It was the kind of bond that blurred the line between necessity and danger—a volatile, inescapable symbiosis that would define us for eternity. We were entangled, codependent in ways both intoxicating and destructive, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. Let the world gossip, let them judge; their opinions were dust compared to the way we fit together, imperfect and undeniable.

The Vampire King was mine, and I was his Bride. His first, his only. We weren’t just bound by choice but by ...