Page 77 of The Ballad of the Vampire Prince

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

I nod briefly.

Ever so softly, her eyes shutter close. I continue to watch over her, waiting to see whether it’s one of her beautiful dreams or nightmares that will haunt her tonight.

Nel stirs in sleep again, gasping. “Stop it…”

Her hand swings a punch.

Nightmare it is.

Half of the time I leave her be. The pillows around her provide enough protection. I don’t want to risk her waking up and seeing me touch her in her sleep. She’ll think I’m a creep and I’ll get kick out of her room.

“Go away…”

But her thrashing is more violent than normal today.

“Calm down, Nel,” I whisper to her ear.

I will have to restrain her while she wrestles with whatever demonic legion screwing with her in that night terror.

I touch her delicate wrist to tuck her back into the blanket. Her hand suddenly latches to me desperately. There’s no way I can free myself from her fierce grip.

Fuck it.

I slide onto the bed and hold her in my arms. She snuggles her body to me, nestling deeper into my embrace. It’s like she’s done this a hundred times in a different lifetime.

I feel her breathing against my chest, the warmth of her skin seeping into me. The new angle gives me access to her fresh, subtle scent.

She smells so good. Like water lilies and wildflowers.

“It hurts. Make it go away…”

Something inside me cracks. Every beast in me scrambling to search for whoever she wants us to destroy.

I wish I can take it all away. Every ounce of her pain, every shadow underneath her eyes. Maybe I should just snatch her and hide her away from the world.

“I’ve got you, Nel.” I push the tangle of silver hair from her face. “I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

I have truly fucked up before.

But I’ll win back that trust.

One day, Rhianelle will wake up and realize she was always supposed to be mine.

Chapter 11 Rhianelle

Things have been surprisingly comfortable between me and Svenn lately. It’s the little things that I noticed first. Like he lets me walk two steps ahead of him so our pace would match. Sometimes it even feels like he adores me. But maybe that is just wishful thinking on my part.

I can’t forget the way sunlight shone on his broad shoulders after our sword practice earlier. Why did he have to train with me without his shirt today? Now I have to take this shower to calm myself.

I let the frigid water run over me, soothing the exhaustion and the desire heating my skin. It’s failing miserably at the latter.

I dress into my nightgown quickly to prepare for bed. My face is still flustered when I glance at myself in the mirror. I wash it quickly with cold water to make sure it disappears. But the blush remains long after I wiped my face dry.

I guess it’s here to stay then…