The next morning at breakfast they were sitting together. The same feeling of jealousy peeked it's head up, I shoved  it back down.

I looked up at Lucien and he was already looking at me. Before the king arrived, he spoke to me quietly 'meet me after breakfast?' he mouthed and I nodded before looking down at my plate.

I walked with Lucien to his study. Once we arrived, he dug into his drawer before pulling out a letter 'it arrived in the mail for you today, but don't tell anyone I'm not supposed to give you anything from the outside' he explained, handing me the letter

It was a wedding invite with a letter from my brother stappled inside. I looked up and Lucien inquisitively before he elaborated ' I didn't read it , I just opened it to see what it was' my face broke out in a huge smile as I unfolded the piece of paper.

Dear Orla,

Firstly, I want to say I'm sorry. I realised that I had made your home coming into an argument with mum and dad and I shouldn't have.

It's been tense in the house recently I guess my temper bubbled over. I know you're not use to seeing me like that and it wasn't fair of me to turn what should have bene a happy moment into a tense on. That being said I don't take any of it back, I want you to come to the wedding and I want you to be able to live a normal life ,seeing you upset confirmed that for me .There might not be anything I can do about it right now but as soon as I can I will make sure your home safe and happy.

I have encompassed the wedding invitation. I hope you are able to attend. I will understand if you can't but I want you to have the invite anyway. As I am wiring this, I am aware that you may never even see this letter. If you are reading this, please write back to put my worries at ease.

Remember your family loves you, we are praying for you.

Your brother, Gregor

Lucien was looking at me as I finished reading ' Who was it?'

'My brother' I said as my eyes glossed over the lines 'your family loves you'. I re read it five times. I don't remember if my brother has every told me he loves me. It makes me feel safe knowing my family is still thinking about me.

Lucien jumped up to stand beside me and I quickly gripped the letter closers scared it will lose its meaning is I let anyone read it.

'You should write back to him and tell him you can come to the wedding'

'I will' I said smiling to myself

Thinking about the wedding made me remember that Charlie wanted to get married and I wondered if Lucien might know what happed to her after she returned home.

'I wonder if Charlie will be getting married soon' I said looking to him. But his face dropped when I said it and I worried I said the wrong thing.

'Your still thinking about that girl ?' he said with a tinge of disappointment in his voice. I wasn't quite sure how but I think I might have ruined he moment.

'Yeah , she seemed nice , told me a boy from her town wanted to marry her' I explained, still confused by the expression that now lingered on his pretty face.

'Urgh Orla why are you doing this to me, I told you sees gone' he said turning his face from me as he rubbed his hands over his hair.

I remained quite giving him time to continue

'She's dead, my father killed her. I thought you understood that'

The blood drained from my face as the overwhelming feeling of dreed washed over my chest and face 'W... What do you mean killed her ?' I asked unsure if I wanted to know the answer

'That's what happens when you're not chosen , you sacrifice yourself' he said with an all to casual tone for the situation.

'No' I said tears now welling in my eyes. My throat felt sticky as I tried to talk 'please tell me your joking'

He shook his head. I stared at him in disbelief and we were silent for a tense second. Neither one of us knowing what to say.

'Please tell me , that night at the party when you were getting drunk and fucking vampire women that you hadn't just murdered three innocent people beforehand' I said, fire rising in me more and more with each word, before becoming a crescendo of anger that tingled through me.

'It's just the way it is.' He replied , giving me nothing to read on his face.

'Fuck you' I said turning to leave, knowing I needed to get myself out of this room.

I tried to compose myself as I walked back to my room but as I approached my door I felt a hand on my shoulder turning me back around. Expecting to see Lucien trying to apologise I immediately went back int to defence mode as I wiped my tears on my sleeve. But it wasn't Lucien.

The king looked down at me, his eyes landed on the letter that was now balled in my hand 'What's that?' he asked before snatching it from me. I froze, fear enveloped me as the realisation hit me of what he was about to read. Instead of killing me right on the spot he instead took my hand and lead me into his office across the hall.

He ushered me in and pointed me towards a seat opposite the desk 'Sit, please' he said before taking his own seat. 'I want to talk about your responsibilities, its standards procedure for a new royal feed and I should have done it earlier with you. I just want to highlight some things' he said staring me down. I suddenly panicked, was this standard procedure or was I really being told off.

'You see Orla, my son is still not very good at being a prince so I must step up as his father to make sure you're doing the right thing' His voice was dripped with passive aggression. I tensed in my seat, was Lucien going to be in trouble for giving me the letter. ' In this castle' he continued 'you will serve Lucien first and will not agree to any other vampire feeding from you or touching you in any way without his permission , unless of course that person is me. You will not participate in drinking, drugs or sex or really anything without expressed permission do you understand.'

I nodded my head

'If you disobey these rules, you will be stripped of your royal feed rank, you will be sent back home and your family will no longer be looked after. That is why it's so important that you are explicitly aware of these rules. While I'm telling you these rues it's also common place that you will not write to your family or seek information from the outside.'

I nodded, shame now taking over the feelings of fear. I knew it was wrong for me to ask to go to the wedding. I knew I wasn't allowed to leave and I put my family at risk when I asked to go. I tried to push down the voice inside of me that was screaming at me to retaliate. He killed Charlie and I'm sitting here letting him control my life. A second voice with more survival instincts made me stay quiet and accept the lecture.

He looked down at me with a face of someone trying really hard to act sympathetic 'I know you're a good girl Orla, but you should have never received this letter' he said holding it up. He rounded the desk to stand in front of me. I looked up at him and instead of seeing his false expression of empathy I saw something much darker; bloodlust.

Before I had time to process what was happening, he was grabbing my wrist and biting into me. He bit deep, deeper than Lucien had every bit me and I knew that it would leave a scar as soon as I felt the immense pain course through me. I cried out but my voice sounded muffled as the intensity of the high hit me.

Instead of the bubbling tipsiness I had felt when Lucien feed on me I felt blackout drunk. My body froze with the overload of sensation. My head felt heavy on my neck as I let it fall back onto the chair. My mind went completely blank, unable to summon any response to the sudden attack. When he finally let me go, my body felt limp and my eyelids were heavy on my face. I panicked as my thoughts returned to me and I noticed the new condition my body was now in. When I did manage to open my eyes, the world was spinning as I watched the king walk out of his office. I sat there for too long trying to sober up as I grabbed onto anything around me trying to ground myself back into reality.

I must have manged to stumble back into my room because I awoke slumped on the floor with two distinct beliefs in my head. One; I can't let that man feed off me again. Two; I must follow the king's rules if I want to protect my family. The awareness that I now had to attend a party frustrated me as I noticed the time.