The Vampire Prince and His Brat | On Hold

Chapter Five | The Brat's Engagement Part I

Kaliana blinked, her vision blurry, her head oddly fuzzy as she lay there... wherever there was. It certainly wasn't her fluffy bed, and her favourite teddy bear was not in her hands. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Her mattress was rocking gently, and her pillow was warmer and firmer than she remembered. She froze, the events of the day before coming back to her in a rush, and she startled awake. Her eyes fluttered open, narrowing as she caught sight of the annoyance – and he was the one carrying her, though it was different to his last method of approach. He was carrying her like a princess this time around. A damned princess.

"Finally awake, are we?" Bright blue eyes peered down into her own, shadowed by the darkness of the early morning sky. The sun wasn't out yet, but rays of light were already creeping over the horizon. She had been asleep for hours, she realised with a start. It had been evening the last she remembered, though it had been dark for longer periods, seeing as they were still well within the wintery months. "Took you long enough." His irritatingly smooth voice brought her out of her thoughts, pulling her attention back to her rather compromising situation. "I was beginning to think you were going to keep snoring until we reached the palace."

Kaliana snarled, concealing a yawn. She would show no weakness in front of the git. "You're the one who drugged me, thank you very much!"

He shrugged. "Well, it couldn't be helped."

A growl sounded, rumbling from her chest. "That's complete rubbish, and you know it!"

Leviathan only smiled, as if her growl didn't faze him in the slightest, and Kaliana realised soon after it probably didn't. He was a well-known warrior, and he'd patrolled the borders of their kingdom and walked away with barely a scratch. He was impossibly strong. She huffed, looking away from him and his unnerving stare. "The main vampire line is expected to have some sort of resistance to toxins, drugs, and poisons," he explained, smiling sweetly at her as though she should be thanking him for drugging her. "So just consider it an introduction to that part of your education."

Kaliana fought the urge to shiver. "Education?" She was supposed to be done with that.

"Well of course," he said with a scoff. "You can hardly be queen with how you act now. You'd bring the whole kingdom crashing to her knees with that attitude of yours." He leant closer, face alarmingly close. "Rest assured the palace tutors will bring you up to scratch... though I'll happily give my sweet little brat a few extra special lessons in private." His grin turned feral. "I'll be gentle though, don't you worry."

She spluttered, cheeks reddening at the implications of those words. "You—"

He cut her off before she could get another vaguely insulting word out. "Hush."

"Put me down!" she screeched, face burning with embarrassment. She hated him. She absolutely hated him... but she would get her revenge against him eventually. She just needed to be patient, and admittedly that wasn't exactly her strongest suit.

Leviathan glanced down at her, eyebrow raised, and she finally realised what had been bothering her since she woke up. They were no longer in the carriage. Instead, her horrible husband-to-be was carrying her across the rooftops of a very familiar city. The capital city of the Vampire Kingdom. Skordia. It had been years since she'd been there, but the sloping black rooftops and the numerous high slate grey walls left little doubt in her mind.

To her mind it appeared as dreary as a prison, because that was what it was going to be for her. Somewhere she couldn't escape from.

"You sure you want me to put you down here?" he asked, and her temper flared like a hot poker. "Certain?"