Chapter 4
The Vladescu castle might have intimidated me with its sheer size and its grim history, and the stone walls could make it feel cold and formidable. But the dining room where Lucius and I held a pre-wedding dinner for our closest friends and family seemed warm and intimate as the people whom I loved most in the world gathered near the long, gleaming mahogany table, which reflected the light from no fewer than four massive wrought iron chandeliers, each one holding dozens of flickering tapers that cast a soft glow over the room.

Although we were both hosting the party, of course Lucius was there first – especially since my small group of guests was running late, thanks to Mindy’s endless readjustment of both our hairstyles – and he smiled and approached us as we entered the room.

“Welcome, everyone,” he greeted us, coming up beside me and slipping my hand into his, pressing our palms together. He met my eyes, and I saw the appreciation, the love, that I always craved in his gaze. “You look beautiful tonight, Antanasia,” he said, glancing down to appraise the red dress I’d chosen for that evening. A long, full, silk gown with a delicate, but intricate, pattern of Swarovski crystals across the bodice. I’d chosen this dress not really to impress Lucius, but to honor my birth mother, who’d been known for wearing crimson.

“I always love you in red,” Luicus added, raising his eyes to mine again. Although his eyes were incredibly dark, I saw that they were glowing warmly, so I knew that I’d pleased him, too. “Then again,” he noted, teasing, “I even loved you in your Arabian horse T-shirt!”

We shared a private smile at the reference to a shirt that Lucius used to mock – and which I’d worn on the night that he’d tried to defy the pact and end our betrothal. But of course we hadn’t been able to avoid a destiny that we both wanted so badly…

Then he bent slightly and cupped my chin in his hand and kissed my lips, and even as my heart pounded, like it always did when we touched, I flushed a little, because my parents were right there. Not too long ago, I’d been humiliated just to be caught sitting on the porch with Lucius, both of us moving close to a kiss that never quite happened. As Lucius and I drew apart, my eyes darted to look at Mom and Dad, so I could see if my sudden adulthood – the fact that I was kissing a boy… a man… in public, even just a chaste, sweet greeting – seemed strange for them, too.

When I checked their faces, though, it was hard to read their expressions. I looked to Mindy next – and for the second time that evening, I wondered if I caught a flash of jealousy in her eyes. She’d once had a crush on Lucius, before I’d acknowledged my own feelings for him…

“Ned, Dara – so nice to see you,” Lucius said, interrupting my speculation. He released my hand and stepped past me to embrace my parents. “Welcome to my home.”

“It’s good to see you, too, Lucius,” Mom said, closing her eyes and pulling him to herself, holding him tightly just like a real mother would do. “We’ve missed you.”

They held each other long enough to let me know that my husband-to-be had missed Mom, too. The very fact that he didn’t answer her right away made me think that Lucius – motherless Lucius – was either savoring the rare maternal touch, or was perhaps too close to being overcome by emotion to speak.

During the brief months we’d all shared a home in Pennsylvania, my mother had definitely unlocked something inside of Lucius. A vulnerable place that even I wasn’t really privy to. A part of my hardened warrior prince that was just a child, yearning for the love of a parent.

“Thank you for coming,” he finally said, and although his voice was quiet, I was pretty sure it was thick with feelings that he was working hard to control.


When Mom released him, he straightened and moved to my father, and although I suspected that Dad, even more than Mom, had distrusted Lucius during those last few weeks that he’d lived with us, Ned Packwood was never one to turn away a hug. The two men hesitated before each other for just one second, until Dad threw his arms wide and invited, “Come here, Luc!” Then he clasped Lucius to himself and gave his back about five hearty slaps, until Lucius, laughing, withdrew and held Dad at arms’ length, noting, “Easy, Ned! You strike hard for a pacifist!”

We all laughed, then, and all at once I exhaled with an almost audible whoosh and felt my shoulders relax. I hadn’t even realized how tense I’d been about their meeting until I saw that things were fine between them.

I knew that my parents were still worried – maybe terrified – about me marrying into vampire royalty. But a part of them had always known that this moment might come, and, true to their beliefs about parenting, they were letting me go. Letting me be the adult they’d raised me to be. Letting me choose Lucius, and taking him back into their hearts.

To be honest, I doubted they’d ever really let him go.
Lucius went to Mindy, who suddenly seemed kind of uncertain, almost nervous, about how to act in such a regal setting. Or maybe she was worried, in her own way, about reuniting with Lucius, after all that had happened in Pennsylvania. “Umm…” She actually started to curtsey a little, and held out her hand, like she expected him to kiss it. But Lucius smoothly took the extended hand and drew my friend into a less vigorous, but still welcoming, embrace. He spoke softly to her, too, but I heard him say, “Thank you, Melinda, for coming. Thank you for everything.”

They stepped apart, but Lucius gave her hand a squeeze before releasing it, and I saw that Mindy’s eyes were glistening. She’d understood all that he’d meant. Thank you for insisting that Antanasia give me a chance… For trying to save me… For standing by us when no one else would…

He came back to my side, mastering his own emotions, which I saw were again surprisingly close to the surface, and placed one hand on the small of my back, connecting us as he often did when we were in public. I loved how he always laid subtle claim to me like that now. I felt the same possessive instincts for him, too. I looked up to his handsome face. And soon we would stand before the world and make it official…

“I must excuse myself,” he said, addressing me first, then Mom, Dad and Mindy. “I need to mix and mingle with our Romanian guests, as you Americans would say.”

