CHAPTER 2: THE AWAKENING
Elara's POV
I woke up drowning in silk and the scent of blood roses and for one desperate moment thought maybe the collectors and the throne room and the silver-eyed vampire had all been a nightmare.
Then I felt him like a second heartbeat beneath my ribs and knew the bond was real and permanent and living inside me like something I couldn't cut out.
My body felt wrong in ways I couldn't name and when I sat up too fast the room spun and I had to grip sheets softer than anything I'd ever touched just to stay upright.
The chamber around me was decorated with wealth I'd only seen from a distance and I hated how comfortable the bed was because comfort felt like the first trap. Then I looked down and saw I was wearing a nightgown I'd never seen before and my rain-soaked dress was gone and rage flooded through me because someone had undressed me while I was unconscious without my permission.
Through the bond I felt a flicker of something that might have been guilt and my anger spiked hotter because he could feel everything I felt and I had no privacy left even inside my own head.
The hunger hit me next and it wasn't normal hunger but something deeper that made my mouth water and my teeth ache in a way that sent ice down my spine. I pressed my tongue against them and felt points that were sharper than they should be and my hands started shaking because human teeth didn't do this and I was changing into something I didn't want to become.
Through the bond I felt him react to my panic and his presence grew closer like a storm rolling in and my body responded with heat that terrified me because I shouldn't want him near me but the bond was rewriting my instincts without asking. The door opened and a girl maybe nineteen entered with vampire-pale skin and bright eyes but something softer in her expression than the creatures I'd seen in the tunnels.
"I'm Mira and I'm supposed to make sure you don't accidentally get yourself killed," she said and set down a tray of food I didn't want. She moved around the room lighting candles and when she spoke again her voice was quieter. "The bond is changing you and it's going to get worse and you need to stay in this room until Kael says otherwise because half the court would love to use you against him."
The fear in her voice when she said his name made my chest tight and through the bond I felt him getting closer and my pulse jumped. "He hasn't left since you collapsed," Mira continued. "Been broadcasting anxiety so loud the whole court feels it and that's not normal for him which means you've already changed him and he doesn't like it."
The door opened again and he filled the space like darkness given form and every candle flame bent toward him. Silver eyes found mine across the room and through the bond his relief crashed into me so hard it knocked the breath from my lungs and underneath was hunger and possessiveness and something that looked almost like fear.
Mira vanished and it was just us and the bond pulsing between us like a living thing. He crossed to me with that inhuman grace and stopped close enough that I could smell winter nights and old blood and my traitorous body flooded with heat I couldn't control.
His eyes swept over me and darkened when they caught on my throat and through the bond I felt his hunger spike sharp enough to make me gasp. He reached toward my face and stopped himself and I felt his war between wanting to touch me and knowing I'd flinch away.
"How do you feel?" he asked and his voice was softer than before.
The bond made lying pointless. "Wrong," I whispered. "My teeth hurt and I'm hungry but not for food and I don't know what's happening."
Something flickered across his face before his expression locked down. "The bond is transforming you to survive in this world and it's going to hurt and I can't stop it but I can make it easier." His voice dropped lower. "The ache you feel is your body craving what it needs and fighting it will only make you suffer longer."
I knew what he meant and my stomach revolted but that terrible hunger twisted harder and part of me wanted it and I hated myself for that wanting. "I'm not a vampire," I said desperately.
"Not yet," he agreed and the sadness in his voice confused me. "But you're not human anymore either and the bond won't let you stay between forever."
Through the bond I felt his hunger for me warring with something gentler and it terrified me because I could feel myself responding and I didn't know anymore what was the bond and what was me. His hand lifted again and this time his fingers brushed my cheek so softly it felt like a question and when I didn't pull away his thumb traced my jaw and the bond flared so bright between us it hurt.
"I'll give you time," he said quietly and his hand dropped. "But the hunger will grow and eventually you'll come to me because the bond won't give you another choice and we both know it."
He turned and walked to the door and I felt his forced restraint through our connection, felt how much it cost him to leave when everything in him wanted to stay. At the threshold he stopped without looking back.
"Sleep while you can," he said. "Tomorrow the court meets you and they'll be looking for weakness."
Then he was gone and I was alone with the bond aching in my chest and the terrible knowledge that he was right and I was running out of time to be anything except what he was making me.