The Vampire King's Human Wife

I should have gone home when the stranger started staring at me. Not because he was attractive. That would have been the easy explanation. It was the way he looked at me that made the back of my neck prickle, as though he wasn't seeing a woman he'd just noticed across a crowded room. He was remembering me. I had never seen him before. At least, I was almost certain I hadn't.

The lounge was loud enough to swallow most conversations, but somehow I noticed when he entered; the room changed.

A waiter carrying champagne stopped halfway across the floor. Two men near the bar lowered their voices. A woman who had been laughing a second earlier suddenly looked down at her phone. I turned toward the entrance and forgot what I was about to say.

He was standing beneath the dim gold lights, dressed entirely in black. Not flashy, not trying to attract attention. He didn't need to. He was the kind of man people noticed without meaning to.

Tall, broad shoulders, dark hair falling slightly over his forehead. A face so sharply beautiful it almost looked unreal. But his eyes were what held me. Damn.. those dark and cold were fixed directly on me. I glanced behind myself. Maybe there was someone else standing there. There wasn't.

When I looked back, he was still watching. My friend nudged my arm. "Don't." I frowned. "Don't what?" "Whatever you're thinking."

"I'm not thinking anything." She gave me a look. I ignored her. The stranger started walking toward us. My pulse betrayed me immediately. Ridiculous, right? I know... I didn't know this man. He was just a handsome stranger crossing a crowded room.

Except people moved out of his way without him asking. And nobody seemed willing to meet his eyes. That was strange.

He stopped in front of me. Up close, he was even more unsettling. His skin was almost unnaturally pale. His eyes weren't merely dark. They were so deep I had the ridiculous impression that I could fall into them. He looked at my face for several seconds.

Not my body. My face. Like he was searching for something. "Do I know you?" I asked. His expression barely changed. "No." The answer came too quickly.

I raised an eyebrow. "Then why are you staring at me?" Something flickered across his face. Recognition... Gone almost instantly. "I was curious." "About?" "You."

That should have annoyed me. Instead, warmth crawled up my neck. I hated that, he noticed. Of course he noticed. His gaze dropped briefly to my throat before returning to my eyes. And for the strangest second, I felt something inside me pull toward him.

Well.. Not attraction. Not exactly, but something older. Something my mind couldn't name. He held out his hand. "Lucien." I stared at it before taking it.

The moment our skin touched, a sharp chill traveled through my fingers. I inhaled. His hand was freezing. Not cold from being outside. Like freezing in a way I couldn't explain. His fingers tightened around mine for one brief second before he released me.

His expression had changed. "What?" I asked. "Nothing." He gave that stern look. "You look like something." "I'm fine." He wasn't, I knew it.

Then, without warning, the room disappeared. For half a heartbeat, I saw a corridor. Black marble, nlood smeared across the floor, a chandelier swinging above me. And him.

Lucien. But younger. Standing at the end of the corridor with blood covering his hands. I blinked. The lounge returned.

Music. Voices. Lights. My breathing came too fast. Lucien was staring at me. He knew. "You saw something," he said quietly. My stomach tightened. "Saw what?" He didn't answer.

Instead, his attention shifted past me. A man had entered the lounge. He was staring at us. The stranger's expression hardened. Lucien stepped closer. "Stay here." I almost laughed. "I'm sorry?" "Don't move."

There was something in his voice that erased the humor from mine. The man across the room looked away. Lucien walked toward him, i watched. They exchanged a few words too quietly for me to hear. Then the stranger's face drained of color. He nodded, and left. I stared after him. "What did you say to him?"

Lucien turned. "Nothing important." "That didn't look like nothing." He came back to me.

For the first time, I noticed something almost human in his expression. Concern; not for himself but me. "Who are you?" I asked. His jaw tightened. "You don't want to know."

"That's usually what people say when they're hiding something." A faint smile touched his mouth. It was the first time he looked genuinely amused. "You're brave." "I've been told I'm stubborn." "I noticed."

