Lyanna’s mother moved closer and took her hand in hers.
"You need to know about vampires, especially about powerful ones like Azrael Thornfield. They don’t feel emotions like we do. They can’t truly love. They possess, control, and dominate. That’s what this marriage will be. He will control you, possess you, and use you for his political purposes."
"But the letter seed..."
"The letter is a manipulation." Isabelle cut her off. "Of course, he’ll show himself reasonable and kind in writing to trap you."
Over the following weeks, Isabelle launched a campaign to poison Lyanna’s view of her future husband. Every conversation eventually turned to the dangers of vampires, the cruelty of vampire society, and Azrael Thornfield’s flaws.
"I’ve heard he killed his own maker." Isabelle ntioned casually over breakfast one morning. "He hunted her down and murdered her. What kind of creature kills the one who gave them eternal life?"
"He has had dozens of lovers over the centuries." She comnted another day. "Vampire won, mostly, but so humans too. He used them for a while, then discarded them when he got bored."
"Vampires are possessive to the point of madness." She told her during a fitting for Lyanna’s wedding dress. "Once he considers you as his property, he’ll never let you go. You’ll be trapped in Thornfield forever, unable to leave, or make choices, unable to even breathe without his permission."
Each statent was chosen to instil fear, to make Lyanna hate Azrael, to ensure she saw Azrael as a monster rather than a partner. And Lyanna, eighteen, sheltered and terrified, believed every word.
The worst part was that she had no one to discuss this with who would give her a different perspective. Her father avoided this topic. Her brothers were focused on their own responsibilities. The servants only knew gossip and rumours.
By the ti the wedding day approached, Lyanna was no longer just reluctant. She was terrified. She was convinced that she was marrying a monster who would possess and control her, who would not love but only dominate, who would trap her in an eternal nightmare, and she had no choice but to go through with it.
anwhile, in Thornfield, Azrael prepared for his wedding with emotions he barely recognized anymore. He had hope.
He sat in his study with the copy of the letter he had sent to Lyanna weeks ago, and wondered why she had never written back. He had expected questions or concerns, so kind of communication. But there had been only silence.
Adrian found him there late one evening, staring at his copy of the letter like it held answers instead of questions.
"Nervous about the wedding?" Adrian asked, as he sat on his usual chair.
"I don’t get nervous." Azrael replied.
"Liar." Adrian smiled. "You’re terrified. This is the first ti in centuries you’ve tried to build sothing with soone instead of just taking what you want through power. It’s scary."
Azrael didn’t deny it.
"I sent her a letter weeks ago, offering to answer questions, to help her prepare. She never wrote back."
"Maybe she doesn’t have questions."
"Or maybe she wants nothing to do with ." Azrael said. "Maybe she’s being forced into this marriage against her will, and she has chosen silence and compliance as her strategies."
"Would you bla her?" Adrian asked. "She’s eighteen, human, marrying a vampire king she has never t. That’s scary, if we think from her perspective."
"Which is why I offered to communicate." Azrael said in frustration. "I wanted to make this easier for her. I wanted..." He stopped, not sure how to articulate what he wanted.
"You wanted her to see you as a person rather than a monster." Adrian finished for him. "You wanted a chance to be sothing other than the cold vampire king everyone fears. You wanted soone who might actually care about you instead of just fearing or serving you."
"I’m not so lovesick fool looking for romance. This is a political marriage. I just want to make it work."
"Keep telling yourself that." Adrian said, standing up to leave. "But I’ve known you for centuries, and I’ve never seen you care this much about any arrangent before. You actually want this to work. You want her to want this too. That’s not just politics, that’s hope that you might not have to be alone anymore."
After Adrian left, Azrael sat in his study and admitted to himself that his friend was right. He was hoping for more than just a political marriage. He was hoping for connection, for partnership, for soone who might see past his power and fear.
He had built Thornfield from nothing, had ruled for four hundred years, had accumulated power, wealth and territories. But he had done it all alone, keeping everyone at a distance, never letting anyone close enough to matter.
The three months passed in a blur. Each day brought Lyanna closer to what she believed would be her doom, and each day her mother’s poisonous whispers beca more insistent.
"You need to understand what you’re walking into." Isabelle said one morning, exactly six weeks before the wedding.
They were in Lyanna’s chambers, discussing about the wedding preparations, but the conversation had quickly turned darker.
"King Azrael built his power through violence. He didn’t inherit Thornfield, he conquered it. He killed the previous ruler, and then eliminated anyone who opposed him."
Lyanna’s hands trembled as she held her teacup.
"But that was centuries ago, right? Maybe he has changed..."
"Vampires don’t change." Isabelle interrupted her imdiately. "They can’t." She moved closer, took the teacup from Lyanna’s shaking hands and put it aside.
"There’s sothing else you need to know. Sothing I’ve been hesitant to tell you because it’s so disturbing, but you deserve to know what kind of creature you’re marrying."
Lyanna’s stomach clenched.
"What?"
"His previous lovers, the ones who were human, most of them didn’t survive." Isabelle whispered. "Vampires lose control during intimacy. I’ve heard at least three of his human lovers died from being drained during... He couldn’t control himself, and they paid the price."
The statent was a complete lie, but Lyanna didn’t know. She turned pale, and her mind imdiately went to the wedding night she had been trying not to think about.
"I’ll die?" She whispered.
"You might but you might survive. Either way, the human girl you are now won’t survive this marriage. She will die on your wedding night, one way or another."
For a mont, Lyanna sat in stunned silence, processing what her mother had just told her.
"Then why?" Her voice cracked. "Why are you marrying off to him if I might die on the wedding night? If he’s so dangerous, if vampires lose control, if his other lovers didn’t survive, mother, why would you send to him?"
"Because, my darling girl, we have no choice." She replied with sadness. "Do you think I want this for you? Do you think any mother wants to send her daughter into danger? But we aren’t powerful enough to refuse Thornfield’s offer. If we reject this marriage alliance, Azrael could see it as an insult, and insulted vampires retaliate."
She gripped Lyanna’s shoulders, forcing her to look into her eyes.
"He can destroy our entire family. But if you marry him, the rest of the family is protected by the alliance. Your sacrifice will save everyone else."
"My sacrifice?" Lyanna repeated numbly. "You’re sacrificing ."
"I’m saving our house, and you might survive. So human brides do survive their vampire husbands, if they’re careful, if they learn to manage the danger. You’re clever, Lyanna. You’re stronger than you think. You might be one of the ones who make it through."
"But you just said..."
"I said you might die, not that you will die. There’s a chance, and we have to take that chance because the alternative ans death for our entire family."
Lyanna stared at her mother, trying to connect this with everything she had known about parental love and protection.
"You’re gambling with my life to protect the family?"
"I’m making the impossible choice that rulers have to make." Isabelle replied. "You think this is easy for ? You think I sleep well knowing what I’m sending you into? But I’m responsible for more than just you, Lyanna. I’m responsible for your father, your brothers, and every person who depends on us for protection. Your life cannot be worth more than all of theirs combined."
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