queen was with another candidate. “And speaking of ‘can’ts’? We can’t get married. This is insane!”
“You should try to calm down.” He gave me a long look. “My advice? Keep your eye on the ball, Lady Victoria from Margate.”
Through clenched teeth, I said, “I’m not from Margate, Your Highness. And I can’t marry you.”
“I understand your position, but…that’s not the ball I’m referring to.” Dominic arched an eyebrow. “In this case, the ball in question means stay alive. Let’s focus on that, shall we?”
My hand went unintentionally to my throat.
He leaned closer. “It would be best if we forgot about the can’ts of the world, my lady. Think about how you came to the kingdom in the first place. Can’ts do not apply here. And if you have to marry me in order to stay alive, marry me you will.”
We looked at each other for a moment, and a strange feeling passed over me. It was like dêjà vu but stronger. He knows where I’m from and how I got here. Of course he did. He’d been out there on his horse, canvassing the forest for me, and he’d been outside my window in the middle of the night.
His dark gaze raked over me, a mixture of emotions I didn’t understand playing out on his handsome face. After a moment, I looked away, my own feelings too intense and incomprehensible to process.
Finished with the candidates, the queen raised her glass. Dominic tightened his arm around me.
“A toast,” she called, her voice carrying over the crowd as they settled in to listen with rapt attention. “To my son, His Highness Dominic Allard, as he prepares to become a formal member of the royal court. And to his chosen candidate, Lady Victoria from Margate. Please join me in wishing them a blessed union and great happiness. Hear! Hear!”
We all raised our glasses then drank. The red wine, warm and robust, soothed me.
The queen raised her glass again. “These two will be married by the month’s end, when the moon is once again full. Then, finally, the royals and the devoted of the kingdom will be one family, for all eternity!”
The crowd cheered jubilantly. “To the happy couple! To the king and queen!”
Dominic smiled as he tipped back his glass.
I did the same, but this sip tasted bitter.
We lined up in a processional and followed the guards, first down the stairs then in an orderly fashion over the drawbridge. The crowd gaped at me as I marched. I felt as though they were trying to memorize every detail of my appearance, from the top of my head to my muddied ballet flats. Dominic released me but was careful to stay close. I didn’t see Anthony anywhere in the crowd. Knowing him, I figured he was ready to spring out, fangs bared, if I made one wrong move.
As we left, I caught one last glimpse of the tall girl. She scowled as she watched us leave the village, and I wished we could trade places. I would rather eat goat every day for the rest of my life than get married to a stranger. And not just any stranger but one whose eyes had supernaturally flashed and who’d told me my one duty in this strange land was to stay alive.
Shuddering, I forced the thoughts away as we crossed the bridge over the murky moat. I thought I spied a set of eyes looking up at me from the water and turned my gaze straightforward. Must not lose it. Must find a way out of here. No matter what lurked inside the moat, no matter what the prince and his family were, I had to stay in control of myself. That was the only way to survive whatever was going to happen to me next.
I kept in step with the royals as we crossed the threshold, studying the king’s and queen’s backs as we marched. Guards pulled the drawbridge’s ropes, and the bridge groaned as it rose behind us. I briefly shut my eyes as it clanged shut. It felt final somehow, the bars being closed on my jail cell.
The prince leaned toward me. “Here we are. Welcome to the royal compound.”
I opened my eyes and blinked at the land
scape. If it was a cage, it was a gilded one. Gone were the muddy walkways and dreary tenement buildings of the village. The cleanly swept path opened on a large, magnificent garden. Immaculate trails curved through the shrubbery and flowers, which were intermixed with manicured green lawns and marble statues. The castle was at the far end of the garden, its gray-stone towers stretching high into the sky, purple flags whipping in the breeze. I’d expected to be overwhelmed by seeing it so close, but the beautiful grounds almost eclipsed the grand structure.
The queen turned and found me gaping. “I hope you enjoy your new home,” she said kindly. “I know it can be quite a shock to see it up close for the first time.”
