Bloodbane

Flames licked their way up the logs in the library’s hearth. Destructive. Devouring. The charred wood crackled, then collapsed and released a plume of smoke like a dying man coughing out a breath of disease. With each passing moment, the blackened wood succumbed more to the fire’s wrath, fighting to keep every last sliver of life within its core.

Oriel Covaci watched the dance of orange and yellow with his handkerchief fisted in his hand. The well-used, well-hated handkerchief.

Yet another relationship gone sour.

Melancholy and anger warred for space within him. He clenched his knuckles tighter around the handkerchief until they turned white. He released the tense breath in his lungs and tossed the offending thing into the flames. The blue fabric caught fire and curled as the threads died beneath the blazing heat.

He jumped when the door to the library burst open, and his sister, Laurel, and her mate, Zachariah, entered the room. He silently cursed himself for not retracting permission for her to enter, as vampires could only enter a room when given permission. But as he met his sister’s gaze, guilt hunched his shoulders before defiance pulled them back once more.

Laurel glanced from him to the handkerchief smoldering in the hearth, and back to him.

“No.”

The one word from her mouth commanded obedience, but he refused to yield. She pierced him with blue eyes and pushed her large blonde curls behind her shoulder. Despite their fifteen-year age difference, they both looked the same age with a similar appearance. While he was two hundred and thirty-five, she was fifteen years younger.

“I’m done, Laurel.”

He turned back to the hearth to watch the remaining handkerchief shrivel into ash, now unrecognizable as the declaration of romantic interest it had once been. The smoke stung his eyes, so he instead turned to peruse the bookshelves lining each wall, filled to the brim with volumes both large and small.

“So Alyssa didn’t work out. It doesn’t mean you should quit courting altogether.”

He ran his fingers through his large curls and glanced toward Zachariah, who wore a sympathetic expression from where he sat on the sofa. “You don’t get it. Alyssa only wanted my money. They always want my money.”

“And what’s so wrong with wanting security in life?”

“It’s not only greed.” He swallowed as the memories flashed across his mind. “I caught her kissing the gardener in the shed while she was on my estate.” It was safe to say the man had lost his job and Alyssa was no longer welcome on the premises. “She wants my fortune. Not me. I want someone who wants me for me and not for my title, my estate, nor my money.”

“Oh. I didn’t know the part about the shed.” She sighed and sank onto the sofa beside Zachariah, cuddling up to his side as she gazed lovingly into her mate’s eyes. They appeared irrefutably in love, happiness in every inch of their demeanor. They had been mated for three years already and were still inseparable.

A pang hit his chest like a hundred sharp iron needles. He wanted what they had. So desperately.

With a roll of his eyes, he opened a book but only stared at the page without registering the words. “It only happened this morning.”

Bitterness entered his tone despite trying his hardest to rein it in. The bad luck in his family had been passed down from person to person. First his grandmother, who had been killed by an iron dagger. Then his mother, whose mate had left her, and she had taken her own life in her misery.

And now him.

He couldn’t find a mate to save his life. Nothing worked out. Ever.

The ashes in the hearth attested to his many failures at courting.

He slammed the book shut and crossed the room to stand beside the window. His estate lay on the outskirts of the vampire city of Ichor Knell. While the city never received an ounce of sunlight, the clouds above his property broke occasionally to let in a bit of sunshine. It was a shame the beautiful light burned his skin like a scalding iron.

Several servants wore cloaks as they watered the green expanse of his property. Flowers dotted the landscape in a colorful array of reds, whites, and pinks, with dashes of yellow. Although he couldn’t name all the blooms, Laurel knew each name by heart.

“There’s someone out there for you,” Zachariah said, breaking him out of his thoughts. “You just haven’t found her yet.”

“And how long would it take to find her?” He ran his hand over his stubbled jaw as he wearily turned to face the other two. “Another two hundred years? I’m exhausted. No more. I’m done.”

The pain of his declaration sank his stomach into the very depths of the sea. He was lonely. Horridly lonely. And judging by their concerned stares, his bleeding heart was visible on his face.

“What about…?” Zachariah glanced between the two of them, biting his lip with uncertainty. “Have you ever considered…an arranged union?”

Oriel and Laurel exchanged grimaces before she lightly touched her mate’s knee and answered for him. “Zach, I know you used to be a human and you’re still trying to understand our culture, but that’s not how vampires find their mates. I mean, arranged unions aren’t unheard of. I think the last one I know of happened fifty years ago. But there are so many reasons why it could go wrong.”

“Or right,” he argued.

“Or wrong,” she argued back. “Oriel may not like the female, for instance. As a vampire, he can only choose one mate for the rest of his life. An arranged union can destroy his chances at happiness.”

