Chapter 102 Racy, no?
❀ Maeve ❀
I knew it was dusk the moment I opened my eyes.
The vampiric sleep pattern felt so natural I couldn’t summon the energy to question it.
Jessica and about five other young women were in the room with me.
I blinked at them lazily, the warm light diluting their forms into hazy specters.
That was when I realized tears had dried on my lids and lashes. My eyes were crusty with them.
As I rubbed my hands over my face, Jessica and the others bowed.
“We hope you had a good day’s rest, Your Grace. We’re to assist you in dressing.”
I looked from one to the other. Only Jessica stood tall and fearless, having gotten used to me. But the other girls’ hearts thundered in their chests, a sheen of sweat from fear glistening on their skin.
I sighed, suddenly exhausted by everything.
A mass thinly wrapped with soft gauze was draped over my vanity chair. The table overflowed with beautification tools.
The coronation ceremony.
Unfortunately for them, I had no interest in acting surprised.
There was no joy in this for me. I felt like my future wasn’t promised, yet dictated and controlled.
With danger lurking in every corner, whispers lashing from every direction, I had the uncanny feeling of being a sacrificial lamb.
For all I knew, the barbed crown wasn’t the last of it. They could slit my throat over their precious Crimson stone and call it a day.
A queen delivered.
Oh, why hadn’t Bastian rescued me yet?
I’d marked him.
Feral vampires were scarce, according to Jessica.
So why had I been abandoned to such a fate?
Something ugly rose in my mind. What if he’d taken another to be his princess consort?
With a sneer, I ripped off the covers and stood in my nightdress.
The human maids gasped and huddled backward.
My brows furrowed at their reaction. Surely they were used to catering to vampires as their overlords.
What was the fuss about?
Then I looked down.
My cream nightdress was crusted with blood.
There was no mark on my skin. No pain.
The previous night flashed through my mind.
The pang I’d felt. It had been a real injury… but how?
Jessica’s eyes were wide, but she recovered fast.
She turned to the girls and snapped, “Don’t just stand there—help her bathe!”
Like startled fowls, they immediately set into action.
A pair began to care for the bed, stripping it to remove the bloodied covers.
Another pair gingerly held my elbows and led me to the bathroom.
One last glimpse at the room before the door closed behind us showed the remaining girl and Jessica revealing the package draped on the back of my chair.
Crimson fabric spilled out like a river of blood.
I sat stiffly throughout the bath. They washed me in a tub of water so concentrated with fragrance my nose twitched and my head started to pound.
Powders. Scents. Oils.
I felt like a turkey trussed up for an expensive dinner.
My hair went through so many stages—wet, dry, straightened, curled—that I lost count.
Through it all, I wondered what Gwen Till was up to.
Was she aware of how drastically my life had turned around?
This story had begun with me trying to improve our living conditions by joining a pack.
Now, I was about to be queen.
My lips curled in a smirk when I imagined her regretting her abandonment.
Perhaps she’d had no faith in me, but I’d exceeded her expectations.
A seed of rage, bitter on my tongue, formed for her.
She was part of the reason I was here, about to accept a crown laden with death. And a curse—
“Would you prefer a light shadow or dark, Your Grace?” the tiny voice of a maid asked.
“Dark.” My voice was thick with disuse.
The girl shivered and continued patting my face.
Another oiled my hands with such attention I was tempted to enjoy it.
But I steeled my heart.
This was just a means to an end.
Then gold bands were slid onto my fingers, bangles inlaid with the finest gems settled on my arms.
They bid me stand, clad in nothing but a thin camisole, my hair trapped in a towel atop my head.
Jessica hadn’t addressed me directly in front of the girls, out of respect—and I suspected she knew I was in a foul mood.
I doubted any of them could understand.
When the last string of the dress was secured behind me, they steered me like a doll to face the mirror.
The girls cooed, all fear forgotten.
They whispered to each other about how beautiful I was. How regal.
Despite the heaviness in my heart, even I had to appreciate the sheer art of my coronation dress.
My shoulders were completely bare, a solid gold necklace snaking down to rest at my cleavage.
My hair was coiffed in wild curls atop my head, secured with two sharp, glinting pins.
I rolled my shoulders and shifted slightly to properly view the dress.
Dark red silk chiffon bled from the straps on my forearms, draping very low on my back, exposing my Venus dimples.
Racy for a coronation ceremony, no?
And the skirts—
Whisper-soft and ruinously expensive—tumbled down to my feet, obscuring my black heels.
If my visions of Lyssa were to be trusted, then I was doomed to wearing crimson for the rest of my life.
My eyes glinted.
That would be the first rule I’d break.
Jessica looked on with pride, and a smile threatened to lift my lips.
But then the air shifted. A gust powerful enough to tumble a strand of hair from my updo.
The girls quieted instantly.
The room chilled.
My claws itched, but I kept my hands clasped together.
Vladis ran his gaze appreciatively over me.
“I’m eager for the honor of escorting you this fine night. Would you delight me?”
Dressed impeccably in tailored velvet, he stood with an arm outstretched.
His fangs gleamed in the light.
Face wax pale and blank, his red eyes glowed with a deep, calculating calm.
I masked my irritation without much effort, not caring if he saw it.
What if I’d still been naked? Wasn’t the escort meant to wait in the hall?
And just how freely could anyone trace into Nikolai’s mansion?
All the days I’d slept here, had I ever truly been secure?
I narrowed my eyes at Vladis. “Thank you, but I’d rather wait for Nikolai to escort me to the ceremony.”
Like a premonition, my skin pebbled with goosebumps.
The fear of the girls still in the room hung thickly in the air like smoke. They didn’t dare speak.
For them to react this way to Vladis meant I absolutely couldn’t trust this uncle I barely knew—
Vladis grabbed my elbow.
When had he gotten so close?
Before I could even blink, the world fell away as he traced me.
My claws sharpened to greet whatever was waiting on the other side—