My heart stopped. Vesper took a step forward.
“She made her choice?” Vesper asked, hope and despair threaded in her tone.
Charlotte gave her a pitiful look.
“Yes,” Atlas growled. “And we have to hurry. We have an engagement dinner to catch.”
Aurelia
Iwas screaming inside as I smiled at every single vampire that offered me a congratulatory smile.
I imagined severing their heads from their necks every time they let out that little laugh. I might be smiling and dancing, but inside my mind I was stabbing a sword through their torsos and watching as the blood sprayed over everyone here, ruining their extravagant dresses and suits.
It didn’t help that Adrian had changed the colors of the room. Blacks and golds with red rubies and crystals scattered throughout in a way that made it look like blood had already been spilled. It only made my fantasies that much more realistic.
Vampires were packed into one of our ballrooms, though it didn’t look like one since Adrian had renovated it to make it look like another throne room. He even had a new throne made just for this occasion with a platform just tall enough for him to peer over the crowd and watch everyone.
“Congratulations!” a pair of vampires said as they passed me. I forced myself to give them a proper smile, even as their deaths played out in my mind.
They were all so gross. So fake.
They were there to see the obedient vampire princess marry to help her brother secure a new kingdom. They thought that they had escaped my wrath.
They’re wrong.
And this time, I wasn't waiting for anyone to save me. This time I was the one who was going to take fate into my own hands and force it to its knees in front of me.
My husband-to-be was waiting patiently in the crowd for his debut, the announcement a surprise even to my brother, who was watching over the entire party with a soft smirk.
He thinks I’m under his control.
As if reading my mind, his eyes drifted over to me. He held up a glass of blood to me, so I stopped a waiter as he passed, grabbing one to make a show of toasting him back.
Good little princess,his eyes whispered.
Stupid fucking dickhead,mine hissed.
He thought he was going to be the one announcing my marriage tonight. As if I didn’t know he had already picked my fiancé. As if I didn’t have ears in the hallways willing to spill everything they heard my brother discuss in exchange for the littlest bribery.
We had one deal—I could choose my husband—but I was no idiot.
He used it as a way to control me, lulling me into a false sense of security while he schemed in the background. Everyone in the palace put on a show for him. Just like me, they were acting like the perfect subjects, excited to have a new and strangely powerful king.
But behind closed doors and in the dark corners, people were scared. They were furious. And that made everyone all the more willing to spill everything they saw.
Well… almost everyone.
I made my way to the side of the room, where my first target awaited me. In his freshly washed council uniform, holding his own glass of blood, General Lee stuck out like a sore thumb, but he seemed to enjoy the way other vampires were giving him space.
He smirked when he saw me.
I returned it with a polite smile.
“You seem happy to finally be getting this behind you,” he said.
“Very,” I replied. “But I have something for you.”
He raised a brow at me, and I took a step closer and dropped my voice to a whisper.
