Blood of Darkness | Eternal Bonds: Book 1

Preview of Soul of Shadows: Chapter One

*Selena*

I heard someone knocking incessantly on the door of my bedroom. I opened my eyes and saw that the black night table held a vase full of red roses and there was a note next to them.

My beautiful Selena,

It pains me to have to leave you so early, but I'd rather not risk facing Starlene and Sorina's wrath.

I'll be waiting for you at the end of the aisle.

Yours, always and forever,

Damien

I smiled. Damien was so sweet. I placed a hand on my stomach and thought about the discovery we had made three weeks prior. How had I not seen it sooner? All those dreams.

Recently, I'd gotten an ultrasound and Damien and I were reassured that our son was fine despite everything that had happened to me while I was held captive in the Ivy Grove.

The knocking at the door grew more impatient. I ignored it and glanced at the photo on Damien's night table. There was one of the two of us naturally. We were standing next to Lake Cassiopeia as the sun set. Our foreheads were resting together and there were happy smiled on our faces. Starlene had been rather sneaky when she managed to capture this on film. The other photo on Damien's night table was one of the six Drake siblings. Starlene, Gabriel, Sorina, Stefan, Alexandra, and Damien himself. I felt some sadness as I looked at that photo. Alexandra's death still haunted us all and Stefan still hadn't come home. He wasn't answering his phone either. Every time we called it would ring a few times and then go to his voicemail.

"Seriously Selena?!" a familiar melodious voice shouted, startling me out of my thoughts, "Are you even awake?! We can't have this wedding without the bride!"

I quickly opened the door and found an annoyed Starlene standing there with a sheepish looking Sorina. I was getting married that day and Damien's sisters had opted to help me. I let them in.

"Sorry Star," I told her, "I guess I slept in."

"God if you weren't pregnant with my nephew, I'd smack you," she told me, "Who sleeps in on their wedding day?!"

Damien and I had told Gabriel, Sorina, Leon, and Ava the news after the ultrasound and they were all thrilled for us. But somehow I was still waiting to hear Stefan make some sort of wise crack of inappropriate comment as he usually did, only to have Starlene smack him upside the head and give him a scolding. And I knew that Damien had been waiting for it too. But it never happened, since Stefan wasn't here and as the days went on, Stefan's absence became more and more prevalent to all of us.

Today was going to be hard as well. Damien was taking a huge step today, and he'd be doing so without one of his brothers present. 

"Go and shower, Selena," Starlene told me, "I'll get someone to send some breakfast up. Craving anything?"

"Peaches and bananas," I replied. She nodded and stuck her head outside the door, calling a nearby servant.

Sorina opened my closet and pulled out a black garment bag. My wedding dress. Damien had been very good after I'd decided to put it in our closet. He hadn't peeked once. When I asked him if he was even curious about it at all, he had told me that he wanted to see it on me for the first time as I walked down the aisle towards him.