Chapter 19: A Fragile Thing

Annora

If Edric doesn’t leave me alone, I might scream.

He hasn’t let me out of his sight since this morning, and now he insists on trailing me like some overgrown shadow. As if fruit and cheese require a royal chaperone.

I had only said I was thirsty.

But the moment I stepped into the corridor, he was already there. Arms crossed, a lazy grin on his face, pretending it was coincidence.

Now, as we make our way back from the kitchens, I can practically feel him watching me chew.

“I swear,” I mumbled, popping a slice of pear into my mouth, “you’re worse than a governess.”

Edric smirked. “I’ve been called worse.”

I rolled my eyes and kept walking, ignoring the way my skin tingled beneath the bandage on my neck. It still pulsed, warm and too aware of itself. Every movement reminded me of the night before. Of him.

And I wanted to see him again. Needed to.

I hadn’t gone to him, not yet, but the urge was unbearable. Something inside me was drawn to him. Like a pull beneath my skin, electric and aching.

But Edric… Edric was in the way.

“You know, you don’t have to follow me everywhere.”

“No,” he agreed, “I don’t. But if I leave you alone, I know exactly where you’ll end up.”

“This is ridiculous,” I muttered, balancing the tray in my arms. “I’m not made of glass.”

“No,” he said easily beside me, “but you’re marked. That makes you fragile in other ways.”

I didn’t respond. Mostly because I couldn’t argue.

The wound was still tender beneath the high collar of my dress. Hidden, but not forgotten. It pulsed like a second heartbeat, quiet and hot. Every brush of fabric against it reminded me of him. Of that night.

Alaric.

The thought of him made something twist inside me. I wanted to see him so badly it ached. But every time I moved toward the royal wing, Edric conveniently appeared.

He was doing it on purpose. I knew he was.

But just before I could tell him off properly, the scent of crushed roses and rage hit the air.

Clotilda.

She rounded the corridor with the force of a storm, her expression tight, her dress rippling as though it carried the echo of a windstorm. But it was her eyes that stopped me.

Frightened.

No, furious.

The moment she spotted us, her fear shifted into something sharper. Her gaze locked on me like a hawk spotting a field mouse.

Edric stepped between us before I could react, his posture easy but his tone hard. “Lady Clotilda.”

“Prince,” she bit out, barely looking at him.

But her glare never left me.

The hate in it was searing, like acid poured into my chest. I took a step back.

Edric, without a word, moved with me.

“I wasn’t aware you’d been reassigned to royal escort duties,” Clotilda sneered. “Or do you guard Alaric’s favorite toy now too?”

I felt my cheeks burn, more from shame than anger.

But Edric didn’t flinch. “I guard what my brother treasures. You know how easily things of value are… mishandled.”

Her eyes flashed. She turned to walk away but spun back around just as quickly.

“You may want to heal her wound faster,” she said coldly. “The Council is stopping by tomorrow.”

The words landed like a slap.

I stood frozen, my hand instinctively rising to my neck even though the bandage was hidden by my dress.

My voice was small. “How did she know?”

Edric sighed. “She could smell it. Your scent… it’s strong. And different now.”

“She smelled me?” I asked, turning toward him.

Edric tilted his head, studying me. “Annora… your scent was always pleasant. But now?”

He stepped closer. His expression shifted, eyes darkening with something unreadable.

“Now it’s consuming.”

He didn’t touch me. Didn’t need to.

His breath hitched, just once, like something inside him caught and for the first time, I saw the strain he tried so hard to hide. The way his fingers flexed at his sides. The way his jaw clenched just before he stepped back.

I gasped, and in that heartbeat, I saw it, his eyes, glowing red. Briefly. Dangerously.

But he blinked, and they returned to hazel. Mischief crept into his smirk as he leaned back with infuriating ease.

“Relax,” he said smoothly. “As tempting as you are, I’m not risking my brother cutting my head off just to take a taste.”

“That’s not funny.”

“It wasn’t a joke.”

“Edric-”

“I’m serious,” he cut in, his tone low. “Your scent is laced with his now. That mark… it’s a bond, even if it’s incomplete.”

We returned to my chambers in silence. I set the tray down with trembling hands and turned to face him.

“I want to know the truth.”

He tilted his head. “About what?”

“All of it.”

A pause. Then he nodded.

“Ask.”

I hesitated. “You’re vampires. But… you walk in sunlight. You’re not cold. You eat. You feel real.”

“That’s because we are,” he said. “The royal family comes from the first line, an ancient bloodline. Strong. Evolved. We were never cursed by the same limitations as lesser vampires. Our kind is old. Powerful. And hidden.”

“But no one knows?”

“Only the Obsidian Guard, and the Council, what we call the Elders. They are all vampires, like us. Our parents are among them. They rule the bloodline and the laws that protect it.”

I swallowed. “Then why… why is the bite such a problem?”

His gaze turned sharp. “Because you’re human. And the Council has strict laws forbidding romantic entanglements with humans. Especially for the King. Humans can’t be trusted to keep the secret. They’re unpredictable, emotional, fragile.”

“And Alaric still bit me.”

Edric exhaled. “Yes. Which puts you in danger. Not him.”

My stomach dropped.

“If he’d told the Council first, you would’ve been summoned. Questioned. They would’ve tested your beliefs, your loyalties, your views on vampires. And if there was even a hint you’d betray him or distract him from his duty…” He trailed off, then looked me dead in the eye. “They would’ve killed you.”

I couldn’t breathe.

“That’s why he didn’t ask,” Edric continued. “He made you his personal attendant to keep you close. Protected. He was going to fight it. But he couldn’t.”

I turned away, dizzy. “So I’m just… what? A liability?”

“You’re more than that,” he said quietly. “That’s the problem.”

My legs gave out before my pride did. I sat on the edge of the bed, the room spinning slightly.

Clotilda’s words echoed again in my mind: You may want to heal her wound faster.

The Council is coming.

And I am no longer just a servant with a secret kiss.

I am a marked girl.

A danger.

And if they find out what Alaric has done…

I won’t survive it.

I wanted to scream at him. At all of them. For dragging me into this. For deciding what I could know and what I couldn’t. But mostly, I just wanted to feel safe again.

And I didn’t know if I ever would.