The Midnight Prince

Blood Contracts

Ashen.

The words were meant for Moon.

Ravenna jerked.

Her body moved before her face agreed.

She stepped behind me.

Then froze.

Slowly, she looked down at her own feet.

Then at me.

Her voice went dangerously quiet. “Did you just command me?”

I stared at her.

“I was talking to Moon.”

“Well, your cursed royal ring has terrible hearing.”

Solan coughed once, and I was almost certain he was hiding a laugh.

Ravenna pointed at him. “You are too recently dead to enjoy this.”

The hooded bounty hunter attacked.

Ravenna moved first.

Not because she wanted to.

Because the contract pulled.

She snarled the entire time.

Black shadow snapped around her body, and she appeared behind the first wolf. Her hand caught his throat. Red light flashed in her eyes.

His body froze.

Blood command.

“Run along,” she told him sweetly. “Or bleed in places you enjoy keeping closed.”

He dropped to the snow.

Solan met the second wolf with his blade. He was slower than before, but not helpless. Moon, still pale, grabbed a fallen branch and struck the wolf behind the knee when he got too close. Solan took the opening and knocked him flat.

I faced the hooded man.

He threw the bloodsilver blade.

I lifted my hand.

The air around it froze.

The weapon stopped inches from my chest, suspended in ice so clear I saw my own reflection in the blade.

The hooded man went pale.

Ravenna appeared beside him, fangs near his ear.

“Boo.”

He screamed.

She kicked him into a tree.

Then she looked at me, annoyed. “There. I saved you. Favor returned. Contract ended?”

The mark on her wrist glowed brighter.

She winced.

“No. Of course not. Why would the universe be tasteful?”

I looked at the red-frost mark.

“How do we break it?”

Ravenna’s laugh was bitter. “Ask someone old enough to understand Frostveil blood law.”

Solan wiped blood from his mouth. “Conveniently, we are walking toward a pack full of old Frostveil wolves.”

Ravenna looked at him. “I dislike your optimism.”

“I dislike your fangs.”

“Liar.”

Solan paused.

Ravenna smiled.

Moon groaned softly and leaned into me as her strength dipped. I caught her immediately.

Her hand clutched my sleeve. “I’m fine.”

“You are lying.”

“I know.”

That made my mouth twitch despite everything.

Ravenna watched us with open irritation.

“Is this what traveling with wolves is like? Touching, concern, everyone smelling feelings?”

Moon lifted her chin. “You can leave after the contract breaks.”

“I intend to.” Ravenna looked at me. “Until then, Snow Prince, do not give me commands unless necessary.”

“I won’t.”

She blinked.

Then frowned. “That was too decent. Suspicious.”

“I do not want to control you.”

Her red eyes searched mine.

For a second, her superiority slipped. Not gone. Just interrupted.

Then she recovered and tossed her hair over one shoulder.

“Excellent. I prefer my werewolves obedient and morally conflicted.”

Solan muttered, “I prefer my vampires quiet.”

“Tragic,” Ravenna said. “Neither of us gets what we want.”

We moved before more hunters arrived.

Moon could walk for a while, but not long. She tried. I let her try because I knew pride mattered. Then when her steps dragged and her face paled, I stopped beside her.

“You can ride on my back,” I said quietly.

Her cheeks turned pink even now.

Ravenna paused ahead of us. “Oh, this should be adorable.”

Moon glared. “I can walk.”

Ravenna leaned toward Solan. “They always say that before collapsing. Wolves are dramatic.”

Solan glanced at her. “You announced yourself with fangs and a party line.”

“That was branding.”

Moon took two more steps.

Her knees gave.

I caught her before she hit the ground.

No one joked then.

I lifted her into my arms.

She leaned her head against my chest, too exhausted to argue.

Through the bond, I felt embarrassment, pain, fear, and trust.

Trust most of all.

I held her closer.

Ravenna watched me carry her for several breaths, expression unreadable.

Then she scoffed. “Fine. That is mildly impressive.”

Solan looked at her. “Careful. Complimenting wolves is a slippery slope.”

“I said mildly.”

“That is how it starts.”

She showed him her fangs.

He smiled faintly.

By nightfall, Veyra returned.

The portal opened in a s***h of green-gold light, and she stepped through alone.

Without Nara.

My chest tightened so violently I nearly moved toward her before remembering Moon slept in my arms.

Veyra saw my face.

“She is alive,” she said immediately. “Safe. Furious. Already arguing with a moon priestess who is older than half the stars. Your sister is doing beautifully.”

Relief hit hard enough to make me weak.

“Why are you back?”

Her expression softened. “Because I am still your Guardian, little prince. I cannot leave you unprotected.”

Then her gaze slid past me.

To Ravenna.

Veyra went very still.

“No.”

Ravenna smiled. “Hello, forest glitter.”

Veyra looked at me. “I leave for one day.”

“It was not a day,” Solan said.

