Queen Isolde's eyes blazed with fury as she stalked across her throne room, each step echoing through the chamber like a heartbeat of restrained violence. Viktor's letter lay crushed in her fist, the parchment a mangled, wrinkled mess that seemed ready to ignite under the weight of her anger. How dare he? How dare that foolish vampire defy her once more, throwing his life away for the sake of a mortal.
She had seen it before, the naïve attachments, the reckless disregard for the inevitable decay of humans. Viktor's past lover had died, and Isolde had been certain that loss would cure him of his weakness. But no, here he was again, bringing yet another human into their world, this one a willing participant in the ritual.
