*Lena*

The first time I ventured out of my windowless prison in the Vampire King’s castle was anticlimactic. I didn’t get very far before running into a group of the gray, sunken-eyed guards that Penny had warmed me to stay away from. They hissed at me, their red eyes shining in the dim light of a long, curving corridor I’d been exploring.

I’d retreated back to my room, shaken.

King Nikolas hadn’t called on me in what felt like days. Food ...