Blood & Honey #1

VG~ Chapter Four

Contently, a sigh leaves my lips as I lift my hand to the place healed on my neck. I've been bitten. I've been bitten by none other than the Beast of the Damned himself. His life force probably still runs through me. Sure when I was younger, Tristan healed an injury by wrapping a piece of his torn clothes he soaked in his own blood around my leg, but that's different. This time, I've ingested him and he's ingested me. I wonder what Narran and Vera would have to say about that?

A giggle of giddiness escapes me as I picture the look on Narran's face if she knew Tristan sealed his mouth to mine and fed me his blood.

Next time, you will take my wrist if I offer it to you. Tristan's voice fades along with the memory of him disappearing out my window.

Next time...

I lean against the wall next to the open window letting the daylight streaming in soak into my skin. The bright rays warm my face, the sun at its peak strong enough to overpower the chill tangling in the mountainous air from a winter determined to come ahead of schedule.

A day turns into two weeks and two weeks turns into a month with no signs of Tristan. Every night, I make sure I'm bathed and my hair is braided to one side in case he comes. With Thron and the Dark Prince gone, Tristan must be busy with his duties and unable to slip away. Seeing him again is the only thing that has made being locked indoors bearable. But as another month goes by and the last of the moon drops dies out, I give up waiting, accepting that all that is before me is another thirty days of isolation before the Dark Prince and Thron return to Valderanna.

By now, Narran and Vera have already long received their punishments for taking me to the spring. It seems unfair their penitence is already over and mine still continues.

A loud knock comes at my door rattling the locks.

"Who is it?" I holler, cautiously abandoning the open window to my chambers and walking to the door. My servants always just let themselves in, same as Marianna as they have the master keys to the locks. Come to think of it. I don't think anyone has ever knocked on my door before. Why would they when I'm just the Prince of Darknesses special pet?

The person on the other side bangs on the door in rapid succession, the knob turning as they try to open it.

"I'm not permitted to open this door to anyone." I press my palm flat against the hard surface separating whomever is on the other side, feeling the strong vibrations through the intricate metal.

The locks continue to rattle, the doorknob twisting violently as the person continues to pound on the door in a desperate manner.

All falls silent.

"Hello?" I place my ear beside the door listening for sounds of anything.

A wet stickiness runs into my bare feet. I lift my dress, looking down at the ground to see the substance seeping from underneath the door is blood. Without thinking, I undo the locks and pull the door open quickly. Deep, thick burgundy drools down from Tristan's face. Every inch of him is splatted in red while one of my servants lies in a heap on the ground in front of him.

Tremors work their way up my legs and into my chest as I watch Tristan calmly drop to the balls of his feet and use his teeth to tear off the mark branded into my servant's skin.

The reason the person didn't say anything is because she couldn't. Her vocal cords have been clipped. My servant didn't have time to use her key to undo the many locks she has to bypass before that mark that lets her gain entry to my chambers can be of any use.

I slam the door shut in Tristan's face. It doesn't close, his foot wedged in the way. He opens the door wide, stepping over the threshold and dead servant. As soon as both his feet are past the demon enchanted barrier, he drops the branded flesh in his left hand on the floor.