I looked around to realize that several other people – vampires – had arrived while we’d been preoccupied. Among them I saw some of my Dragomir kin, including my Uncle Dorin, face already flushed with the warmth of the room and maybe the glass of dark red wine that he held in his hand as he told some animated story to three of my cousins.

I turned to look across the room, to a far corner, and saw that Lucius’s Uncle Claudiu had joined us, too, and the peace that I’d just felt to see my friends and family reunited with Lucius was shaken a little.

Claudiu – younger brother of Vasile, whom Lucius had destroyed in the very house where we stood…

I hadn’t been sure Claudiu would show up for a happy occasion. Although he was one of the Elders who ruled the clans, there was no love lost between him and Lucius. But Lucius, always one for decorum, had insisted that we invite him, because to do otherwise would alienate him further and maybe even cause a rift that couldn’t be fixed.

Claudiu’s presence in the room seemed to dim the candles a little, cast deeper shadows on the stone. I stared at him, remembering that – along with eternal love – obligation, politics, intrigue and diplomacy were part of my new life, too. I would also be binding myself to the Vladescu clan when I joined my life to that of the vampire who was pressing his palm against my back, promising me, “I won’t be long, Antanasia.”

“I’ll go with you,” I offered, thinking that it was probably proper for me to greet everyone.

But Lucius stopped me by slipping his hand to my arm and giving it a reassuring squeeze. “You will have time to speak to everyone later,” he said with a smile. “Why don’t you look after our American visitors? Make sure they are comfortable? I will bring our relatives to you, which is perfectly fitting, given that you are not only royalty, but also – for one more day – still technically a guest here.”

I gave him a grateful look, knowing that he was probably bending protocol a little to give Mom, Dad and especially Mindy time to settle in before they were left alone in a party where they were outsiders. I looked around the room once more, noting that a few more guests had arrived and trying to recall who was a Vladescu and who was a Dragomir. Not that I wasn’t practically an outsider, myself…

For now.

Then I watched Lucius walk with his obvious usual confidence toward Claudiu and the small group that surrounded Vasile’s brother, and I envied my betrothed the ease with which he moved in the circles of power – sometimes dangerous power – that I was joining.

I also found myself admiring other things about Lucius. His always impressive height; his thick, black hair, cut a little bit shorter and neater than he normally wore it, for our wedding; and the way he carried off the dark, custom-tailored suit that he’d chosen for this occasion. His shoulders were broad under the fitted jacket, and his legs looked especially long and powerful in a pair of narrow, European-style pants.

I was so caught up in observing Lucius that I barely noticed Dad saying to Mindy, “Come on, Melinda Sue! Let’s see if we can’t find something to drink.” As they moved off together, it didn’t even strike me that getting beverages for my guests was probably my responsibility.

No, as sometimes happened, I was nearly mesmerized by Lucius.

As he greeted Claudiu and the others, he smiled, so his white teeth – as white as his crisp dress shirt – flashed in the candlelight, and my heart a skipped a few beats. I hadn’t seen nor felt Lucius’s fangs since that first night he’d completed my transformation from mortal to vampire. We were waiting for our wedding night to touch like that again, savoring the anticipation, which was almost unbearable, given how close he was to me now, every day…

I placed my hand on my chest, feeling my heart, which had started racing.

“He’s very handsome.”

My mother whispered that in my ear, and I jolted, then turned to find her smiling – laughing a little – at me, a knowing, teasing look in her intelligent eyes.

“Mom!” I started to protest, flushing to have been caught looking at Lucius with what must have been obvious lust. Then I remembered that I wasn’t a high school girl anymore, and that Lucius was almost my husband. I was allowed to look. Soon I would be one of Mom’s peers… a married woman. I controlled the urge to blush and confided, “It seems like he’s getting even more handsome, to me.”

I stole another look at Lucius and saw that he was grinning broadly, running his hand through his black hair as he conversed with his uncle, acting like there was no tension between them.

“I think he’s getting more handsome, too,” Mom agreed.

I jerked back a little, surprised by the comment, and noted that she wasn’t laughing anymore. She looked thoughtful – but in a pleased way – as she added, “He’s happy, Jessica. That’s why. Happiness makes people beautiful.”

I smiled at my mother. “I hope he’s happy, Mom.”

Then Dad and Mindy rejoined us, Dad carrying some kind of pewter mug that he never did get a chance to drink out of, because all of the sudden, Lucius’s deep voice broke into the quiet conversations that were taking place around us as he announced, “Please, everyone! Take your places. Dinner is served!”

I went to my place at one end of the table, Lucius took his at the distant other end, and the rest of the guests searched for their names on the vellum place cards that were artfully arranged on silver chargers before each tall chair.

As we all took our seats, I realized that there was one empty place – one person missing, at Lucius’s right hand – and for the life of me, I couldn’t recall who was meant to sit there.

I was distracted from wondering, though, as a team of silent, uniformed servers swept away the place cards and replaced them with individual menus explaining the night’s selections in hand-printed, swirling calligraphy.

One by one, the menus were slipped beneath our noses.

And a few seconds later, all of us Americans began to laugh out loud.

Continue to Chapter 5.....