The vampire's personal witch

laced by a chilling cold that seeped into her bones. The room was

reamed that some

ody had grown worse overnight, and her head swam with dizziness. As she stru

wasn't

unger. They were dressed in tattered clothing, their faces hidden

Seraphine asked,

ession from the night before. "Did you really think someone like

betrayed. Lira had never intended to he

he struggled, but she was too weak, her body still broken from the years of abuse. Tears stre

n," Lira said, her voice laced with veno

e. Stupid witches-can't even teach their own properly." Lira scoffed, her eyes narrowing. "What nonsense about witches turning evil? They barely let anyone outsid

rling in disdain. "I've never even

she felt her heart shatter once again. The world had betrayed her, an

r messages easily, they were birds altered by the witches magic and were also used as trades. Witches also never let anyone into their abode and even the merchants couldn't tell why, trades wer

in. She was a prisoner once more, trapped in a cage like an animal, bound for a future even darker than the one she had escaped. Th

n her mind: *"You'll

the cruelty in Lira's voice, the way she had so casually betrayed her. How could she have

s she guessed, all of them looking as though they had long ago given up hope. They didn't mo

despair, and we could

oached. She caught a glimpse of torchlight flickering through the bars of her cage and heard rough voices shouting orders. Th

agging her out of the

was pulled toward a large wooden structure in the middle of the clearing. It was a slave market, she realized with horror. A makes

she didn't know if to hate Lira or the race itself-crowded around the auction block, th

s she was pushed forward, for

es and gentlemen," she called out, her voice smooth and commanding.

rther. She felt exposed, vulnerable, as eyes roamed over her,

" Lira's voice rang out, and

his hand. "Five hundred crow

uted another, a wo

e deeper into despair. She could feel herself slipping away, her

eaths coming in shallow gasps. *I can't go bac

making her feel more like a piece of

at figure stepping forward from the shadows. The air seemed to grow colder as he approached, his presence f

his voice low and smooth, cutting through the cro

who seemed momentarily taken aback. But t

dripping with satisfaction.

gaze locked onto hers. There was something terrifyin

er like a possession. As she stood before him, her body trembling,

e Thales Rexhard Gravesend, Lord of Adinburgh. he said

und her in the auction that Duke Thales of Adinburgh had been curs

her into the cage of the cart, she fainted from sheer terror. But the butler was merciless. He dragge

le who always hated me and then hated me even more after my parents died. Now, I'm going to die at the hands of strangers." The cold metal around her neck and the hard floor beneath her felt suffocating. "