I stared at the king, his words ringing in my ears. You will go to the Farlands to marry Prince Ares. I waited for someone to say it was just a joke—when didn’t the nobles joke at the expense of a servant from time to time? I expected the king to laugh any moment now.

But the king wasn’t smiling. In fact, no one was smiling.

One of the advisors peered at me. “I’ll admit, the resemblance to the princess is striking. Uncanny.”

I had no idea what my apparent resemblance to the princess had to do with any of this. At last, I found my voice. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about. There has to be some mistake.”

Once again, everyone in the room acted as though I hadn’t spoken. King Garrett made a dismissive gesture. “Guards. Take her to be cleaned up.”

The guards moved toward me. I scurried backward, my hand automatically moving to the dagger sheath at my belt. But although my fingers itched for a blade, I forced myself to stop. If I drew a weapon in the king’s presence, I would be killed. Me and my tiny dagger were no match for the guards and their broadswords.

I squared my shoulders and planted my feet, turning to face King Garrett. “I’m not going anywhere until someone explains what’s going on.”

The king’s face hardened. “I hope you’re not a fool, girl. I’ve already explained that you are to marry Prince Ares. What about that is unclear to you?”

So many things, I wanted to scream. Like why and when and one thousand times why? But the only thing that came out of my mouth was, “He’s a monster. I’ve heard the things they say he’s done—all of the vampires…”

The king looked at me as if I was a particularly dense child. “Yes. That’s exactly the point. Queen Emlin of the Farlands has proposed a truce between our empires. A royal marriage to avoid a war.”

“But what does that have to do with me? I’m just a servant.”

“You won’t be any longer. Starting today, you’re going to be the princess who marries that monster who calls himself a prince. You’ll bring these threats of war to a standstill.”

My pulse raced so fast I felt faint. Why in the goddess’s name had I been chosen for this so-called “honor”? From where I was standing, it felt more like I was being led to the slaughter than receiving an honor. “I-I can’t just go marry someone in another kingdom as a princess,” I stammered. “I have a life here. What about my family?”

The king put a hand on my shoulder. I froze on the spot—I’d never been touched by royalty before. His grip was tight, far from reassuring. “From now on, you are my family.”

I felt something inside me snap. My fear and confusion gave way to anger. Before I knew better, I spoke. “You are not my family,” I said. “My family has served yours faithfully for years! My mother was one of your soldiers! My father has served the empire as a blacksmith for longer than I’ve been alive! How can you force me to marry a monster?!”

The king’s gaze remained level and cold. He didn’t address me but instead snapped his fingers at the guards. “Take her. Now.”

Hands clamped down on my biceps, forcibly dragging me from the room. I twisted and thrashed, panic overtaking me. “Why are you doing this? Please, Your Highness, reconsider!”

Once out in the hall, I turned my desperate questions on the guards. “Please, just explain to me why this is happening. I’m not royalty. I’m just a maid! There must be some mistake!”

The guards remained tightlipped, and when I struggled, they only tightened their grip. “You should get a hold of yourself,” one of them warned. “The more you fight, the worse this will be for you.”

I couldn’t imagine how. I’d just been handed a death sentence. How could any human be expected to marry a vampire? Especially one as notorious as Prince Ares. He slaughtered humans for sport. Everyone knew that he and his mother were cruel, ruthless beings.

I swallowed hard, my entire body shaking at the thought of being anywhere near him. I couldn’t allow this to happen. I wouldn’t be the only one to suffer if the king’s plot succeeded. What would become of my brother and father? Finneas was drowning in grips of alcoholism and a gambling addiction, and my father had never been the same since my mother’s death. They needed me. I couldn’t just leave them.

I racked my brain. Maybe if I could figure out why the king had chosen me, I would be able to propose an alternative solution. At the very least, I needed to get away so I could think. I needed to get to my father and tell him what was going on. He would know what to do. He would never give me away.

I took a deep breath and stopped struggling. I had to be smart about this. At this rate, I was going to use up all my strength fighting a losing battle. “All right. You win. I’ll come quietly. Can you please let me go at least?”

The guards exchanged dubious glances.

“Please?” I asked in my most pathetic voice. “You’re hurting me. You wouldn’t want Prince Ares to wonder why his new bride is covered in bruises, would you?”