Veyra ignored him. “I leave you for less than a day, and you collect a vampire?”

Ravenna lifted her marked wrist. “Collect is ugly. I prefer accidentally contractually stolen.”

Veyra stared at the red-frost mark.

Then at my ring.

“Oh, Ashen.”

“I did not mean to.”

“You never mean to. That is becoming the problem.”

Ravenna crossed her arms. “Wonderful. The fairy understands.”

“Fae,” Veyra snapped.

“Vampire,” Ravenna replied.

Solan, leaning against a tree, looked between them. “This group has become unbearable.”

Veyra’s eyes flicked to him.

The moment their gazes met, something changed.

Her face softened before she could stop it.

“You are standing.”

“Badly,” he said. “But yes.”

“You should be resting.”

“You gave me a life, not common sense.”

Ravenna’s brows lifted. “She gave you one of her lives?”

Solan’s expression cooled. “That is not your business.”

“Oh, I like him better when he is defensive.” Ravenna glanced at Veyra. “Cute.”

Veyra’s cheeks flushed faintly.

“I will turn you into a bat.”

“I am already vampire-adjacent. Be creative.”

For the first time since Nara vanished into the fae realm, I almost felt something like balance.

Not peace.

Never peace.

But movement.

We still had to find my mother’s unc.

We still had to break Ravenna’s contract.

We still had to learn why my mother left Frostveil, why Auron had been chained, why Dorian’s false moonlight had been prepared long before I knew my own name.

And now we had a dethroned vampire queen with a blood loyalty she hated.

The road north did not get easier.

It got stranger.

We reached Frostveil land beneath a sky heavy with snow.

There was no grand gate.

No shining palace.

No welcoming horns.

Only black pines, white stone markers, and an old border carved with the crescent snow crown.

The moment my boot crossed the line, the forest changed.

Not loudly.

Not visibly.

The air recognized me.

That was the only way I could think to describe it.

Every hair on my arms rose.

Moon, awake but still weak, stood beside me with one hand in mine. Solan was behind us. Veyra stood near him, quiet now. Ravenna lingered to my left, looking offended by the cold and the emotional weight of trees.

Then the warriors appeared.

From the pines.

From behind the stones.

From above in hidden ledges.

Dozens of them.

Then more.

Not just warriors.

Women in heavy cloaks. Elders with white braids. Young wolves half-shifted in the shadows. Children peering from behind their parents. An entire hidden pack watching us with weapons drawn and fear in their eyes.

One warrior stepped forward, blade raised.

“Leave Frostveil land.”

Moon straightened beside me.

“We seek Elowyn’s brother.”

The name moved through the gathered wolves like wind over a grave.

The warrior’s eyes sharpened.

“Elowyn had no son.”

Something cold settled in my chest.

Ravenna whispered, “Awkward family reunion.”

Solan gave her a look. “Not now.”

The warrior’s gaze moved to Moon.

Recognition flashed.

“The LunariaNova princess.”

Several weapons shifted toward her.

My body moved before thought.

I stepped in front of Moon.

“Stand down.”

I did not shout.

I did not raise my hand.

The ring did not glow.

Frost did not spread.

No magic burst from me.

Nothing visible happened at all.

And still, the world obeyed.

Every wolf in the clearing dropped to one knee.

Not just the warriors.

The elders.The scouts.The mothers clutching children.The young wolves hiding between trees.The men with bows.The women with blades.Solan.Veyra.Even Ravenna, though her vampire body fought the wolf-instinct command through the contract until her knees struck snow with a furious hiss.

And then every wolf bared their neck.

Some did it smoothly, their bodies accepting what their minds had not yet understood.

Others fought.

Teeth clenched. Hands shaking. Eyes wide with horror as their throats tilted to me against their will.

But they bared them anyway.

Because wolves did not only bow to a stronger presence.

They exposed the throat.

They acknowledged the one who could command the room.

The one their blood recognized.

The strongest wolf.

The alpha above alphas.

Moon alone remained standing.

The command rolled around her like wind parting around stone.

She did not bow.

She did not bare her neck.

She was not beneath me.

She was beside me.

My mate.

My equal.

I stared at the clearing, my pulse roaring in my ears.

I had not meant to do that.

I did not even know what I had done.

Solan knelt in the snow, head tilted despite the offense burning in his eyes.

“I would like,” he said tightly, “to formally complain about being forced to bare my neck before breakfast.”

Ravenna, also kneeling and visibly furious, bared her fangs even as her throat remained exposed.

“Oh, I hate royal werewolf politics,” she snapped. “Deeply. Spiritually. With commitment.”

Veyra did not speak.

Her face had gone pale.

One of the Frostveil elders lifted his gaze with visible effort. His neck remained bared, but his eyes filled with something older than fear.

Recognition.

Awe.

Dread.

His voice trembled when he spoke.

“The White King,” he whispered.

The forest went silent.

The elder bowed lower.

“The White King has come home.”