She cowered in a corner in fear and trembled.

Her body had lost an obvious ten kilograms and now she looked like a living skeleton, covered with an expensive dress, which was now too depressing.

Amanda glanced briefly at her brother, then at the Adamanian princess.

- I thought you... - words that could frighten Giselle even more did not come out of her mouth.

But Raphael understood her without continuing, so he hurried to answer.

- The corpse of her mother and their father’s adviser are real. - his eyes flashed with an evil scarlet gleam. - I haven’t decided what to do with her yet.

-Are you going to keep her here? She needs at least minimal care and the opportunity to go to the toilet in a human way. Disgusted by the local stench. - Amanda whispered.

- For now, this is the best place for her before I find another use for her.

Raphael created a sound-absorbing web, so Giselle could not hear their dialogue, but this did not prevent her from experiencing utter horror at the sight of a vampire.

From the day of their wedding, it was as if she had broken her rose-colored glasses and realized that their marriage was invalid, and he had never loved. But most of all she was shocked by his essence. She could not even imagine the existence of any magical creatures. Giselle thought it was nothing more than fairy tales to scare naughty children.

He treated her cruelly, he starved her, did not give her water, she was deprived of all the comforts of life, not to mention the fact that she could only go to the toilet in the same place where she slept - on a cold stone floor.

Quite occasionally he brought her food, which caused her to gag. It was as if he was mocking her, making her suffer, because what person in his right mind would eat raw meat from a freshly killed animal that was still bleeding?

But after 4 days of starvation, she already felt that dehydration in her body had reached its peak and if she did not do anything, it would guarantee her death. Overcoming her disgust, she grabbed a piece of bloody flesh that Raphael threw to her like a dog, and bit into it with her teeth, crying and overcoming the gag reflex.

The next day he was in a better mood and even brought her water. Giselle realized that if she was docile, it would prolong her life, even if she had to eat raw meat, picking out the remnants of wool from her teeth.

She begged and begged many times to spare her and let her go, she assured that she would not tell anyone anything, but he was uncompromising and cruel. Instead of letting her go, he started feeding on her blood. He drained her day after day until she fainted, not caring to make the bite less painful, he seemed to tear her skin, her flesh. And then he forced her to eat raw meat with blood again, making up for the loss of hemoglobin.

And only one day she breathed a sigh of relief when he did not come. And then another day alone and another. She already thought that she would start slowly starving again, but on the fourth day, a man with the same scarlet eyes as Raphael appeared in front of her. He brought her food and water and before her eyes turned into a bird to fly away.

Giselle realized that her life would never be the same again. She didn’t even have the strength to mourn her mother’s death. She didn’t care if her father was looking for her, because even if he was, what could he do against a vampire? She only needed to survive to ever be able to get out of this place.

And then, a few months later, she saw that infernal brat again, but now he came with Amanda. With the woman she was so attracted to, with whom she wanted to be on the same wavelength. But Amanda always shunned her and Giselle felt it, though she didn’t show it.

Thoughts were wandering in her head, one scarier than the other. Her body was shaking violently, but not from the cold, but from fear. And although she noticed some changes for the better in him, she still couldn’t help but remember every time he tortured her for his pleasure.

This mad tyrant.

- It’s all so terrible. Amanda whispered with disgust and pity for Giselle at the same time.

Yes, she did not have warm feelings and care for this girl, sometimes she even annoyed her and her whole presence in Abion Castle caused her dislike because of her arrogance and selfishness, but this was not a reason to wish her a similar fate, much less death.

But now she could not help the princess of Adaman in any way, because his the psychological state, although it gave glimpses, was still too shaky, and the risk was worth more than gold in this case.

- Can I bring her food occasionally? - she turned an inquisitive gaze in the direction of her brother.

- I’ll give you some of my blood so you can come here. – he immediately replied. - But don’t even think about showing her pity to let her out of here. Do you understand me, Mandy?

His tone was tinged with annoyance again, as if she had already made a mistake, even though nothing had happened yet.

- I promise I won’t do anything without your knowledge. - she answered and raised her right hand up, emphasizing her promise.

Soon they left the temporary shelter of Giselle, who cast looks of despair at them, either from the fact that they left her there, or from the fact that her life was now far from as beautiful as it was before the wedding with Raphael. But Amanda’s own plans for the young princess were already maturing in her head.