The tension between us changed. It became warmer, closer Ana was getting dangerous. I should have left. Instead, I stayed. Maybe it was curiosity. Maybe it was attraction. Maybe it was the strange feeling that somewhere beneath all the things I didn't understand, I already knew this man.

Lucien leaned closer. His voice dropped. "You shouldn't be here."

"Neither should you?" His eyes darkened. "You have no idea." Before I could ask what he meant, his fingers brushed mine again. This time, the reaction was stronger. My heart slammed against my ribs. His eyes flashed.

For one impossible second, they weren't dark anymore. They were crimson, and behind his lips, something sharp glinted. I stepped back. He froze, our eyes met.

His expression wasn't angry. It wasn't embarrassed. It was almost afraid. Then he whispered the words that made my blood run cold. "You weren't supposed to see that."

I stared at him. He stared back. Neither of us moved. For one ridiculous second, I wondered if I had imagined it. Maybe the lighting had changed. Maybe the alcohol had finally caught up with me. Maybe I had just seen what I wanted to see because the man standing in front of me was so impossibly strange.

Then Lucien's lips parted. The sharp points were gone. His eyes were dark again. My stomach dropped. "You're imagining things," he said. I almost laughed. "You think?"

His expression remained unreadable. "You're tired." "I'm not tired." I gave that irritating look. "You've been drinking."

"Two glasses." I said just two. "Enough." I folded my arms. "You have red eyes and fangs." His gaze flickered toward my mouth. "Do I?"

"Yes." He took one slow step toward me. I immediately stepped back. He stopped. Something passed through his face, like restraint. It was almost as if he was forcing himself not to come any closer. That should have made me feel safer. It didn't.

"Tell me what you are," I whispered. He looked at me for a long moment. Then he glanced toward the entrance. The same people who had been watching him earlier were watching us now. His jaw tightened. "We need to leave." "We?"

"You." He snapped. "Where?" Somewhere safe. I stared at him. "You just showed me fangs and now you want me to follow you somewhere?"

"I didn't show you anything." I gave him an incredulous look. "Right. Of course." He reached into his jacket. I tensed. He stopped immediately. Then slowly removed his phone. The absurdity of the moment almost made me smile... Almost. He looked at the screen. Whatever he saw changed his expression.

"What is it?" He didn't answer. "Lucien." His eyes lifted to mine. "How did you know my name?" I froze. I had forgotten, and honestly I couldn't remember how. I had never introduced myself. Not once. He knew.

Before I could question him, my phone buzzed. I pulled it from my bag. Unknown number. One message. LEAVE HIM.

I looked around the room. My fingers tightened around the phone. Another message appeared.

HE IS NOT HUMAN.

The air seemed to disappear from my lungs. I looked at Lucien. He was staring at my phone. "You know who sent that?"

"No." He was lying and i could see it. "You're lying."

"I know what it means." That was the only things he said. "Then tell me." His attention moved over my shoulder. The blood drained from his face. I turned, mothing. Just the crowded lounge, people laughing, music playing, glasses clinking. Everything was normal.

When I looked back at Lucien, he was closer. "Listen to me carefully." His voice was low. "You're going to walk out through the back entrance." I shook my head. "I'm not going anywhere with you."

"You don't have a choice." That snapped something inside me. "Excuse me?" His expression hardened."Someone knows you're here."

"So?" So they're coming for you. A cold feeling settled in my stomach. "Why?" He didn't answer. "Why me?"

Still nothing. I took a step backward. "Who are you?"

This time, something changed in his eyes. He looked almost tired. "Someone you should have never met." Then the lights went out; the room erupted. People screamed, a glass shattered somewhere behind me, someone crashed into my shoulder. I lost my balance.

A hand caught my waist before I hit the floor.

Lucien. His body was cold. But his grip was impossibly strong. "Don't move." I couldn't. Not because he told me to. Because something had just moved behind him.

A shadow, too fast. Lucien turned; Everything happened at once. He shoved me behind him. A figure lunged from the darkness. Lucien caught him by the throat. The impact cracked against the wall. I stared.

