MARIA "Why are you dressed like that?" It was the day for Iris' welcome party, and the host, currently standing on Maria's doorstep, was wearing a simple straight gown that reached her ankles. "What's wrong with my gown?" Iris frowned, pulling the material away from her body to examine it. "There's nothing wrong with it except for that fact that it's too casual to wear for your own party, don't you think?" Maria subtly stepped out of the way, making space for Iris to pass but she kept her feet firmly planted on the mat. "Oh," Realization flicked across her features and she waved a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about that. I'll change once I get to the castle. There's time."Maria nodded, now understanding why she was wearing that gown. She had probably showed up like this because she didn't want her gown to get rumpled or stained while coming here. Still, Maria hedged. "Do you want to come inside for a few minutes before we go?" Her eyes flicked to the car sitting in the drive
MARIA"Don't go," The object of her suffering called out, his voice low and broken, filled with longing, want and all the things Maria couldn't bear to hear right now but wanted to hear still. "Please."Maria stopped, hyper aware that they were in the middle of a crowd and that everyone was looking at them. She wanted to run away from the onslaught of emotions that she was feeling, but a greater part of her wanted to stay, to go to the one man who could make her feel whole again. "Please," Iris added, weakening Maria's already tenacious grip on resolve. She felt betrayed that Iris had pulled such a move on her but deep down, Maria knew why she had done it and that was the only thing stopping her from feeling real anger towards Iris. Maria stopped but she didn't turn back around for fear of what she would do if she faced Bran again. She couldn't bear seeing him hurt and not go to him. Even with her back to him, she knew that he had walked closer to her. She was just that in tune to
BRAN Bran wasn't going to lie. When he'd walked into that crowd, he'd gone in with a plan B because he knew that he had wronged Maria terribly and the chances of her forgiving him—or even listening to him—were very slim. With his heart in his throat, he'd poured out his feelings, baring the contents of his soul in the words he'd spoken to her. He'd gone against everything he'd learnt and knew, using his words instead of his actions to show her how he felt. He had put everything on the line, professing his love out in the open for his people to hear, knowing fully well the risks behind it—knowing that she could refuse him and that the shame would have destroyed him, along with the pain.The news of what he'd done would no doubt travel far and wide across all realms, but he'd been prepared for it. As he had been prepared for the disappointment he would feel if she'd refused him. His plan B, had she refused him, was for him to tuck his tail between his legs and return back to his cast
ONE MONTH LATERMARIA"Put the head in.""Bob your head faster.""Squeeze it—yeah, just like that."Flattening her tongue along the underside of Bran's cock, Maria watched his hands clench into fists, lost in the throes of pleasure and pain, his face contorted to match the emotions. In broad daylight when they both had things to be doing, such as Maria learning her new duties as a queen and Bran who was supposed to be having a meeting with his most trusted advisors, they had both snuck off into their room, wanting to take the edge off. One would think that with how hot their passion was, it would burn out quickly, but instead, it was like the more they had each other, the more insatiable they became for one another, seeking each other out during the day to get the most intense parts of their desires off before they would meet at night. But then again, maybe it was because they rarely saw each other during the day lately.Right now, he was leaning against the door shirtless, with je
I honestly do not know how to react properly to the fact that I just completed this book, but I am going to try my possible best and bring out all the words that are stuck in my heart. The Vampire King's Captive, Bran and Maria's story, has come to an end and I have never been more reluctant to let my characters go. Seriously, I found myself sitting in front of my laptop about to start writing in Maria's POV only for me to remember that I'm already done with the book. 😭I. Was. In. Pain. I have written about three books and this is the only one that I found hard to let go. I guess I'll just have to settle for re-reading their story and seeing bits of them in the next story in this series.Yes, you heard that right. It's going to be a series but whether you're going to keep reading depends on how much you want to get to know the characters(I really hope you read). The next book in the series is Corey and his mate's story, and the last book is Iris' story. I honestly cannot wait. I c
MARIA Perhaps there were a few things worse than having your nails forcefully pulled out, Maria thought.Hiding her revulsion, she stood with her hands hanging by her sides, ever ready to be summoned by Ariti when he needed them. It was never a matter of if, because he would always be in need of them, rather, it was a matter of when and from the looks of things, it was soon.She would rather be anywhere else in the worlds than standing in the courtroom, witnessing the death that was soon to take place. A death that she would, of course, deliver. She was positive she would pick having her nails removed over this, except that she knew the torture wouldn’t end there.It never did.The teenage girl sitting on the floor of the palace with her hands shackled behind her, wasn’t ready to co-operate.Despite having being dragged in here and harassed, with over twenty battle-hardened men, all watching her impatiently with eyes that promised evil, she had not shed a tear. In fact, she still man
MARIA A loud crash rang through the room.At first, no one knew how to react. Where had the noise come from? What was the source and most importantly, what the hell was happening?Distracted, Maria’s hand dropped as she whirled around, causing the blade that had been suspending over the teenage girl’s neck to clutter to the ground with a clang.At the back of her mind, she was relieved that this disturbance had taken their main focus off the girl, even if it was just temporarily. Maria could work with that. Hopefully, she would be assigned to detect the source of the disturbance and put a stop to it.And then if the killing would still take place, Maria wouldn’t be in charge of it anymore.She wasn’t sure that she could stomach it.At the forefront of her mind, however, was the cause of the crash. The palace workers weren’t known to cause a nuisance when Ariti was having one of his sessions. At least not anywhere near the courtroom anyway. They stayed as far away from it as they coul
MARIA Maria came to in a cell.An actual cell with a small cot on one side of it and a toilet—at least it wasn’t a bucket. She stared at the thick iron bars, preventing her from her from getting the hell out of this place in disbelief.She was actually being held in a cell. Preposterous!Did that man know who she was? To toss her on the ground of this disgusting cell like some commoner? He hadn’t even taken his time to place her on the dingy looking cot that looked like it would snap under the slightest weight.On second thought, she was glad he hadn’t dropped her on it. If he had, a landing on the floor was what would have woken her up.She looked around the cell, rising from the ground. She wanted to dust the dirt from the ground off her body, but there was no water in sight and she couldn’t risk leaving her palms dirty.“Hello?” She called out into the darkness. There was no response. The only light she could see, came from the window of her cell. Other than that, it was completel