Claimed by the Prince of Darkness

Chapter 161: Marked and Sold

Outside the gates of Sexton, carriages began to arrive one after another. Each one slowed near the front before coming to a stop. Once the doors were opened, the Elites of the society stepped down from it.

One by one, they made their way towards the building while their carriages were drawn away. Polished shoes moved against the hardened ground and their coats followed, moving just above the surface of the snow.

"Sexton does know how to put on a show," one of the vampires remarked as he entered the main hall and sat down on one of the plush red seats. His gaze moved lazily and he continued, "I hear even the prince couldn’t stay away. And Mikhael has raised the value of groundlings compared to last year."

The vampire beside him laughed before responding,

"I’m surprised you returned. Didn’t you buy two groundlings?"

"Unfortunately," the first vampire replied, lifting a glass of blood without much interest, "one didn’t last. The other..." he paused briefly, almost dismissive, "barely walks now. No point keeping what doesn’t serve its purpose."

And while the buyers filled the main hall, in another building, consciousness slowly returned as Ruelle surfaced from her sleep.

Her eyelids felt heavy, but she forced them open, blinking against the pale winter light that spilled through frost-etched windows.

The sheets felt warm and that’s when she became aware of the heat source beside her. She carefully turned and found Lucian lying next to her, his face turned to her with one arm draped across his torso.

The morning light fell on his dark hair that rested across his forehead, turning the deepest black strands into threads of midnight silk.

He was devastatingly handsome. The kind of handsome that made her chest ache and her eyes shy away. From the sharp line of his jaw to the aristocratic slope of his nose. The soft curve of lips that had whispered dark promises against her skin just hours ago.

Somewhere she found it hard to believe that this person wanted her.

But the proof throbbed at her neck.

The last thing she remembered was Lucian’s lips on her neck and the molten pain that seared through her body.

She still couldn’t believe she had fainted from it.

Feeling parched, she carefully got up and her one foot touched the floor. When she got up, ready to take a step away from the bed, a hand closed around her wrist.

She turned and met his darkened red eyes that had opened with the haze of sleep disappearing like smoke in air, replaced by something intense and focused.

"Where are you going?" His voice was deep which held a faint rasp to it and she felt her heart skip a beat.

"I was going to get water," Ruelle managed feeling warmth spread through her chest.

His gaze held hers for a moment before the look in his eyes softened and he released her wrist. He sat upright and said, "You were burning last night."

Of course, with the way he had kissed her, it was a miracle she hadn’t melted like a candle on a flame right there against the door.

Even now, hours later, her lips still tingled with the ghost of him.

If someone had told her at the beginning of the year that the aloof, brooding Lucian Slater—the man whose gaze was like winter and spoke in clipped riddles, could kiss like that... she would have thought them mad.

And a hidden part of her had enjoyed it. Her eyes lowered as a blush came to settle on her cheeks.

Then she felt Lucian lean forward and rest his hand on her forehead, his cool fingers pressing against the heat that had settled into her skin.

up to her face at his touch as if she were remembering the grip of

then asked, "The feeding...

the side, pulling

Though a little heads-up would help her prepare in the future. Remembering something, she said hesitantly, "You might

tongue thinks otherwise." A faint trace of amusement flickered in his eyes, and he stated, "Your blood

"But it

blood by having you

to her so easily, without a hint

the point that vampires abduct them and keep them as prisoners," Lucian explained to her. If people thought her blood was of little worth, it would keep her

in front of an entire room full of vampires

he opened the door, she

today’s job. As ordered, everything

closed

walking past the mirror when her footsteps halted

she stared at her neck and moved closer. She had expected two punctures but instead there was a thin, inky black vine, which

door opened, she saw Lucian step inside

"What is this?"

"A soul bond."

as she had never heard of

like last night," Lucian explained to her patiently. "Once it is done, there’s no

to the mirror to stare at the vines. Upon closer look, she noticed the faint thorns

Because she didn’t come across people

it behind chokers and collars. Whatever keeps it unseen. The markers can will it out of sight." When Ruelle’s

anything," Ruelle’s words faltered when he reached for her neck and brushed the base of her neck for a shiver to run down

toll of a bell carried through the room, Ruelle remembered the bidding, which

seated. From elites to the groundlings’ families, where the groundlings’ family sat in

the Elites were, not everyone felt the same. The groundlings were dressed in fine clothes and jewellery. Some would continue to wear them beyond today, and for others it would

to life that did not quite

circus look better," Hailey

the pigment off her cheeks. She wondered where Ruelle was. She hadn’t

tell me she was forcibly taken back to the castle...!" She murmured with a

who was fixing her hair with a hum. She sure looked

her hair. Last afternoon, Ezekiel had left, saying he was going

when she caught sight of her roommate

you holding up?" Blake asked, noticing

can barely breathe," Hailey said. Then with a small, uneasy laugh, she sighed, "I wish I could be your

vampiress gave her an apologetic smile and replied, "Forgive me. I’m hardly in a position to keep one—it

and praying," Hailey sighed. She turned to Sawyer, who had been

before answering, "I had a mind to take one

before muttering, "No... I think not." After a pause, she asked, "Do you

he left last night for the

catch sight of the marquis’s

man approached her, Blake and Sawyer

you doing here...

bid and saw your name," the man said with a smile. "Forgive me for not answering your letters sooner. I was buried with tons of

that she