Clinks of armor could be heard behind her as Elys assumed the monarch's knights had chased after her like what the spectators had bet on.
"Your majesty! We were about to catch her!" a man's voice said.
"Your majesty, my love, you shouldn't taint your hands with this lowly slave girl about to be executed." A woman's honeyed voice sang.
"Oh, but I can't help it, my dearest queen. This slave was so entertaining from afar I just had to see her up close."
Elys painfully opened her eyes and she saw golden orbs that pierced through her very soul. Fangs bared at her and the vampire king greeted,
"I like you little slave with the scarlet hair and blazing eyes full of hatred. Be merry, for I have decided I will gift you to this kingdom's bastard prince as his wife."
The captured princess was rendered speechless.
What was this old man spouting about? How could he decide to randomly wed his own son to a slave?
Doesn't he at least want the best wife for his son? Why not a political ally of a neighbor kingdom? A noble vampire with great fortune?
A slave wasn't the best of choices even if it was a former princess!
Elysianne Whitecaster, a vampire prince's wife.
The princess coughed and she couldn't help but to laugh like a maniac.
It seems like she was going crazy.
One day she had ruled in her own kingdom, the next she was a slave to their conqueror.
And now she when she was escaping her execution, the vampire king suddenly took a liking to her and wanted to get her married off to royalty?
Princess Elysianne couldn't believe what she had heard.
Was it a stroke of luck- good or bad - that brought her to this moment?
Or was it written by the hands of fate, set and carved into stone to be what it is now?
But wait a minute, a bastard prince?
"Teo, take the slave and prepare her for a wedding!"
The rain poured down on Elys' face and she felt herself hit the cold ground once more as the vampire king laughed and announced,
"Hear me citizens of the vampire kingdom!" the king's voice boomed with thunder as his background.
"Vampire nobilities, knights, blood servants, slaves, the bastard prince of our kingdom shall wed this feisty slave at the break of dawn tomorrow morning! Let it be known to everyone that they are invited to witness," the vampire king paused, "a joyous celebration."
"HA HA HA HA! This will be the best wedding of the century!" The vampire king then left the scene with his queen and their entourage of knights and guards.
One of them, Teo, had stayed behind as he inspected the slave that had caught his king's attention.
The overseer came in a rush, rubbing his hands like a greedy pig and said to the knight, "Sir Teo, I am Yobab the overseer of this slave. This is a wonderful news that the king will wed her to the Prince Aleksander…"
The overseer blabbered off, trying to gain something from Elys' being picked as an instant bride to a bastard prince.
The knight just flashed his angry eyes at the overseer and Yobab bit his tongue in fear.
"Get out of my way, filthy human. I am taking the slave with me and you will have nothing to do with her from now on. She is now officially the property of Prince Aleksander Ardorlean."
Fuck these vampires… they think people are nothing but commodity to be played and passed off as property.
The princess felt something prick her wrist, and she writhed and wailed in agony as she felt something burning course through her body like molten lava.
Elys went completely numb and all she could ever do now was to spectate how she was being dragged helplessly.
The knight lifted Elys in his arms and carried her off to god knows where.
She drifted off here and there, her vision blurred and focused from time to time.
The dark skies that rained down on her turned into black ceilings that had golden marble patterns, and she could smell the scent of something intoxicatingly so sweet it made her sick to the stomach.
She couldn't tell where she was but she did feel hands all over her body as if she was being inspected from every nook and cranny.
The princess heard whispers saying,
"The king has gone crazy - he is getting this slave wed to the Prince Aleksander!"
"Haven't you heard from the palace kitchen maids? Apparently, the king sees Prince Aleksander as a threat to the Crown Prince Dominick. Rumor has it that the king decided to wed the bastard prince to this slave just so he couldn't have the power to raise a coup when the time comes."
"No political allies, no fortune to back him up, and a useless wife will make sure Prince Aleksander never stand a chance against Prince Dominick."
"This is really funny… this wedding turns out to be the joke of the century!"
Evil laughter echoed as Elys fell back into a state of blankness.
She felt herself float by and she could barely tell how much time has passed since she had been sentenced to die.
Eventually, the princess found herself in front of a broken vanity mirror, dressed in a white wedding dress and a shimmering sheer veil covered her head.
The princess looked eerily beautiful – thin but still elegant in a way she couldn't imagine she would look like again.
She had make-up on, and she looked like she was royalty again.
The princess stood up and heard a slight rustle beneath her bare feet and she looked down to see petals of golden roses scattered all around.
Elysianne Whitecaster gazed at her hand, and she found a similarly lovely golden ring with a tiny diamond in her ring finger.
Had the wedding happened already? The skies outside the windows looked dark like it was night time.
A door creaked open and Elys frantically grabbed a shard and hid her hand behind her voluminous skirt.
There was a clacking of fine shoes that came closer her way.
A grandfather clock ticked in sync to the footsteps and Elys felt her heart pound so hard that she had to breathe in slowly and bite her tongue to successfully calm herself down.
The footsteps stopped, Elys turned around and came face to face with the most enchanting creature she has ever laid eyes on.
Pools of silver on alabaster skin, waves of black locks akin to the sheen of a raven's wings.
"Who are you?" Elys asked as she gripped the sharp glass in her hand.
"I am your husband." The man with the alexandrite eyes flashed her a smug smile and raised his arms as wide open, "Welcome home, wife."