Chapter 3

The world blurred into streaks of black and silver.

One moment, Kael Draven’s hand was clamped around my wrist; the next, the ground vanished beneath me. Wind roared in my ears, rain lashing against my face, and I realized with terror that we were no longer standing on the campus.

We were moving—no, flying.

My body pressed against his, his strength the only thing keeping me from tumbling into the storm. His coat whipped around us like wings, his crimson eyes glowing faintly in the night.

“Stop!” I screamed, but my voice was swallowed by the wind. “Put me down!”

He didn’t answer. His expression was carved from stone, unreadable, focused only on some distant destination.

When my sneakers finally hit solid ground, I stumbled, nearly collapsing. My lungs burned, my stomach twisted from the unnatural speed.

I blinked, trying to make sense of my surroundings. We were no longer on campus. The familiar glow of the city was gone. Instead, towering gates of black iron rose before us, carved with symbols I didn’t recognize. Beyond them loomed a fortress—ancient stone walls stretching into the storm clouds, spires like jagged teeth piercing the sky.

My chest tightened. This place… it didn’t belong to the human world. It felt older. Darker.

“Where—where are we?” I managed, my voice trembling.

Kael turned his head slightly, his gaze burning into me. “My domain.”

The gates creaked open with a groan that echoed through the storm. Figures emerged from the shadows—men and women dressed in black, their eyes glowing faintly. Vampires.

They bowed low, some pressing fists to their chests in a gesture of reverence.

“Welcome back, Your Majesty,” one of them murmured.

I shivered. The air was thick with power, and every single gaze flicked to me, sharp and questioning. Their whispers slid through the rain like knives.

“Who is she?”

“Why does the King bring a mortal here?”

“She smells… different.”

Kael silenced them with a single look. “She is under my protection.” His tone was final, deadly.

Their whispers died instantly.

But my panic only grew. “I don’t belong here,” I said, clutching my notebook to my chest, even though the rain had ruined its pages. “I’m just a student. I have nothing to do with any of this.”

Kael’s expression didn’t soften. “You have everything to do with this.”

He led me through the gates, his stride long and commanding. I had no choice but to follow, my heart racing faster with every step.

Inside, the fortress was worse than I imagined. The walls were lined with torches, casting flickering shadows on carvings of battles and blood. The air smelled faintly metallic, like old iron—or old wounds.

I whispered, more to myself than to him, “This is a nightmare.”

He glanced at me. “Nightmares are mortal things. What you stand in now is reality.”

We entered a vast hall. At its center stood a throne of black stone, sharp and jagged, as if carved from a mountain’s heart. The very sight of it made my stomach twist.

Kael released my wrist at last, and I nearly collapsed from the sudden freedom. I rubbed the sore skin, glaring up at him. “Why did you bring me here?”

His crimson eyes locked onto mine, unwavering. “Because you are mine.”

Heat flooded my face—anger, fear, humiliation all tangled together. “I don’t belong to you. You can’t just—”

He was in front of me in a heartbeat, his hand braced against the stone pillar beside my head. His presence smothered me, his scent—smoke and steel—overwhelming.

“Do not test me, little one.” His voice was low, dangerous. “Do you think I do not hear it? The wild rhythm of your heart. The very sound that has been denied me for centuries.”

I swallowed hard. “What do you mean?”

For the first time, his expression flickered. Shadows of something deeper—pain, longing, fury.

“I was cursed,” he said, each word heavy. “My heart silenced, my soul emptied. For a thousand years, nothing stirred within me. Until you.”

I shook my head, refusing to believe it. “That’s impossible. I’m nobody.”

He leaned closer, his lips brushing the shell of my ear. “You are the key to my curse.”

My stomach knotted, my thoughts a chaotic storm. If he was telling the truth, then my life wasn’t mine anymore. I was bound to something I didn’t understand.

“No,” I whispered, more to myself than to him. “This can’t be real.”

He pulled back just enough to meet my eyes, and what I saw there chilled me to the bone. Determination. Possession.

“It is real,” Kael said. “And you will not leave here until I decide otherwise.”

The words crashed over me like ice water.

Trapped.

I glanced toward the massive doors, but the guards still stood there, their glowing eyes locked on me. There was no escape.

My chest tightened painfully, tears burning at the corners of my eyes. I had been pulled into a world I didn’t believe in hours ago, and now I was prisoner to its king.

Kael must have seen the panic in my face, because his voice dropped, softer but no less commanding.

“Do not fear me,” he said. “Fear what would happen if I had not claimed you. Others will come for you. And they will not be so merciful.”

His words should have comforted me. Instead, they felt like another chain.

I wanted to scream, to tell him I didn’t care about his curse, his kingdom, or his crimson eyes. But my voice betrayed me, strangled by fear.

Kael straightened, his hand leaving the pillar. He turned toward his throne, his coat sweeping the floor like a shadow.

“From this moment,” he said, his tone echoing through the hall, “you belong to the Vampire King.”

The vampires bowed their heads. The torches flickered. My knees trembled.

And my world shattered.

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