“T-Thank you. It’s beautiful.” I followed the procession through the garden, marveling at the different hues of flowers—purples, reds, and deep pinks. I breathlessly eyed the statues, hoping to find a clue to my captor’s heritage. But the figures were of humans from an era long ago, lords and ladies dressed in flowing togas. A large fountain, held up by three female statues, bubbled in the middle of the garden.
I paused before it, listening to the water gurgle from the marble spouts. “This is incredible.” The words, far too conversational and sincere for the situation, tumbled from my mouth before I could stop them.
Dominic nodded. “It is, indeed.” He turned to look at me, keeping his voice low. “But don’t be fooled. The castle has its charms, but it can be a very cold place.”
I looked at him sharply. He only shook his head, and I sensed he wouldn’t say more. We quickly rejoined the others, walking in silence for another minute.
“We will take our leave now,” the king said.
He and the queen stopped then bowed.
The queen nodded at her son. “Dominic, please see Lady Margate safely to her quarters. You might give her a tour of the grounds, but keep it brief.”
A look I didn’t understand passed between them before she turned her attention to me. “We are very grateful that you’ve accepted our son’s proposal. Please join us this evening at dinner. I’ll have the maids prepare an appropriate gown, and you can see what life is like at the castle.”
With another exchange of bows, they left us. The guards followed them, leaving Dominic and me alone.
“Let’s stay here a moment”—the prince motioned to the garden—“and give them a wide berth while we can.”
It was a relief to have the king and queen gone. Neither of them had been unpleasant, but I felt like a marionette when I was near them, bowing and nodding and being forced into marrying their son and having dinner with them. “Your parents seem…nice,” I offered. I wasn’t sure if they were nice or not, but I was pretty excited that they hadn’t tried to drink my blood.
“Nice isn’t the word I would choose.” The prince raked a hand through his hair as he watched his parents enter the castle followed by their armed entourage.
“Well, they were at least civil.” Since I was alone with the prince, I vowed to get as much information from him as I could. “But I can’t believe they actually want you to marry me. Not only am I a commoner, but they know nothing about me.”
His face darkened. “They don’t need to know anything about you. They don’t care about who you are.”
My brow furrowed. “But if we got married, wouldn’t I be the princess? Wouldn’t I live here?”
“Yes, of course. But they care as much about that as they care about the weather or what the peasants season their goat with. Our engagement is nothing but a symbol, something to satisfy the masses while my mother conducts her business both here and abroad.”
“They don’t care who you marry? Don’t they want you to be happy?” My mother would be horrified at the ‘proposal’ the prince had given me and would argue that I should be with someone who valued me for who I was, not what I looked like in a snug-fitting, borrowed dress. She would agree with me—the Trade had been no better than a meat raffle. Now I was the ham hock sent home with the lucky winner, His Highness. Or perhaps I was the supposed winner, and the prince was the ham hock?
It didn’t matter. I didn’t even like ham.
“Happy?” Dominic laughed, breaking my reverie. “What on earth does happiness have to do with it? My parents don’t even know what that means. My mother doesn’t care about feelings. She cares about order and her place at the top of that order.”
“I don’t understand.”
He sighed. “The ceremony is a farce. The Trade is something we do as a window dressing, a bait and switch, an advertisement for sordid goods. The young women wear their gowns, and the villagers wager on their favorites. The queen talks about the famine and our union with the citizens and blah, blah, blah. But what we’re really doing is accepting a pretty new blood slave into our existing stable and buying the blind goodwill of the people with a couple of sacks of grain and some half-starved livestock.”
I coughed, a spluttering sound. “Did you say ‘blood slave’?”
Dominic chuckled. “You’re the newest addition. Didn’t you know? The fact that we’ll be married only means the rest of them might ask before trying to have a taste of you. Might.” He shook his head and looked at the ground.
My mouth dropped open. I’d wanted the truth, but… No, I didn’t. I took it back.