The two continued bickering about the subject, all while a spark of hope lit his heart. He turned back to the window and gripped the sill as he gazed out over the garden and the trees sparkling brilliantly with jewel leaves just beyond the property line.

An arranged union? Could it possibly work?

He shook his head and gripped the sill tighter. Of course, it couldn’t. What if he was betrothed to someone he had already been in a relationship with? What if he was betrothed to someone he couldn’t stand? To someone who couldn’t stand him?

Yet a small, flickering light pulsed in the darkness of his uncertainty. What if Zachariah was right? What if his only answer to quell his loneliness was to put his fate into someone else’s hands? Could his curse of bad luck and failed relationships be broken?

His mind spun as he focused on the idea and pulled it to the forefront of his mind. Knowing himself, he could very likely break off the betrothal before the ceremony even happened. But if he didn’t know who the female was until the ceremony finished?

The hope within him flared brighter with the promise of a less lonely future. But he wasn’t sure if it was what he wanted. Not yet.

He nonchalantly studied his nails as he interrupted their bickering. “I’m curious… Zach, what are arranged marriages like for humans?”

Laurel’s jaw dropped while Zachariah grinned. “You aren’t seriously considering this, are you?” she asked.

Shaking his head, he replied, “No. Yes. Maybe?”

She gasped. “You are! But Oriel, it’s a big risk.”

“Yes, but is it worth not being lonely anymore?”

His words shut her up instantly. She turned her head away from him and studied her mate as he spoke. “Back when I was human, arranged marriages were common. And they worked. Sometimes better than those who married for love or passion. For many, love between spouses came eventually. For others, sometimes it never came. But what really helped the relationship was the desire to get to know a stranger and make the relationship work. Both parties must be willing to work toward a happy future for the union to thrive.”

Oriel paced back and forth before the hearth, the mantel a beautiful wooden weave of vines and leaves. Hypothetically, whoever would be his betrothed must be willing to become his mate, which made it more difficult to find someone.

But…

“Grandfather,” he and Laurel said at the same time.

He grinned and snapped his fingers. “Yes. He knows everyone, those who live within Ichor Knell’s borders and those who live away from the city. Surely, he could find me a good, willing match.” He winced sheepishly, guilty of his excitement over the prospect. “Hypothetically, of course.”

Laurel untucked her neatly folded legs from the sofa and stood, a look of concern in her eyes as she touched his elbow. “You are really going to do this, aren’t you?”

Was he? Could he even pull it off? Could he see it through? Could the mysterious female go along with it?

After several long moments of contemplation, he turned his back to the hearth and released a deep breath filled with all the tension of a couple hundred years’ worth of courting failure.

“Yes. I’m going to do it.”

Despite her initial reluctance, his sister offered him an encouraging smile. “Then I hope your future mate will make you the happiest vampire in the entire kingdom.”

****

For days, Oriel prepared a speech, a proposition for his grandfather, all while his courage flared and failed in a vicious cycle. Just when he was sure he wanted a stranger to become his mate, he second-guessed himself in favor of giving up entirely.

He concluded a meeting in his study with the landlord of the local tavern, but when he stepped out of the room…

Only hushed whispers greeted him. The marble floors echoed a painful, heartbreaking rhythm of loneliness with each step he took through the estate. Servants dipped their heads as he passed, but otherwise offered no conversation and no greeting. The emptiness of his property caved in on him when he stepped outside the front door, only to be met by more silence.

At one time, he’d thought the silence to be peaceful.

A pang echoed in his heart, and he rubbed his hand over his chest in an attempt to soothe the ache settled there. The green hedges were trimmed with perfect precision. The flowers swayed gently in a summer breeze. Servants worked quietly as though invisible.

His estate lacked laughter and the pitter-patter of children’s feet and the heartwarming chaos of a young family making a life within its walls. He wanted a mate. He wanted children. He wanted chaos and laughter.

The final stone on his path of indecision moved into place when he spotted the garden shed near the greenhouse. He refused to court anymore. He refused to subject himself to the misery of finding the wrong person again and again.

He wanted a mate, and he wanted her immediately.

His vampire transformation washed over him as he turned into a swallow and took to the skies. The roofs of vampire dwellings flew past below, followed by sparkling jewel trees whose blooms glistened from blue to silver to scarlet. The clouds swirling above became darker and darker with each second of flying toward the large black castle where his grandfather lived. But instead of swooping into the giant structure’s shadow, he instead cut through the air and turned abruptly toward the palace gardens.

Finally, he darted downward, sweeping past climbing vines full of red nettle flowers. Sure enough, his grandfather sat on a stone bench beside a topaz jewel tree with a book in his hand. He released his transformation several yards away from Nicolae, who didn’t appear the least surprised to see him.

