"Looks like you are on your own. Good luck making it back to the castle before nightfall," Narran yells down at me. She and Vera are still on top of the cliff she pushed me off of.

I pull my gaze from the woods Tristan disappeared into ready to tell Narran that's not funny, but she and Vera are already gone. They left me out here all by myself. Oh, gosh. I am all by myself off castle grounds and I don't even know the way back.

I'm seriously thinking Narran brought me out here to watch the Beast of the Damned eat me. I thought he was for a moment. I can't believe I offered him a taste of my blood. How foolish of me.

Shaking my head, I push to my feet. My dress is drenched in water and the tear on it only gets bigger when I twist to look at it.

Yep, Marianna is going to be super mad at me.

Sigh.

I wrap my arms around myself, the chilled fall air and wet clothes not a good combination for a warm-blooded being like myself.

The reds and yellows of the fall forest don't look as beautiful to me anymore. It looks haunting in the diminishing sunlight. Tree branches creak and groan while the wind makes ghost-like noises as it swirls through the treetops. I squeeze onto myself tighter, hoping I am heading in the right direction.

Winding my way through the dense forest, my head snaps in every direction when I think I hear something. I pick up the pace, eager to get back to the safety of castle grounds. My feet halt when I feel a strong chill at my backside. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I'm scared to turn around because I know a vampire is behind me. I can feel the energy they put off slithering around me, slowly squeezing me.

Why oh why did I follow Narran and Vera out here?

I twirl around, hoping the vampire who is behind me will think twice about touching one of the girls from the Dark Prince's Vamperial Garden. I am not like the other massarra though. The Dark Prince made them immortal while I was born this way. Immortal blood flows through me, yet I grow as if I were one of the offspring of a vampire.

All I face when I turn around is trees. The cold that was just behind me is now gone. What I can hear is Narran's and Vera's laughter carried in the wind.

"Ha ha, very funny." I hate to admit that, while Narran and Vera are playing games with me, it makes me feel more at ease knowing I am not alone.

My stomach sucks in and my breath gets caught in my lungs when I pivot back around and end up nose grazing a stone chest. Tristan Darkos looms over me. He is over a foot taller than me and looks every bit the famed Beast he is.

I don't get a chance to even blink before I find myself pinned against a tree somewhere else in the woods with Tristan's hand over my mouth.

"Crap, where did he go?" Vera asks, her voice audible though she is out of sight.

"I don't know. I thought he had left because I couldn't his energy." Narran replies as the sound of a twig snapping under her foot cause birds in a tree near them to take flight.

"What if he kills her, Narran? The Dark Prince will have our hearts for dinner is anything happens to his favorite pet."

"He isn't going to kill her." Narran growls.

Tristan presses me tighter into the tree, the cold of his body seeping through my wet clothes and making me shiver. He is keeping us out of sight from them. The question is why?

"Did you see the way he crawled on top of her? He was a half second away from plunging his hand into her chest cavity and yanking out her beating heart," Vera exclaims loudly, her worry over me touching if it wasn't really her worry about the wrath she and Narran will face if something happens to me because of them.

I stare up at Tristan wondering if Vera was right. Was the beast who I grew up with a half second away from ending my life? This is the vampire whose leg I would cling to as if it were a ride made for my amusement. The vampire whose lap I would crawl onto when I would slip off the Prince's during one of his boring meetings when I would grow restless. I'd make my way under the table to Tristan. Back then, I found it amusing to mimic his stoic features. It always made the Prince chuckle, which I also liked.

Something strange begins to happen. The fast pace of my heart starts to wane, slowing to a rhythm that has my eyes threatening to close while sleep tries to take hold. I can feel Tristan's energy inside me, calming me so that my heart will stop racing while Narran and Vera are so close.

He no longer has to cover my mouth as I fall forward into him, my brain drowsy and sluggish from the lack of adequate blood flow. I can hear Narran and Vera as they bicker back and forth about how it was stupid to bring me out here in the first place.

None of that matters when Tristan presses his cold lips against the nape of my neck. He scrapes his teeth lightly over my skin, his hold on me tightening. He opens his mouth wide and clamps down on my neck, but not with his teeth. He uses his lips instead, groaning in frustration as I think he wants nothing more than to bite me.

"They are coming," he mutters into my neck. Then, he is gone.

Seconds later, Thron and a few of his warriors appear. I'd say I am happy to see a familiar face, especially one who is so loyal to the Prince's orders, however, Thron looks furious.

Before I can even blink, I find myself slung over his broad shoulder as he curses under his breath about how I always make trouble for him.

Once we make it to the open clearing of the castle ground, it's nothing but a blinding blur of colors until I'm being sat down on my feet within the castle walls.

"For hell's sake child, where did you run off to?" Marianna's eyes widen at the sight of my ruined dress.

"I...um, well you see...I—" I fumble, unsure what I should say. I don't know why I feel the need to protect Narran and Vera considering I'm pretty sure they both planned on me not making it back to the castle alive.

