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The prince had put me in the room next to his penthouse on the top floor. I was the only one who had the privilege of staying on this floor, even though I preferred the servant’s room first assigned to me by Drusilla. My blood was so rare that Louis became paranoid that I’d be drained by others if he didn’t keep me close.

Louis had a lot of quirks and vices, but he never brought women to his suite. He screwed them elsewhere. Only Gunnar, Drusilla, and the prince’s old maid were allowed to come up to this floor.

I pushed open the door to my room that was converted from a storage space. It had a window though. The door had no lock, since Louis wanted to make sure that he could stroll in here anytime he wanted.

I’d been extremely careful when I changed my clothes. The vampire prince didn’t respect my privacy. But after he and Gunnar both got the treatment of scorpions and spiders falling on them from the top of the doorframe, they were more discreet.

And next time, I promised that they’d get a horde of hornets.

I took off my boots, put them in the closet, and flopped onto the bed.

It was always nice to have a nap before lunch.

Until a shriek pierced my mind and dark mist invaded my head.

12

The shrieks and wails went on and on, like a fury’s cries in the distance.

Cold sweat broke out of my every pore. I was halfway to hyperventilation, which always happened when I sensed Shriekers looming closer.

I rolled off the bed and rushed toward the window, my heart in my throat.

Those abominations had breached the Veil. They were in the academy grounds somewhere.

But how had they gotten in?

They shouldn’t have the kind of magic to push through the Veil, but then the mage prince had mentioned that the portal to the academy was their weaker back door.

Last time, the raven, my father’s spy, had also gotten in. I’d killed it before it could report back to Ruin. I’d speculated that the raven getting in was because it was a magical creature, unlike Shriekers that were made by my father’s dark power.

Chills crept over my bones as a flashback flooded my fluttering eyelids.

Ruin in his half shadowy skeleton and half gorgeous humanoid form latched onto me, sucking the magic I’d brought back into himself. When there was no more magic left in me, he started to dine on my essence. The excruciating pain of being consumed alive made me beg for death.

Yet I couldn’t die, even as I diminished and shrank into a mummy-like hollowed form. At six, I’d tried to escape after I was revived, only to be hunted and chained in a deep pit on top of dirt, moss, and bones.

I learned not to rush into action after Ruin’s severe punishment, after he’d also let Shriekers feed on me, chewing my flesh and picking on my insides while I endured every second.

I learned to bide my time, planning my great escape meticulously, pretending to be an obedient daughter and servant to please him, enduring being fed upon by him for eleven years. I’d never failed to show my loyalty to him and had passed all his tests.

Until I was strong enough. Until he finally let his guard down. Then one day, in the field while harvesting magic for him, Sy and I slaughtered all his agents that escorted and guarded me.

We’d escaped at the perfect time.

Ruin was getting stronger. One more year and the eater of worlds would mostly recover from being fatally wounded by the two other original gods eons ago, and then he’d venture into our world, consuming it. Everything we knew would be history.

For eight years now, Ruin and his agents had never stopped hunting me. Sy and I had never had a full night of sleep, not even after I’d come to Mist of Cinder, as we were always looking over our shoulder, afraid and paranoid. And when we slept, nightmares came.

I gazed out the window, and Sy peeked out too.

The high noon sun glinted off the top of the ivory tower in the distance. Skyward accommodated a private study, private library, top research center, and meeting rooms that only the prince heirs had access to. It was heavily warded. I hadn’t had time to sneak in, but it was on my to-do list.

I looked closer to home, at the cherry blossoms flourishing in the golden rays in the back garden of the House of Vampires. The Shriekers were bold enough to hunt me at noon. Ruin was getting more desperate.

As dread kept rising in me and toxic fear thundered in my chest, rage formed like beating wings.

I’d finally found a place where I could fit in. The magic here was like my kin, and it accepted me instead of fearing me. I’d grown protective of it, but now Father had found me, and he was going to strip me down until I had nothing, no one, and nowhere to go again.