Page 49 of Sold to the Dark Vampire Prince

Alexander Visconti was going back to his real life, back to Lara. They would announce their engagement. She’d always known she could only have him for a single night. No strings. No regrets. She hadn’t sought out to ensnare a prince, only to find a way to pay for her sister’s costly medical treatment.

So why was this breaking her heart?

“I’ll be fine,” she said firmly, stepping away. She needed to put physical space between them, had to find a way to wall off her heart. “I’m just tired. You should probably go now.”

“Of course.” He hesitated, and when she looked away, tears stinging her eyes, shook his head. “Daniela—”

“Please just go.”

“As you wish.” And then, with a swirl of smoke, he was gone.

She sagged against the door, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. That was when she noticed the bruise on her wrist. The smudgy mark that had been there the day before, appearing at the spot Alex had first fed from her, looked far worse in the bright early-morning light, the edges of the bruise somehow sharper.

She touched her neck, and hurried over to the mirror, but could only find two faint fang marks at her throat. No bruising.

Was it possible her wrist looked so bad because the veins were smaller?

Pulling the edge of her sleeve down, Dani headed back out into the kitchen. She found Evan leaning against the counter, arms folded.

“I sent Ava over to Kayra’s for a little while so we could talk. I’m worried about you.”

“I’m fine,” she said, a bit testily.

“You’re too attached to him. And it’s not just one-sided. He’s obsessed with you, anyone can see that. But there’s no way this ends well.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Dani barely kept her voice even. “Gods, Evan. I don’t need you rubbing my nose in it.”

“What I think is that you want so much for this to be something that it’s not that you’re willing to lie to yourself.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You told Alexander about encountering the werewolf operatives on the road coming home.”

“And?” Dani laughed sharply. “I didn’t even know what I saw, for one. And he already knew. You act like I was giving away rebellion secrets.”

“Okay, fine.” Evan held up her hands, palms out. “I just think you should remember whose side he’s really on. And it isn’t ours.”

“You don’t know Alex.”

“And you do?”

“Yes,” she snapped. Tears stung her eyes.

For a moment, the room was still. Down the hall, the neighbor’s baby began to cry. Then—

“When were you going to tell me that Prince Alexander was the same Zander you had been going to meet with at the legal aid center all these months?”

Heat crept up her neck. “How did you find out?”

“Serafina told me.” Her sister’s tone was quiet, dangerous. “You do feel a connection to him. It’s written all over your face. I should have seen it before, with those stories you were writing, all those forbidden vampire-human romances.”

“I write what sells.” She was breathing hard now, both of them aware Evan had touched a nerve. “And I don’t judge you for what you draw.”

The comment was especially cruel because Evan knew writing was her only form of creative release, the one thing she looked forward to every night between long days on the shipping center floor, endless walks back and forth in the freezing cold, and the monotony of getting Ava to and from school. It was the one thing that truly belonged to her. So what if her series wasn’t one of the most popular ones. She’d never gone viral, but they still earned a small number of silvers from her writing every month. And Evan had no right to kick her for it when she was down.

“So why did you lie to me?”

“Because I knew you’d never understand,” she exploded. “There, are you happy?”