- You said that witches are preparing a war. When should this happen? - she asked warily as they rose to the surface. - Can they do anything against you? It’s even funny!

- That’s right, it’s funny. - he grinned, but it didn’t touch his eyes. - I believe they are now looking for allies among other kingdoms. It’s absurd to put so many lives on the line just for the sake of feeling superior to me.

That’s what Lillian is all about.

- Aren’t you afraid they might be up to something? They have already teamed up with magicians, and now werewolves are also in question...

-You say Werewolves? - he chuckled, pleased with his imagination. - I’ll leave you and Dexter to look after Abion while I visit my furry, flea–bitten suitors. Because Lillian probably has a trump card up her sleeve.

- Be careful. – sincerely wished him a sister.

- Worry more about yourself, because Abion no longer protects the illusory barrier. Can you handle it, my little independent sister?

Amanda nodded confidently. And although she was alarmed by the upcoming events, she was firmly convinced that she would lay down her life to protect her home, she could not let her brother worry about this and showed determination with all her appearance.

In the shortest possible time, Raphael left Abion, heading for Norland. He couldn’t use the portal since the northern lands were protected from magic, so he had to use his vampire abilities to move quickly. But on the way there, he remembered about an unfinished business and decided to take a quick look at Raswell.

The streets of Raswell, paved with sandstone, were no longer as crowded as before. People passing by froze when they saw the gloomy silhouette of Raphael in a raincoat.

He had no intention of hiding his identity, but he didn’t need to make too much fuss right now. Most likely, he came to the moment when echoes of practicality began to flicker in his floating brain. He walked slowly, listening to the voices around him, absorbing the latest gossip like a sponge, waiting to hear something that might interest him.

There was tension in the air that could be cut with a knife and the residents of the city were waiting for the war to begin soon, which would affect every family. This was to be expected, because the fact that there were mostly women on the streets of the city indicated that men had gone to military training.

Raphael still could not understand where Lillian got these universal ambitions, starting from the desire to have power, to sit on the throne and ending with the fact that she encroached on the holy of holies of all races – wizards. She was so obsessed with the desire to seize their power that she literally destroyed the once great race, without achieving anything in the end.

He was walking along a shopping street and could not help noticing that all the windows were blocked with shutters, and the signs were decorated with "closed" signs. He remembered that on his last visit to Raswell, Richard had taken them to some dilapidated tavern and his legs instantly led him in that direction.

Although there was no sign of closure on the tavern, but the shutters were closed as well as on the rest of the buildings. But nothing could deceive the vampire’s sensitive hearing, and he heard muffled voices and rustling inside.

Kicking the door with her foot, without calculating the strength, she flew off the hinges and flew to the side, making a cracking sound.

- Well, wow, what a fragile door. – he shrugged his shoulders as if it wasn’t he who had just knocked down the door, but she herself had fallen off from old age.

- What do you allow yourself?! - An elderly man shouted, aggressively pointing his finger at the stranger.

- Hush, hush, Pitt! - Claire grabbed the tavern owner by the shoulder with a death grip and pulled him back.

She quickly measured with an appraising glance the silhouette of a man who had thrown off his hood and revealed his face to her.

- You must be a friend of Ricci’s? You were with him last time. - she remembered.

- Is he a friend of our Richard? – the old man was surprised. – My God, where is this world going, people seem to have forgotten about upbringing!

The old man threw up his hands, wailing for breaking the silence and breaking the door. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

- Do you seriously think that this door could protect you from something? - Raphael asked mockingly. – If I am not brought up, then you are a noble fool.

- Shut your mouth, brat! - Old Pitt panted, but at the sight of Raphael’s fangs exposed from irritation, he swallowed nervously and immediately closed his mouth.

- How interesting... - drawled Raphael, licking his fang. – Are you putting a broken door on a par with your worthless life, you stupid brave man?

- No, he didn’t want to say anything bad to you, he just acted on emotions. Please forgive him, sir. He’s an old idiot, what can take from him?

Claire stood in front of Pitt and covered his small body with her own.

- How can we help you, sir? You didn’t just decide to visit us, did you?

- I came to visit your count, but on the way I decided to stop by here, I thought they would treat me to something delicious here. And apart from insults, won’t treat me to anything else here.