After a beat, they let me go. I walked along between them acting docile, head hanging, all the while searching for a way to escape. Could I slip through a door into one of the servant’s passageways? No, the guards would be quick on my heels, and there was a high chance that the narrow passages might be blocked with other servants. My eyes skimmed the windows, but I quickly nixed that idea, too. If I could even manage to get one open, I wouldn’t survive the fall.

As we passed through the dining hall, I spotted the dumbwaiter that ran down to the kitchen below. My breath caught in my throat. That was it. It would be a tight fit, but the space was just big enough for me, and the guards with their heavy armor would have no way to climb in after me.

Suddenly, I broke into a run, tearing past the guards to dive headfirst into the dumbwaiter. I curled onto my side with my legs crushed against my chest. I barely had time to slam the door shut before the machine plummeted, the curses of the guards fading behind me. My stomach flew into my throat as the dumbwaiter entered freefall. It was all I could do to brace myself when it came to a crashing stop at the bottom.

Pain spread through my body like a shockwave, knocking the air out of my lungs. For a moment, I couldn’t move. Then I remembered that I was running for my life, and I pushed through the pain, fumbling to unlatch the door. When I crawled out, the kitchen staff gasped, and the elderly baker dropped her dough in shock. “Vel? What in the world are you doing?”

I scrambled to my feet. “You never saw me. I was never here, got it?”

I didn’t stick around to wait for an answer.

A few minutes later, winded and aching, I’d made it back to the blacksmith’s shop. I snuck in the back, where Finneas was loitering, flask in hand. He set it down when he saw me, his brows lifting. “Vel? What are you doing back so early?”

I limped toward him. “The king wants to send me to the Farlands,” I gasped out.

Finneas stared at me like I’d grown a second head. “Are you drunk?”

I was in no mood to enjoy the irony. “For goddess’s sake, Finn, just help me hide!”

He shook himself out of his stupor and led me to the storage room. “Here,” he said, pushing me down behind a pile of crates.

“Where’s Pa?” I whispered. “He’ll know what to do.”

Finneas shook his head. “He went out and hasn’t come back yet. I’ll let you know when the coast is clear.”

With that, he threw a blanket over me and left. I lay in the stifling dark, willing myself to stop trembling. I felt as if I’d fallen into some sort of feverish nightmare. Nothing made sense. I kept telling myself that it would end soon, that King Garrett would realize his mistake, and then I would go back to work as a maid in the palace. But as I waited for my brother’s return, my thoughts replayed what the king had said to me: From now on, I was his family. What did that mean?

Eventually, I heard footsteps approaching. Relief washed over me at the thought of seeing my father. But then someone tore the blanket off of me, and it wasn’t my father, but a cluster of palace guards. I screamed as they dragged me to my feet.

Finneas came running at the noise. “Vel, calm down! It’s going to be okay.”

“Finneas, do something! Help me!”

My brother’s expression was agonized. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”

I strained against the armored hands on me. “At least tell Pa,” I pleaded. “Promise me!”

“I promise.”

It was the last coherent thing I heard before one of the guards lifted me clear off the floor. The passage of time that followed was murky, a wash of shouting and pleas and threats. Before I knew it, I was back in the throne room.

The guards tossed me at the king’s feet. In the depths of my terror, I leapt to my feet again, throwing caution to the winds. “I won’t do this!” My voice came out as a snarl. “I won’t marry a vampire.”

King Garrett grabbed me by the chin, and it was only then that I realized how bad this looked—a runaway servant refusing to kneel before the king, hissing and spitting like a feral animal. I fell silent. I’d done the completely wrong thing, and in front of the king no less.

“I’d anticipated that you’d put up a fight,” he said. “Your attempt to escape comes as no surprise. You’re Kendra’s daughter, after all.”

I blinked, jarred to hear him call my mother by name. She’d died twelve years ago. I was surprised he’d remembered her name since he hadn’t even delivered the compensation to my family in person, like he usually did when a royal guard died.

“You would be wise to stop resisting,” he went on, “or there will be consequences.”

I couldn’t let him do this to me. I had to speak up one more time, even if it was foolish. “I won’t do it. I’d rather die.”

The king sighed, then gestured to a guard by one of the entrances. “You might be willing to die,” he said, “but are you so ready to condemn your father?”

My words of confusion died on my lips as a guard pushed my father into the room, shackled and beaten. I swallowed a scream.

“You will marry Prince Ares,” King Garrett said, “or your father will die.”