Everyone always said Oriel looked like Nicolae—the same straight nose, similar blue eyes, and identical gentle lips. However, instead of Nicolae’s straight, long blond hair, large blond curls swept across Oriel’s forehead.

Nicolae set his book aside and gave him his undivided attention. “What is it, Oriel? I sense deep turmoil within you.”

He took a deep breath as he sifted through each proposal he’d concocted for his grandfather. Where to start… Where to start…

“I want a mate,” he finally said, turning to face Nicolae. “I’m tired of courting. I know it’s unconventional, but I hoped you might be willing to arrange a union for me.”

He slumped onto the bench beside his grandfather, his forearms resting on his knees as he stared at the grass brushing against his shoes.

Nicolae didn’t answer immediately, and when Oriel turned his head to look at him, he found a thoughtful expression staring back at him while a sliver of concern reached his eyes.

“Is this about the garden shed incident?” he asked.

A frown pulled his lips downward. “You heard about that? Is there anyone in the kingdom who hasn’t heard about my recent courting failure?”

His grandfather smiled, his young face free of wrinkles or blemishes. He was over a thousand years old, but they looked near the same age. “I don’t think it reflects failure on your part. Rather, the female in question… Her reputation has suffered. She will likely have many less mate prospects than before. She and her mother left Ichor Knell to go on a trip, though I suspect it’s to get away from the gossip.”

“Alyssa left the city?” Good riddance.

With a nod, Nicolae leaned back on his hands and gazed at the splendor of the jewel trees overhead. “However, people are talking about you as well. They are calling you…”

“What?”

“Choosy.”

He rolled his eyes. “Of course, they are,” he breathed.

“No one has been able to tie down the elusive Oriel Covaci, wealthy aristocrat. I’m warning you now… Several ladies with determined matchmaking mothers are headed your way. Someone will see you tied down.”

“I’m not interested. I’m serious, Grandfather. I want an arranged union.”

The concern in Nicolae’s eyes returned. “Obtaining a mate is a very permanent and irreversible event. Wouldn’t you rather choose the female than for me to choose for you?”

“No.” He shook his head. “Like I said, this is what I want.”

Nicolae picked up his book again and absently drummed his fingers on the spine as if deep in thought. At last, he nodded. “If you are sure, then it is certainly something I can do. Do you have any preferences for what you want in a mate?”

His heart picked up an unsteady rhythm. He wiped his slick hands against his trousers. This was really happening. He was really going to go through with this. “I will have whoever you deem a good fit, no matter what she looks like, who her family ties are, or her personality traits. But I do have one strange request.”

“Name it.”

“I do not want you to make her known to me. I don’t want to know who she is until the ceremony is over. She will wear a thick veil so I cannot see her face.”

“May I understand your reasoning?” Nicolae asked, a twinge of amusement in his eyes.

“I don’t want to have the option to back out should I not approve of the mate you have chosen. I am determined to make it work no matter the female.”

His grandfather’s eyes lit up as if he already had someone in mind. It took all of Oriel’s self-control not to pry.

“Very well.” Nicolae nodded. “I will see to the arrangements.”

Oriel stood and began to walk away, but he stopped short as he thought of something else. “One more thing. She has to be completely willing. I will not force a female to kneel at the altar with me.”

Again, his grandfather nodded. “An excellent stipulation.”

“Thank you,” he whispered as he whisked away from the gardens in the form of a swallow, both fear and excitement dancing around in his heart. He would have a mate, and soon he hoped. Very soon.

When Cosette Dragomir played the pianoforte, she was whisked off on another daring adventure of fighting marauders or stealing treasure. Or when her fingers stroked the keys softly, she found herself on a mountaintop, overlooking the valley or sitting with a doe, who calmly nibbled at the grass. When she played, she could be anything she wanted. She could be anywhere in the world. Today, her fingers played jovially, stretching across the keys as her mind wandered to a meadow full of wildflowers, the sun shining down and not burning her as she spun with carefree laughter.

She reluctantly came out of her trance when she noticed another presence in the room, but she continued playing, not missing a single key as the music in her mind came to life through her fingertips.

“Cosette,” a voice said.

“Yes?” She glanced up briefly to find her father, Lucian, standing in the doorway. He was one of the very few people she felt comfortable enough to play in front of, along with her nine siblings. Like her, he had raven black hair, fair skin, and violet eyes, and while her hair was voluptuous with large curls trailing down her back, his was straight and fell to his shoulders. Hesitancy lived in his eyes, though she noticed a spark of emotion just underneath. She ceased playing as she shifted on the bench.

Her father took several steps in her direction but stopped. He turned back around and strode toward the door, then stopped again. At last, he sighed and faced her. His behavior was odd, even for him.

