Alliance

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 1Lumina opened her eyes. Everything hurt. It was a massive effort to even breathe. She sat up and groaned, realising that she was n***d and lying in the charred remains of the secret room.

She had almost died last night, burned by her own flames when she’d used up all of her magic to keep General Tullica alive.

Rubbing sleep from her eyes, she stood and wandered over to the doorway. Stepping into her bedroom, the bright sunlight assaulted her eyes. She squinted and looked away, raising an arm to cover her face. Once her vision had adjusted to the light, she watched the sunlight filtering in streams through her window, dust particles floating through the air.

A noise at the entrance to the rest of her quarters made her turn.

There was the vampire, Lothaire, frozen in place just inside the door, staring at her in shock. He was in his humanoid form: black hair that seemed to hold the stars, eyes as red as rubies.

“Ah,” he said.

Lumina’s face flamed. What was he doing, just staring at her like that? She asked her blood to set a fire in front of him, to spin him around and send him away. But her blood didn’t even sing in response to the order. Her magic was used up.

Instead, she picked up the nearest object—a jug on her bedside table—and hurled it at him. “Get out, Lothaire!”

He dodged the projectile and leapt out the room, shutting the door behind him.

Lumina collapsed onto the floor—the effort it had taken to throw the jug made her head spin with dizziness.

“Phoenix?” Lothaire said carefully from the other side of the door. “Did I just hear you fall over?”

Lumina mustered up all her energy and shouted, “No!”

“Then why does it sound like you’re speaking into the carpet?”

Lumina realised that she was actually speaking into her cream carpet. She took in a deep breath and rolled her head. “It’s your imagination!”

He was silent for a moment. “Clearly, something happened last night. I thought I smelled you roasting in there …”

Lumina didn’t want him to realise how exhausted she was.

“Do … Shall I fetch a female rebel to assist you?”

Lumina blinked. Was he actually trying to help her? Had he truly changed his ways?

“Or … I could help you,” he continued. “I shapeshift into your form every day—it’s not like I haven’t seen anything you want to hide.”

Lumina’s jaw went stiff. “I’ll burn you to cinders if you’ve been perverted.”

He sighed dramatically. “Really, Phoenix. I’m 400 years old. Do you honestly think that I haven’t seen a n***d female body and can’t guess what’s under your clothes?”

Lumina relaxed slightly. “Fine. Can you go get a female rebel?” There was no way she was letting Lothaire back in here so he could help her get dressed.

“Shall do, Phoenix.”

There was no indication that he’d walked off, no footsteps to prove his absence. But Lumina had known for a long time that he was stealthy.