Simone's POVThe meeting with the sheriffs takes hours. Aldric mostly discusses new procedures for the creation of vampires and measures to address the blood shortage. More than once, my mind drifts and I slip into daydreaming about more interesting things, just like I used to do when Baron dragged me out of my cage so he could show me off to his guests.This time, I don’t get to linger in my make-believe worlds though, just when I get good and settled into one of my little fantasies, Victoria roughly kicks me on the shin and brings me back to reality.I have no idea why Aldric insisted on me joining him. I’m no one important and have no authority over other vampires. I’m just an accessory – this time as a bride and not a doll, but it’s essentially the same thing. I feel as if he just brought me along so he can show the other sheriffs that he bagged himself a bride.“I am placing an embargo on creation,” Aldric says. “From now on, you will apply and obtain permission to create new vam

Aldric's POVWhen I walk out of the bathroom after my shower, I find Simone sitting on my bed, wearing nothing but one of my t-shirts. Taken aback, I stop dead in my tracks and just stare at her. She looks so small and vulnerable in the oversized shirt with her knees primly together like that.My heart shoots into my throat and I can barely breathe. “You don’t knock?” I ask, only half joking as I tuck the towel in around my waist.“You never knock.”I laugh and run my hand through my wet hair. “You are up early.”“Am I?”“For a neophyte. Give me two seconds, and I’ll fetch you a blood bag.” I don't want to leave. I want to throw her on her back and bury myself inside her. I want to become a part of her, possess her, finally claim her as mine and mine only.“No need,” she says. “I went down to the donor room, and the lady in charge there, Melanie-”“Melody?”“Yes, she might have said Melody. I couldn’t here properly, you know…because of the bloodlust.”I raise my eyebrows at her, afrai

Simone’s POVThe day Baron came to my room the first time and so violently took me, I knew my life would take one of only two paths. I’d end up dead before my thirtieth birthday, or Baron would turn me so he could own me in every way possibleIf I had a million guesses, I would never have imagined my life taking such a sharp turn into a completely different direction. There is a chance now, however slim, that I might have a life. Maybe I'd have the same chance if Baron turn me, but something tells me that my life with him would have been a bigger hell that it had been when I was still human.I am glad that it was Aldric who claimed me and made me in the end and not Baron. He sighs and pulls out of me, hissing softly as he does. I feel empty and cold without him. As if a part of me had been broken off and thrown away.How did this happen? How is this my life? I felt a shift between us the moment he entered me. It happened all at once and oh so completely. It was like two halves beco

Aldric's POVI hate talking about my human life. It’s bad enough that I tend to go back there every day - revisiting the past during my waking hours just seems like masochism at this point, but Simone is the one person who deserves to know about my past. She has to live with me for a very long time. “Where did you go?” she asks after a while. “After you ran...did he go after you?”“No, he didn’t.”**I fled from the manor house in a blind panic. I knew the land as well as I knew my own body and could find my way back home blindfolded in the dark.I did not go home that night.Half a summer of hearty meals and physical exercise on the farm had strengthened me, and I didn't know just how far I ran until my legs finally gave out and the sun came up. Only then, did I stop and realise that I was no longer on Dunkeld's estate.At that point, it was too late to go back home. I had left without permission. I wasn't educated at the time, but I knew enough of the world to understand that Dunkel

Simone's POVI don't move. I can't. The best I can do is to stare at Aldric with my mouth hanging open. For his part, he doesn’t look in the least bit concerned. “I expected him to show up here after I declared procreation illegal in my ward.”Sebastian glances at me before he speaks to his father. “That’s not why he’s here.”“Oh, I know why he's really here,” Aldric says.I should be scared right now. I should be balls-out terrified, but all I feel is glee. He came to us. This is our home. The vampires and humans here are loyal to us. “We can kill him.”“He’s an ancient,” Sebastian says. “He can’t be killed.”“Chop of his head and let him petrify…whatever,” I say. “We have the upper hand.”“We don’t,” Aldric informs me. “I have spies in my household, and I told you before that it’s nearly impossible to decapitate a vampire as old as Baron.” He turns to Sebastian. “Show him to my office and tell Zane to get a room ready for him.”“Yes, Father.” Sebastian's eyes flit in my direction th