Chapter 1
877words
Winters without coal for my hearth, summers sweltering in the attic. Even the servants looked down on me, standing tall in my presence without a hint of deference.
Three years ago, rebels stormed our borders. Warriors from the Grey Fang Tribe—wolf-shifters from the north—died protecting my father as he fled. Their custom demanded a female relative as payment. Father couldn't bear to part with his precious Seraphina. So he offered me instead.
"The werewolves saved our family," he hissed, his nails digging into my chin. "Grey is a tribal warrior. Marrying him is your good fortune."
Fortune? I nearly laughed. The Grey Fang caves reeked of blood and raw meat. Grey's mother examined me with milky eyes and growled, "Human skin is so soft… perfect for warming my son's bed." Yet no one predicted that this werewolf—this "beast" the nobles mocked—would rise to glory two years later. From wilderness warrior to decorated general commanding vast forces.
Suddenly, I wore nothing but the finest silks and sparkled with dazzling jewels.
Noble ladies who once sneered now fluttered around me like moths. Even Father's gaze thawed, warming noticeably when it fell upon me.
Seraphina lurked in corners, her once-fine dress now faded, watching me with the cold focus of a viper. She lured me to the barren wasteland, claiming we should pay respects to Mother. Then—a flash of silver from her sleeve. Pain exploded in my chest as she drove the dagger home. Father just watched, his eyes like ice. My knees hit frozen earth, my mouth filling with blood and grit.
Pain exploded across my cheek. Blood's metallic tang flooded my mouth. Harsh light stabbed my eyes—a crystal chandelier? I blinked, disoriented. Somehow I sat in an oak chair in our banquet hall, champagne fizzing in the glass before me.
I'd been reborn. Back to my eighteenth birthday celebration.
"Will dear sister continue her glorious rise?" Seraphina's water-blue dress bore grass stains at the hem—clearly she'd rushed from the wolf tribe's camp. "Everything that should be yours belongs to me." She covered her face, shoulders trembling like a flame in the wind. Yet behind her hands, her eyes flashed with that familiar greed.
"How ridiculous," I thought with absolute certainty. "She's been reborn too."
The butler approached with a silver tray. Two tokens lay side by side: Vampire Leicester's Blood Jade Ring gleaming with cold fire, and werewolf Grey's fang wrapped in crimson silk, its tip still dark with dried blood.
"Father!" Seraphina dropped to her knees, her skirt pooling around her like cheap petals. "Let me marry the werewolf. Sister is of noble birth—how could you send her to suffer in such a place?"
Father's expression softened instantly. He adored his coquettish concubine-born daughter above all others. Last time, he'd happily sacrificed me—his legitimate daughter—to keep her safe at home.
"Are you certain, my dear?" Father's voice dripped with tenderness as he helped her rise. "The Grey Fang Tribe…"
"If it eases your worries, Father, I'm not afraid!" Seraphina snatched the wolf fang, clutching it like a key to untold riches. She shot me a victorious smile—identical to the one she'd worn in my previous life as I bled out on frozen ground.
Back then, she'd used that same gentle tone: "Don't blame me, Sister. It's hardly my fault Grey only has eyes for you. The general's wife should have been me all along."
Father's cane whistled toward me again, but this time I caught it mid-swing. The Bronze Contract Ring—my mother's only legacy and the one thing they hadn't stripped from me—bit into my palm.
"I've made my choice." My voice rang clear. "I choose the Valerian Family."
The hall erupted in shocked whispers. Leicester's crimson eyes found mine, rippling like disturbed water in the lamplight. He glided toward me, black cape sweeping the carpet, trailing scents of winter fir and blood wine.
"A vampire's engagement cannot be broken." His voice resonated like a cello's lowest note as he slipped the Blood Jade Ring onto my finger.
"I know." In my mind flashed his fate from my previous life—framed for treason, burned to ash under merciless sunlight.
Leicester's soft laugh surprised me. His pale hand settled on my shoulder. "It seems our engagement has taken effect."
As he turned to leave, his cape brushed Father's cane with a dull thud. Father slumped in his chair, staring at the Blood Jade Ring on my finger, his face a storm of conflicting emotions.
Seraphina snatched up the wolf fang, white-knuckled around her prize. I knew her thoughts—she believed stealing the werewolf's engagement would grant her my glory. But she'd forgotten that Grey's loyalty went only to those who earned it. Her worth, combined with Father's, wouldn't amount to a speck of dust on the wasteland's frozen ground.
The Bronze Contract Ring burned against my skin like Mother's touch on my wrist. Surveying the stunned guests, I felt a strange calm settle over me.
This life would follow a different path. And those who owed me? I'd collect every debt—with interest.
