Chapter 4: The Blood Contract

The following day, after Kael's threat is it a promise?-I was summoned again. This time by a grayer vampire wearing black robes that seemed to emit inkiness in the candlelight. His eyes weren't Kael's. They were cold, sharp, and golden.

"Prince Kael invites you to the council chamber," he spoke with no greeting.

"Invites," I snarled with rage. "That's rich."

But I obeyed orders.

The palace was filled with the best of spirits. Vampires strolled through the corridors in pairs, dressed in silken fabrics and armor. They lingered, and gazed at me—some with curiosity, while others with repulsion. I was more protected than a lamb among wolves.

The council chamber had been hewn from obsidian and contained symbols that were meaningless to me. Kael sat at the far end of the room, his back to me, looking out a window beyond which he saw a court shrouded in mist.

Before me, however, he regarded me differently. Warily, starched. As the prince I knew in the block—the fellow who purchased a child of man so casually, as he would an old vintage."

Before him, a marble table room wide, and before this a scroll, its border softly crimson.

A contract.

I lumped in my throat.

"This is your last free moment," he whispered. "Read it."

I moved cautiously across the room, my spine rigid against my desire to fold inward.

The scroll rolled out in the softest touch as if to be read.

Words spun in whirls with lovely ink:

This binding agreement certifies the bearer, Scarlett M. Hale, sole to Prince Kael of Nytherra House.

In exchange for asylum, protection, and reward in blood coins and sanctuary, she will give:

— Her blood, freely and only.

— Her discretion on all matters of the Crown.

— Her presence at court events and appearances as required.

Term: Until the Blood Oath is severed or death vitiates it.

Forfeiture of protection and property upon breach of contract.

I gulped. "This is slavery in better words."

Kael's expression was inscrutable. "It's living. And you'll live like a queen to make it happen."

I nipped him, glaring up at him. "But I won't be one, will I?"

His face set in lines of hardness.

"No," he reluctantly acknowledged at last. "You won't."

There lay the reality in all its candor.

I glared back at the scroll. My script splashed unwillingly onto the vellum, my blood growing old to be purchased and sold. And yet. What could I do?

Attempt to flee again? Live in the woods until they hunted me down and sold me to someone even worse?

Or take this gilded cage and attempt to loosen the bars?

"What if I say no?" I breathed.

Kael moved forward, and the air grew thin.

"Then you'll be sold to the Council," he said. "They'll sell you again, but this time—you'll belong to the highest bidder. And I promise you, Scarlett—none of them will care that you're not at ease. Or that you'll even question it."

He was trying to scare me.

Worst of all—it was.

"But you do?" I sneered, enraged.

His voice fell, low and cold. "I want you to live."

That wasn't the same as wanting me.

I looked at the pen on the edge of the contract. Black with a silver tip, it shone like a knife.

"I'm not signing in ink," I told myself, yanking my eyes up to his.

"You don't have to." He drew out a small ceremonial knife from his pocket. "A single drop of blood."

I winced, but he did not come closer. He extended the blade so that I could take it.

I gazed at it.

I wanted to scream. Cry. Hit him. Stand up and defy the universe to tear me in two.

Instead, I took the blade and cut my palm.

The pain only lasted a moment. Red burst forth, hot and gelatinous.

I let a single drop onto the parchment.

It spat back.

The covenant churned red-hot for a moment, then clamped down with a rose-and-ashes scent and hiss.

Kael relaxed, blowing carefully as if he'd held his breath.

"It's done," he told me.

"So now what?" I spat, grabbing a silk napkin I tore off the table and using it to wrap my hand. "You start feeding on me like some sort of pervy harvest?"

His eyes turned cold. "Don't talk of your blood like that."

"Why? That's what I bought.".

He drew closer—and this time, I sensed it. That spark between us. Like some serpent, killing and curling clumped just beneath the surface of his skin.

"I did not buy you as a toy because I wanted one," he breathed. "I bought you to protect you."

"From what?"

He hesitated. Then, "From them. From you. From me."

My heart froze in mid-beat. "What do you mean?"

He did not answer.

He simply turned and left me alone in the room.

Later in the evening, my suite had been redecorated.

The gowns still lingered there, but tonight under a new cover of jewels—moonstone earrings, ruby bracelets, necklaces with diamonds.

The velvet sofa rested on top of one which held a silver box.

One vial inside.

And a letter.

In the time of a crisis. Take this if I am not around to prevent what is occurring.

No signature. But I recognized that it was his.

Kael.

The vampire prince who would not feel. Who negotiated on my behalf instead of keeping me near. A velvet cage, but a cage nonetheless.

And yet…

There was something within myself that could not help but acknowledge the reality: he had never lied to me.

Ever.

Cold, harsh reality, yes. Heartless, even. But never a lie.

He told me what I was to him.

Something to be hidden. An object.

And something to be guarded.

But until now, this was enough to keep me alive.

Until now, I would play his game.

But not forever.

One day I'd be more than a paper.

I'd be more than mere blood.

I'd be the death of him.

To be continued…