The carriage rattled over a cobblestone path, each jolt a reminder of the life I was leaving behind. I squeezed my eyes shut, my fingers digging into the worn velvet of the seat.
Outside, a perpetual twilight bathed the world in shades of bruised purple and deep indigo. Here, the sun was a myth, a forgotten god.
This was the Kingdom of Nocturne.
And my new prison.
The Crimson Veil Academy.
The name alone sounded like a threat. An institution of higher learning for the children of the night, the vampire nobility who ruled this shadowed land from their ancestral keeps.
And I, Seraphina, was to be part of the "curriculum."
My father's debts had sealed my fate.
A life of servitude in exchange for my family's freedom.
A human offering to the vampires.
The carriage lurched to a stop.
My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic drumbeat in the suffocating silence.
Through the grimy window, I saw it.
A monolithic fortress of black stone and gothic spires that seemed to scrape the starless sky.
A pair of iron gates slowly creaked open.
The sound echoed through the cold night like a warning.
The carriage rolled forward into the academy grounds.
The courtyard was enormous, lit by rows of dim crimson lanterns. Towering statues of ancient vampires watched from every corner like silent judges.
Students were already gathered there.
Dozens of them.
All pale.
All beautiful.
All watching me.
The moment the carriage stopped, whispers spread through the crowd.
"A human…"
"They actually brought one this year."
"How fragile."
My stomach twisted.
I stepped down slowly from the carriage, my boots touching the cold stone ground.
The air here felt heavier… thicker… almost suffocating.
Like the entire place was alive.
A silver-haired vampire girl leaned toward her friend, her crimson eyes lingering on my neck.
"I wonder how sweet her blood tastes," she murmured.
Soft laughter spread among the students.
I forced myself to keep walking.
Fear would only make them enjoy this more.
A tall man in a dark uniform approached me. His expression was completely emotionless.
"Name," he said flatly.
"Seraphina Vale."
He wrote something in a small black book.
"Human servant. Dormitory C."
A ripple of laughter moved through the crowd again.
"Dormitory C?"
"That's basically the feeding wing."
My pulse quickened.
Before I could say anything—
The atmosphere changed.
Suddenly, the entire courtyard fell silent.
Even the cruel laughter stopped.
I felt it instantly.
A strange pressure in the air.
Powerful.
Heavy.
Dangerous.
Slow footsteps echoed across the stone courtyard.
Step.
Step.
Step.
Every vampire student straightened.
Some even lowered their heads.
I turned.
And saw him.
Tall.
Dark hair falling slightly over his sharp face.
A long black coat moved with the night wind behind him.
But it was his eyes that froze the breath in my lungs.
Crimson.
Deep.
Predatory.
Someone whispered beside me.
"The Prince…"
Prince Lucian Nightfall.
The heir to the Kingdom of Nocturne.
The most feared vampire in the academy.
His gaze slowly moved across the courtyard…
Until it stopped on me.
For a moment, the world seemed to hold its breath.
His crimson eyes studied me carefully.
Like a predator examining something fragile.
Or something valuable.
Then the corner of his lips lifted slightly.
Not a warm smile.
Something darker.
More dangerous.
"Well," he murmured softly.
"So this is the human they brought to my academy."
My heart began to pound.
Because the way he was looking at me…
Wasn't the way a prince looks at a servant.
It was the way a predator looks at something…
It intends to claim.
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