“Is something the matter, Papa?” Cosette asked, concern creasing her brows.

He shook his head and took a turn about the room, all while she watched carefully. He fidgeted with his cuffs, something he did when he was nervous. And the behavior made her nervous. She wrung her hands together as she watched him pace.

At long last, he turned to face her. “We have been presented with a most…unique opportunity. An arranged union. Between you and Lord Oriel Covaci.”

Her throat closed up with shock. She couldn’t breathe. Oriel Covaci? Why would he choose her? She was far too quiet and timid to attract a socialite like himself. She doubted he even knew she existed, despite them being born only five years apart.

“You are lying,” she finally spoke, turning her attention back to the piano and running her fingers softly over the black keys without making a sound. “No one would want me as a mate.”

“You think too lowly of yourself, my dear,” her father said softly as he approached the pianoforte. She didn’t glance up at him but rather kept her gaze fixed on the glistening keys before her. “Nicolae chose you for him. As I understand it, Oriel asked Nicolae to choose a mate for him. He doesn’t want to know her identity until after the ceremony is over, as his mate will wear a veil to shroud her face.”

Her heart panged at the thought. “He is making a game of this.”

“No,” her father said quickly. “I believe he wants to find love and he feels incapable of doing so himself.”

“So he is seeking an arranged union?”

Panic clogged her throat. She had always believed she was invisible to the world, and she tried very hard to maintain people’s expectations by staying that way. But Nicolae had chosen her to become his grandson’s mate? Out of all the females in the kingdom?

“I can’t,” she whispered hoarsely, bowing her head over her pianoforte.

Her father sighed and tenderly trailed one of her dark curls through his fingers. “You are my only daughter not mated, and I fear you have given up entirely. I want to see you happy.”

“I am happy.”

“Are you truly?”

She stared down into her lap. Most of the time, she was happy. More often than not, loneliness settled in her heart. But Oriel Covaci? He was handsome, socially competent, and popular. She feared she would only drag him down, and he would regret the union.

No, she would be mortified. She couldn’t accept.

“Just…think about it,” her father said before taking his leave.

With a still furiously beating heart, she ran from the Dragomir drawing room and didn’t stop until she locked herself behind her bedroom door, her breathing rapid as she fought off another wave of panic. She rested her forehead against the cool wood, grateful for even the small amount of relief it brought her.

As soon as her head stopped spinning, she slowly approached her small box of treasures. One item within the box was an opal pearl, one she had found enclosed within a budding frost flower up north in Estrass Diir. The short trip had been the first and only time she had ever seen snow.

With careful fingers, she clasped the pearl around her neck—her little drop of snowfall.

Next, she picked up a shell and ran her fingers over the bumpy surface. It was one of her most favorite treasures, and she would be mortified if anyone ever found out why. Oriel Covaci had given it to her after he had returned from the coast with Nicolae and several other members of his family. Oriel had only been about fifteen at the time, and she ten. Only children. Yet he had singled her out and stopped in the castle courtyard to give it to her. Ever since then, she had treasured his gift, despite how simple it had been. He hadn’t spoken to her since. In fact, she doubted he knew she was very much alive.

And now, Nicolae had requested she become Oriel’s mate.

A fearful shiver racked through her body, and she slammed her window closed in an attempt to ward off the chill. Surely, Oriel would regret having her as his mate. He deserved happiness. What if she was unable to give it to him?

She rubbed her hands up and down her arms, but the chill remained.

She sat at her mirror less vanity, holding the small shell to her heart as she thought of all the ways accepting Nicolae’s offer could go wrong. For many years, she had fancied the handsome aristocrat.

Many other females fancied him as well, as their flirtations and whispers did not go unnoticed whenever she spotted him around the castle.

This would be her only chance for him to notice her. Another opportunity likely wouldn’t present itself.

“Iqris, help me,” she whispered, praying to her female goddess.

Minutes passed—or perhaps it was hours—as she sat with her head bowed in prayer. No matter which decision she played out in her mind, she only imagined disaster. However, there was less disaster if she refused the offer. But then nothing would change for her. She would still be lonely. She would be a social recluse. She wouldn’t move forward with her life if she lived in the shadows for the rest of her days. How could she truly call that happiness?

She clutched the shell even closer to her heart. She so desperately wanted the one thing foreign and out of reach for her.

And then her mind made a full circle as she again contemplated the possible disappointment on Oriel’s face when he saw her for the first time as her veil lifted to reveal her identity.

She took a deep breath and rose from her chair in a rare moment of bravery.

It didn’t take long for her to find her father overseeing the preparations for the family’s feast later in the evening, one they came together for twice a year. He turned as she approached, a look of uncertainty in his eyes.

She squared her shoulders. “Father, I have made my decision.”