🩸 THE VAMPIRE FORBIDDEN BRIDE

The first thing I learned about the vampire palace was that loneliness could become a habit. At first, I hated it. I hated waking before sunrise to the sound of bells echoing through the servants' quarters. I hated eating at a table surrounded by people who never really spoke to me. I hated watching the other girls receive letters from their families while I had no one to write to. But after eight months, I had stopped expecting anyone to notice when I was lonely. That was the strange thing about being invisible. Eventually, you became invisible even to yourself. I pulled my plain black dress tighter around my waist and stared at the cracked mirror above my bed. A girl stared back at me. Dark hair. Pale skin. Tired eyes. Twenty years old. At least, that was what the palace records said. My name was Elena. That was all I knew. I didn't remember my childhood. I didn't remember my parents. I didn't remember where I had been born. Sometimes I wondered whether there was something wrong with me. Other servants remembered everything. Their mothers. Their fathers. Their brothers and sisters. The houses they grew up in. The streets they used to play on. I had nothing. Only dreams. Strange dreams that always disappeared the moment I opened my eyes. A woman's hand. A red flower. Fire. And a voice whispering my name. Elena. I never knew who the voice belonged to. A bell rang. I quickly left my room. The servants were already gathering in the eastern corridor. Nobody spoke loudly in the palace. There were too many ears. Human ears. Vampire ears. And sometimes, people said, ears that belonged to things much older than either. I didn't know whether that was true. I didn't want to find out. I collected my cleaning supplies and followed Mara toward the west wing. Mara had worked in the palace longer than I had. She knew every corridor. Every servant. Every rule. Most importantly, she knew when to keep quiet. "Elena." I looked at her. "Yes?" "Stay away from the old music room today." I frowned. "Why?" She stopped walking. Her eyes moved toward the dark corridor ahead. "Just don't." I almost laughed. "You say that every time." "This time I'm serious." Something in her voice made my smile disappear. "Why?" Mara stepped closer. "Because the king is in the palace." I looked toward the upper floors. "So?" Mara's expression hardened. "You don't understand." Before I could ask what she meant, she walked away. I sighed. Everyone in the palace seemed to know something I didn't. That was another thing about being a slave. You were always the last person to know the truth about your own life. I continued toward the west wing. The corridor was unusually cold. My fingers tightened around the cleaning cloth. I had been cleaning the palace for months, but there were still places that made me uncomfortable. The old music room was one of them. It had been abandoned for years. Nobody used it. Nobody talked about it. And yet, as I passed the door that morning, I heard something. Music. I stopped. My heart began beating faster. It was faint. Almost impossible to hear. A piano. One slow note. Then another. I looked around. The corridor was empty. I stepped closer to the door. Another note sounded. Something inside my chest tightened. I didn't know that melody. At least... I didn't think I did. I reached for the handle. The moment my fingers touched the cold metal— everything disappeared. The palace. The corridor. The servants. All of it. Suddenly I was somewhere else. Somewhere warm. Somewhere bright. I was small. Very small. I could feel tiny fingers wrapped around someone's hand. A woman's hand. She was running. "Faster, Elena." I heard her breathing. I heard my own frightened voice. "Where are we going, Mama?" The woman didn't answer. She pulled me harder. Behind us came the sound of horses. Men shouting. Something burning. I smelled smoke. My heart began pounding. "Mama!" She suddenly stopped. She knelt in front of me. Her face was wet with tears. I couldn't see her clearly. But I knew her. Somehow, I knew her. She held my face between her hands. "Listen to me." I began to cry. "What's happening?" Her eyes moved toward the darkness behind us. "They're coming." "Who?" She looked back at me. And for the first time, I saw fear in her eyes. Real fear. "The vampires." My breath caught. Then she pulled a necklace from around her neck. A small silver pendant. She pressed it into my palm. "Whatever happens, never let them take this." "Mama..." "Do you understand?" I nodded through my tears. She kissed my forehead. Then she whispered something I couldn't hear. A loud crash came from somewhere behind us. She pushed me toward a tree. "Hide." "No!" "Elena, hide!" "Mama!" She looked at me one last time. And then— I was back in the palace. I stumbled away from the music-room door. My cleaning supplies fell from my hands. The cloth hit the floor. I couldn't breathe. My palms were shaking. The pendant. The woman. The fire. The vampires. It had felt real. Too real. I pressed a trembling hand against my chest. "Who was she?" The question came out as a whisper. I didn't know. I had never remembered her face before. But now... I could almost see it. I looked at the old music-room door. The music had stopped. Silence returned. Then I noticed something on the floor. A tiny red flower. I stared at it. My blood ran cold. I had seen that flower before. In my dreams. I slowly bent down and picked it up. The moment my fingers touched the petals, another image flashed through my mind. A pair of dark eyes. Watching me. A man's voice. Low. Almost a whisper. "You were never supposed to come back." I dropped the flower. My heart stopped. Someone was standing behind me. I turned. The corridor was empty. But from somewhere deep inside the palace came the sound of a door closing. Bang. I stared into the darkness. For the first time in eight months, I wondered whether I had been brought to this palace by accident. And for the first time, I was afraid to discover the answer. Because if the memory I had just seen was real... then my entire life had been a lie. And somewhere inside this palace was someone who knew the truth. Someone who had been waiting for me. I continued walking. I didn't notice the man standing on the balcony above me. I didn't see his dark eyes following me through the crowded hall. And I certainly didn't know that he had heard the whisper too. He remained completely still. Watching. Waiting. And for reasons even he did not understand... he couldn't take his eyes off the lonely human girl walking through his palace. Neither of us knew that we would meet soon. Neither of us knew that meeting would change everything. And neither of us knew that I would one day become— the vampire king's forbidden bride.