Page 1 of Ravenous

Chapter 1Princess Emilia Vladescu

Crypt Castle, Kingdom of Bloodreach

You shall bear one hundred babes in one hundred years…

The king’s decree rang through the nearly empty court, tolling in Lia’s ears.

“Why?” she choked out. “Why would you curse me like this?” She’d been perfect, dutiful and compliant for all her twenty-two years.

“Curse?” King Neculain leaned back in his throne. “You will ensure the future of our species. Vampires shall revere your name for eons.”

She usually avoided her father’s gaze, but now Lia forced herself to look up through the haze of bloodroot incense that clung to every stone of this castle. It burned her lungs. Or maybe that was fear. “I don’t understand.”

“The Berserkers will war with us this Accession.” He flashed his fangs, red eyes widening. “They must. Many remain just on the cusp of immortality.”

Those bear-spirit warriors earned immortality through slaughter. Killing was prayer to them.

And vampires were their favorite offering—payback long owed, a debt written in arterial spray.

“I can’t fathom why they haven’t already stormed this rich castle.” Neculain cast a disgusted look at his oldest son and heir, Prince Co?tin, who stood beside his throne. “Under your watch, the army has faded in number and strength. You think I don’t know what outsiders call you? The General of Nothing! We are the great Horde no longer.”

Co?tin rested his hand on the golden sword at his side, his own eyesreddened like banked embers. Though he was a decent swordsman—a rarity—he ruled nothing, not even his own appetites.

And Father wasn’t wrong. Training halls stood empty while the vampires drowned in blood orgies and intoxispells. Even their teleportation had withered, lost to decadence.

But in fairness to her monstrous brother, the rot had festered long before his birth five centuries ago.

Co?tin’s attention locked on her again. As he stared, he sliced his tongue on a fang. Eyes promising horror, he hollowed his cheeks and nursed his own blood.

She shuddered.Will I never be free of his threat?

He believed she was his destined Bride. Lia hadn’t awakened his dead heart, but he’d decided she was too young to “blood” him.

Unlike all their fair-haired siblings, she and Co?tin resembled each other as closely as fraternal twins—the same pale skin, black hair, and amber eyes, though bloodlust tainted his. Perhaps he’d fixated on her due to her likeness: because his truest obsession had always been himself.

She’d been fourteen when he’d first tried to kiss her. Against her neck,he’d grunted,You are everything to me, sprung from the same womb and seed. As she thrashed, he’d commanded her,Wake my body,sora mea, so I can use it on you.

“When the Berserker attack comes,” Father continued, oblivious, “you’ll be safe in the blood crypt.”

This snapped Lia’s focus from Co?tin. “You’re going to…to seal me in?” Deep beneath the castle lay a cave no force could breach, its stone walls weeping endless blood. “For how long?”

“Until the birth of your hundredth. Until our elite army is complete.”

Lia rocked on her feet. Would she be maddened by the twentieth babe? The fiftieth? She’d be only halfway done! “This is insane. Insects have fewer offspring!”

“This is my will. And you shall heed it.”

No courtiers witnessed his decree—only Co?tin, Queen Sereth, and the blank-eyed donors that slumped against the wall.

Sereth sat in her throne beside Neculain’s like a soulless doll, smoothing her blond hair.

“Mother,” Lia said, voice breaking, “please, you can’t let him.”

Sereth gave a testy sigh. “He’sthe king.”

Blood tears pricked Lia’s eyes. Her mother had been a broodmare too—fourteen children in five hundred years—and had never resisted her fate. Hadn’t even pretended to want more. “Who will accompany me?” Lia demanded of her father, swiping away tears. “Do I get to pick which stud violates me?” She had never dreamed of speaking to him this way, but what did she have to lose?

Irritation crossed Neculain’s sharp features, his black brows knitting. “I will choose noble males. You’ll test the first babe. If it lacks your gift, you’ll mate with another.”