"She appears to have gone to the spring with Narran and Vera. They said she fell off the cliff and Tristan fished her out." Thron cast a sideways glance at my neck while two other warriors have Narran and Vera by the back of their necks.

My face heats as I recall the way Tristan scraped his teeth along the length of it. What if it left a mark?

"You are two are fortunate the Prince has already left for Borasnia. If he were here, he would have choice words for you taking Kinaley to the spring. It is also unlucky for you both. His choice words would be kinder than the lashing you will receive. Take them to the cellar, starve them for three days, then see to it their punished accordingly. I want these lashes to stay with them."

"Thron, don't you think that is a bit harsh. They are fledglings who made a poor decision." Marianna speaks up.

I'm sure she wouldn't if she knew that these fledglings basically tried to feed me to the Beast of the Damned.

"Their poor decisions will cost them the skin on their backs. It also cost me several wasted hours of looking. Now, I am going to have to march the warriors' I am taking with me double time to catch up to the Prince. Keep Kinaley indoors until we return in three months time."

"Three months?"

"There are pressing matters we must attend to in Borasnia. Tristan will remain in Valderanna to command the warriors who will stay stationed at the castle. He knows what is to be done in the Prince and my absence." Thron's icy hand spans the back of my neck. "I will escort Kinaley to her chambers where she is to stay until the Dark Prince and I are back at the castle."

"I am to stay locked up in my chambers? I can't even visit the gardens on castle grounds." The thought of being kept from the sunlight and the only place I feel I have a little freedom to breathe is more than depressing.

"You have caretakers who can provide you with anything you need to occupy your time." Thron steers me in the direction of my room, his vice grip on my neck letting me know there is no point in arguing.

Still, I can't help but open my mouth. "Can I at least visit the east courtyard? The moon drops won't be in season much longer."

Moon drops are my favorite flower. They come in light lavender, pale blue, and bright white. They are stunning at night for they glow like little drops of moonlight that fell from the sky.

"No," Thron answers without taking a moment to consider my request.

"But I'll have to wait till next spring before I can see them again?"

"You may view them from the balcony that overlooks the east courtyard while you eat supper. That will be the only time you are permitted out of your chambers. Do not think this a kindness on my part. If the Prince were here, he would not deny you such a small request as he had planned to take you with him. However, I advised against it."

"The Prince was going to take me to Borasnia?"

"Yes, but I told him to take one of the other massarra instead. Borasina is no place for you to be." Thron grabs my chin roughly before I have a chance to open the door to my chambers.

"How did you come by this mark?" He forces my chin higher into the air so he can inspect my neck, a deep frown forming on his face.

"The thorn bushes near the cliff," I lie wondering which moment with Tristan is the one that left the mark—the spring or the woods?

"If you know what is good for you child, you will stay away from my son." Thron releases my chin. "He is not your playmate nor childhood friend. He merely tolerated you as we all must."

Thron opens the door and I stumble as he shoves me into my chambers. He slams the door shut, caring little how his words cut me deep enough that it feels like I'm bleeding internally.

It seems the only person I hold any value to is the Prince. While he is gone, all I'll have is isolation and being surrounded by those who are commanded to watch over me or simply tolerate my existence because they have little choice not to.

"I do not hear the locks sliding into place as they should," Thron growls from the other side of the door.

I let my head fall against the metal door, heave a heavy sigh and slide the first latch into place, then the second, the third, and the fourth. The locks have been casts with spells that only allow certain people in. For the humans charged with helping me, their flesh has been marked with the symbol specific to these locks. Marianna is the only vampire with a bracelet that allows her entry into my chambers once I am locked in.

With the sunlight fading, I hurry to my window hoping to catch the last glimpse of light. Once winter is upon us, the sky will be gray until the snows that come start to melt in the spring.

As cold as it is now, I will be lucky if the moon drops last much longer. They don't thrive well in the frigid weather. It is clear that fall will be short and a long harsh winter is ahead. It truly stinks I will be missing the last part of fall when I am able to be outside in temperatures that don't feel like they are trying to freeze my flesh to the bone.

In many ways, the sunset looks like a reflection of the turned all trees. It's beautiful and fleeting for the mountains swallow the sunset much faster than if we lived somewhere the terrain was less mountainous. Here in the valley of Valderanna, there are just mountains as far as the eye can see. It is a full day's ride to the nearest village. Or, at least, that is what Marianna tells me for I have never seen a village myself.

As the sun slips down behind the mountains, something reflective catches my eye. I squint my eyes to try to make out the dark shape below. My chambers are located in the highest part of the front tower. Heat seeps into my cheeks and my hand moves up to cover the mark Tristan's mouth left on my neck.

He stays staring up at my window from down below. I wish I had vamp vision and could see him more clearly. I only know it's him by the armor and large sword that is catching the flickering light of a torch.

Thron's words from earlier dowse the flurries swirling in my chest, weighing them with a harsh dose of reality that makes them sink down into my stomach. This crush I have on Tristan Darkos is silly for what vampire would ever fall in love with a bleeder like me.