There was no way a human could move that fast. No way a human could hold another man like he weighed nothing. The attacker struggled. Lucien leaned closer. I couldn't hear what he whispered. But I saw the attacker's eyes widen. Then Lucien released him.

The man dropped to the floor, dead. I covered my mouth. Lucien turned toward me. For the first time since I met him, he looked completely different. Not like the beautiful stranger from the lounge. Not like the controlled man who had been flirting with me. Like something ancient. Something that had spent centuries learning how to pretend it was human.

He walked toward me. I backed away. "Stay away from me." He stopped. "Sera." "Don't." I shouted! His eyes softened. "I won't hurt you."

"You just killed someone." I said with a shaky voice. "He was going to kill you." You don't know that. "I do."

"How?" Silence stretched between us. I shook my head. "I knew there was something wrong with you." His gaze lowered. "There's something wrong with this entire world." "What does that mean?"

Before he could answer, the back doors burst open. Three men entered. They weren't carrying guns. They didn't need them. They looked at Lucien, then at me. And immediately dropped to one knee. My breath caught. One of them lowered his head. "Your Majesty."

I looked at Lucien. He closed his eyes briefly. Almost like he had been hoping this moment wouldn't happen. I laughed nervously. I looked at the men again. Then at him. "Your Majesty?"

Lucien opened his eyes. There was no point hiding it anymore. He looked directly at me, and said the words that shattered everything I thought I knew about the night. "My name is Lucien Veyr. I am the King of Veyloria."

I stared at him. Then at the three men kneeling behind him. Then back at the man I'd almost kissed. The man with crimson eyes, the man who wasn't human. My voice came out barely above a whisper. "Vampires aren't real."

Lucien's expression didn't change. "Neither, apparently, was your memory." My heart stopped. "What?" He stepped closer. And this time, I didn't move. Because suddenly, the terrifying thing wasn't his eyes. It wasn't his fangs. It wasn't the dead man on the floor. It was the certainty in his voice.

He knew something about me. Something I didn't know myself. And before I could ask what it was, the world went black.

I woke up with a headache and a stranger's hand on my shoulder. I screamed. The man stepped back immediately. "Easy."

"Don't touch me." I scrambled backward until my spine hit the headboard. My eyes darted around the room. I didn't recognize it.

The ceiling was high, the walls were dark, and heavy curtains covered windows that looked tall enough to belong in a palace.

A palace? My stomach twisted. The last thing I remembered was Lucien, his face, his crimson eyes. The men kneeling before him, then nothing. I looked down at myself.

I was wearing same dress, same shoes. No blood. No injuries. But something was missing.

My phone. I searched the bedside table. I couldn't find it. The stranger cleared his throat. "You've been unconscious for several hours."

"Where am I?" He didn't answer. "Where is Lucien?" The man's expression tightened. That wasn't the reaction of someone hearing an unfamiliar name.

He knew him. Of course he did. I threw the blanket aside. "I'm leaving."

"You can't." I stopped. "Excuse me?" You aren't permitted to leave this room. I stared at him. "Who exactly do you think you are?" Before he could answer, the door opened. Two more men entered, both dressed in black. Both unnervingly calm.

The first man stepped aside. The older one looked at me. Then, to my horror, he bowed. "Good morning, Your Majesty."

I blinked. "No." He straightened. "Your Majesty."

"Don't call me that." I shouted. He exchanged a glance with the other two. I pointed toward the door. "I don't know where I am. I don't know who you people are. I don't know what happened last night, and I certainly am not anybody's majesty."

Nobody laughed, cause that wasn't funny actually. And that frightened me more than if they had. The older man walked toward me. "My name is Dorian Valecrest."

Okay... I waited. He seemed to expect the name to mean something. It didn't. "I'm Lucien Veyr's chief adviser." My stomach dropped. "Where is he?"

"Handling a matter of state." Matter of state? "Then take me to him." Dorian's expression became unreadable. "That won't be possible."

