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No one had come running, but every single guard in there was hunched over the princess. All of them yelling, but none of them truly helping.

I pushed through the door, my heart pounding in my chest.

How the fuck did this happen while I was gone?

The Castle family home was supposed to be one of the hardest to break into, and yet on my first full day at the palace, the princess was already hunched over on the floor, dry-heaving, and looking like she was about to lose her fight to keep on living.

It wasn’t hard to push the panicking guards away—they were too frightened. Not surprising since none of them had the actual experience to think on their feet.

Just like the princess, they had been sheltered, spoiled by the easy life they had in the palace.

It only made me angrier.

“Get the head guard!” I growled at one of them. “Another one of you useless idiots inform the king.”

Two guards left, leaving me with the remaining three idiots. All of them were staring at us, unmoving.

I gripped the princess’s clammy face, forcing her eyes to meet mine. They were bright red and filled with bloody tears that stained the skin of her cheeks.

Black vine-like veins throbbed across her temples, and her skin had paled significantly.She was dying.

This wasn’t just any attack. It was magic. That was the only thing that could do this.

But the witch—Cedar—was assigned to the perimeter and far away from the princess.It couldn’t have been her, could it?

The princess’s gasps were painful. As hard as she tried, there was no getting anything into her lungs.

Vampires are supposed to heal themselves.

Healthy vampires. Vampires that have enough blood to support the creation of venom.

The venom could help fight the magic, right? Assuming it wasn’t too potent?

I looked at her face, her neck, any visible skin I could. The amount couldn’t have been enough to kill her instantly. Probably half the dose of what was needed to truly bring her down.

We are dealing with an amateur.

“When was the last time she drank blood?” I asked. No one had an answer. She hadn’t been drinking much, if at all, the entire time her friend was here. She had been too focused on healing the girl.

“She just got some delivered,” a guard behind her said after a moment. “Then she started—this.”

Too long. This is taking too long. If I don’t get her blood, then I may really lose my chance.

It shouldn’t have made me panic like it did, but when her hands gripped my shirt and her mouth flopped open as she gasped for air…Something else overcame me.

“Drink,” I commanded and pushed up my sleeve for her to drink. I pushed it toward her mouth, but all she did was stare at me. Those bright red eyes held some type of message in them. She was telling me to do something.To do what?

I cursed under my breath before looking around the room. I didn’t want to use the sword strapped to my back for this. It wasn’t meant to pierce my skin…it was forhers.

Next to us were crystal glasses, once filled with blood, now shattered, allowing blood to seep into the floor.

I grabbed one of the cleaner shards and brought it down on my wrist, deep enough to draw blood for her. I barely registered the pain, too concerned that I might truly lose my chance to fulfill the prophecy.

Turning back to the princess, I tilted her head up and forced my bleeding wrist to her mouth.

“Drink, princess,” I whispered to her.

She didn’t listen at first. The blood filled her mouth to the point that it was spilling over at the corners, but then, as I brushed my fingers down the column of her throat, she took her first gulp.