CHAPTER 3: THE COURT
Elara's POV
The hunger woke me before dawn and this time it came with teeth.
I'd barely slept three hours before my body started screaming for something I didn't want to name and when I opened my eyes my mouth tasted like copper and my canines throbbed with an ache that went bone-deep. Through the bond I felt Kael awake and waiting and the knowledge that he'd been monitoring me even in sleep made my skin burn.
Mira appeared with a dress the color of old wine and her expression was all business. "Court assembly in two hours," she said laying out garments that probably cost more than my father's debts. "We need to make you look like you belong there."
I wanted to refuse but through the bond I felt Kael's certainty and knew I didn't actually have a choice.
The dress clung to me in ways that made me look like someone else and when I caught my reflection I barely recognized the girl staring back. Paler skin, brighter eyes, sharper cheekbones, and something predatory in my face that looked wrong and felt too right.
Every vampire in the halls turned to watch me pass with expressions ranging from hunger to calculation and through the bond Kael's presence grew stronger with each step and my body responded with heat that made my new teeth ache worse. Then the doors opened and I walked into a room packed with vampires who all turned to stare and the weight of their attention felt like drowning.
I kept my chin up and made myself walk down the center aisle while hundreds of predator eyes tracked my movement because showing fear would be like bleeding in front of sharks.
Kael sat watching me with an intensity that made everything else disappear and when I reached him he stood and descended and his hand came up to cup my face and the bond flared so bright several vampires gasped.
"My blood mate," he said and his voice carried absolute authority. "Elara Voss who will stand as Lady of this court and any who challenge her challenge me directly."
Shock rippled through the room and a woman with white-blonde hair and ice-blue eyes stood and her smile was pure malice. "How convenient that after eight centuries you've found a blood mate who's just a powerless human," she said and her voice dripped poison. "Surely you can't expect us to accept her without proof she deserves it."
The temperature dropped so fast I saw my breath and Kael's fury through the bond hit me like arctic wind. "Seraphine," he said softly and somehow that was more terrifying than shouting. "If you're volunteering to test whether she needs my protection I'm happy to watch what happens."
Her smile stayed fixed but I smelled her fear beneath it. "An untested human as our Lady seems unwise," she said and murmurs of agreement rippled through the crowd. "Let her prove her worth in single combat."
My heart hammered and through the bond I felt Kael calculating how many he'd have to kill to end this.
"What proof?" I asked and my voice cut through the whispers.
Seraphine's eyes gleamed with vicious delight. "Fight me at dawn and show us what makes you worthy when you can't even survive one of us alone."
Kael's arm came around me protective and deadly. "Elara is under my protection and anyone who touches her answers to me."
"Then she's just a pet not a partner," someone called and laughter followed.
I felt Kael's control fracturing and knew he was seconds from slaughtering half the room and that would only prove their point. The hunger twisted sharp in my gut and something reckless rose up because I was done being discussed like I wasn't there.
"I accept," I said and felt Kael go absolutely rigid.
Seraphine laughed like ice breaking. "Dawn tomorrow and we'll see if you have any bite to match that bark."
The court erupted and Kael turned me to face him and his eyes burned with fury and fear. His voice slammed into my head sharp and intimate and I realized with shock we could speak mind to mind.
What have you done?
What I had to, I shot back and felt his rage spike hotter.
She'll kill you, he snarled in my thoughts. You've been changing for one day and she's six hundred years old and I can't intervene without making you look weaker.
Then teach me, I said meeting his eyes. I have until dawn so teach me how to survive her.
Something shifted in his expression and through the bond I felt his war between fury at my recklessness and reluctant admiration. His hand gripped the back of my neck and he pulled me close enough that his forehead pressed to mine.
"You're going to be the death of me," he said roughly.
"Not if Seraphine kills me first," I whispered.
His laugh was sharp and humorless and through the bond I felt his resolve harden into something fierce. He turned to face the court still holding me against his side.
"The challenge is accepted," he said and his voice carried cold promise. "And when my mate stands over Seraphine's broken body tomorrow you'll all remember that I don't choose weak things."
The crowd parted as he led me out and through the bond I felt his terror beneath the confident mask because he'd just bet everything on me surviving something I had almost no chance of winning.
We had one night to turn me into something dangerous enough to live through dawn and we both knew it might not be enough.