"Why?" I screamed. "Because His Majesty specifically ordered that you remain here." I stared at him.

"Ordered?" Yes. "Tell him I don't take orders from strangers." A faint flicker of amusement crossed Dorian's face. It disappeared almost immediately. "I suspect he'll find that unsurprising." I moved toward the door.

One of the guards stepped in front of me. I stopped. "You cannot keep me here." We aren't imprisoning you. "Then move." He didn't. I looked at Dorian. "What is this place?"

The royal palace. My mouth went dry. "No."

"The palace of Veyloria." I laughed once. It came out wrong. "Veyloria isn't real." Dorian said nothing. I looked around the room again. The enormous bed, the dark wood, the strange silver symbols carved into the walls, the heavy curtains. Everything suddenly felt less like a hotel and more like a nightmare someone had spent a fortune decorating.

I turned back to him. "Take me home." Dorian's expression softened. "I wish I could."

"Why can't you?" He hesitated. Then he reached into his coat. He pulled out a small black envelope. He placed it on the table beside me. I stared at it.

"What is that?" Your death warrant. My blood turned cold. "What?" Dorian didn't blink. "Someone ordered your execution three hours ago." I stared at him.

"Mine?" Yes. "Why?" His silence lasted too long. "Because of who you are." I swallowed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I know." He opened the envelope. Inside was a single sheet of parchment. There was writing on it. I couldn't read the symbol at the bottom. But I recognized the handwriting.

My heart stumbled. I'd seen it before. Not recently, years ago. On birthday cards. On the notes my mother used to leave beside my breakfast. My mother's handwriting.

I grabbed the paper. "Where did you get this?" Dorian's eyes narrowed. "You recognize it?" I looked at him. "Where did you get it?"

He didn't answer. "Who gave you this?" Still no answer My fingers tightened around the parchment. "Where is my mother?" The room went silent. Dorian looked genuinely surprised. "You remember her?" The question hit me strangely.

"Of course I remember my mother." Something changed in his face. He glanced toward the door; then back at me. "Interesting." "What is?"

Before he could answer, the door opened again. This time, nobody needed to announce who had entered. Every person in the room immediately lowered their head. My body went rigid. Lucien walked in.

He had changed clothes. Black shirt, black trousers, no tie. His dark hair was slightly disordered, and there was a thin line of blood across one knuckle. His eyes found mine. He didn't look at anyone else. "Sera."

I hated the way my name sounded in his voice. Like it belonged there. Like it had always belonged there. I stepped toward him. "You kidnapped me."

"No. You had me brought here unconscious." You were unconscious before I arrived. His jaw tightened.

Dorian quietly left the room. The guards followed. The door closed. Suddenly, it was just Lucien and me. I folded my arms. "I want to go home."

"I know." Then let me.

I can't. "Why?" He walked toward me. I didn't move. His gaze dropped briefly to my hand. I followed it. The black ring was still on my finger. I tried pulling it off. It didn't move.

"What is this?" Lucien stopped. His expression changed. Where did you get that? "I woke up wearing it. He stared at the ring, then at me. "You don't remember."

"Remember what?" He looked almost pained. "That you put it on." I shook my head. "I didn't."

You did. "When?" His silence told me everything. There was something I couldn't remember. Something important.

I stepped closer. "What happened last night?" Lucien looked at me. His eyes were unreadable. Then he said quietly: "You became my wife." I laughed. I actually laughed.

Because the alternative was screaming. "I'm sorry?" He didn't smile. "You heard me." I looked down at the ring. Then back at him. "You married me?"

"No." My confusion deepened. "Then what do you mean?" Lucien's eyes held mine. "You didn't marry me, Sera. I claimed you." My breath caught. He stepped closer. And for the first time since waking up, I understood why everyone in this place was afraid of him.

Not because he was the Vampire King, not because he had crimson eyes. But because when Lucien Veyr looked at me... he looked like a man who had already decided I belonged to him. And somewhere deep inside me, something answered. Something I didn't understand. Something that terrified me even more than he did.