He looked back up at me. “Speechless, are you? I shouldn’t have dropped it on you like that. I never learn.”
I waited until I felt like my mouth might work. “I’m a blood slave now? Am I on the menu for dinner?”
Dominic’s dark gaze searched mine. “Not tonight,” he said softly. “But the other girls will be there. My parents don’t like to hide their ways in their own home.”
My whole body jittered. “You mean they don’t like to hide what they are.”
“That’s right. What they are… What I am.” He watched me. “Do I frighten you, my lady?”
“I’m very afraid of what you just told me,” I blurted out. I didn’t want to see the royals drinking from blood slaves at dinner. “Will you do it too? Drink from the slaves?”
He shook his head. “I refuse to drink from them—that’s one of the reasons my parents support this marriage. They’re worried my diet of donated blood is making me go soft and that I’m not indoctrinated enough to fight for our family, our kind. That’s where you come in. You’ll be a constant food source for me, one that I’m committed to. They hope it will change me, I suppose.”
“I’m sorry?” I couldn’t understand him. His words swam in front of me, making no sense.
The prince stared at the castle, a grim look on his face. “Not as sorry as I am.”
11
Special
Dominic sighed. “I’m forgetting myself—it’s just that I’ve longed to talk to…someone…for so long, I’m afraid I’m unloading a bit. You must be exhausted from all your travels. Let me bring you to your chambers.”
He started down the garden path, and I shakily hustled to keep up, my head brimming with the things he’d said. I eyed another stone building much smaller than the castle, across a field near a small pond.
“Am I staying in there?” I asked, motioning to the building.
He stared straight ahead. “That’s where the sacrifices live. You’re not to go there—I don’t want you near the other girls. Your quarters are in the castle, where I can better keep an eye on you. I had to fight my parents for that. They wanted you to live with the other slaves before the wedding so you learned your place.”
“Why don’t you want me to go near the other sacrifices?”
“They’re no longer right in the head, in my opinion.” Dominic frowned. “Being a human pincushion will do that to you.”
I stopped walking, feeling sick. “How many human women live here?”
He stopped as well. “The first Trade was thirty-five years ago. We have twenty-nine humans now.”
I grimaced. “So not all of them lived.”
“Some of them died, it’s true. But most of those missing are vampire
s now.”
I swallowed hard. “Was that their choice?”
“For some.” He frowned. “For others, it was a last resort. Their human life was in danger. My mother had them turned in order to save them.”
“Your mother—you keep talking about her as if she’s the one running the show. What about your father?”
“My father does what she says, for fear of setting her off. He would rather hunt in the woods and drink the blood of wild boar than have a guest home filled with blood slaves. It’s my mother who wants an infrastructure, a homestead, a system. She enjoys her crown. She also enjoys lording her sovereignty over the citizens of the kingdom, watching them grovel at her feet as she plucks their beautiful young maidens from the only life they’ve ever known. Basking in her power is one of her favorite pastimes.”
I shivered. “You make her sound quite diabolical.” That image didn’t match what I’d seen of the queen at the ceremony, when she’d comforted the candidates and freely shared her fine wine with the commoners.
“She’s not driven by evil. It’s just… Her ambition knows no bounds.” He laughed, but it sounded hollow. “She’s like the castle grounds. Beautiful beyond measure but dangerous, with a bit of an upkeep. Looks can be deceiving, you know.”
I eyed the handsome prince. “I’m aware of that.”
He laughed again, this time with some warmth. “Aw, come now. You don’t have to be afraid of little old me.”
“You’re hardly little.” I eyed his six-foot-three frame. “And you’re wrong. I absolutely should be afraid of you. Because you’re…”
He arched an eyebrow, waiting for me to say it out loud.
“A vampire.” The word tasted funny on my lips.
We stared at each other for a moment.
Dominic shrugged. “And you’re a witch.”
“I beg your pardon?”
He leaned closer, his scent wafting over me, something spicy, earthy, and delicious. “I said if I’m a vampire, then you’re a witch.”