Page 99 of Princess Redeemed

No longer a creature of darkness and seduction.

I have become something more—something formidable and resilient.

Someone with a purpose.A destiny.

Eris may have been fated to mate with Rogan, but she was not my enemy.She was another piece played by those who believed they held power over my fate.

First my father.

Then my stepfather.

But I have altered the path before me, taken control in a world where none seemed possible.

The crunch of dead leaves beneath my feet is all that breaks the silence surrounding me.I hear the gentle rustling of my clothes, the faint thump of my heartbeat.The quicker thud of his—my tiny son’s—inside me.

I feel his movements again, a small flutter that brings a smile to my face.Even in these dire circumstances, joy can be found.

So I cling to it.

To the joy in the love I have for my baby.For his father.

I continue my journey through the ether.Each step is measured, calculated like the moves on a chessboard.

The darkness within me stirs, whispers inaudible words of power and destiny.Its voice is seductive and bone-chilling at once.

And I embrace it.

I embrace my vampire side fully, perhaps for the first time ever.

I need every part of me to face the demon king.

I’m not the innocent girl who trembled before his wrath as a teenager.He holds no power over me.Not anymore.

If the loss of my mother is the price I must pay to protect my child, so be it.

You’ve become exactly what fate demanded of you.And more.

The words emerge in my mind in a voice I don’t expect.

Not in the gentle but powerful voice of my mentor, Alara.

No.

The dark, rich, and commanding voice belongs to my father, the vampire king.

Before I can determine the meaning of the words coming from him, I see it.

A shimmer.

A portal out of the ether.

And I walk through.

62

My bedroom greets me.

“Fuck,” Rogan says, nearly jumping off my bed.“You might warn a guy.”