Chapter 3

Rhea.

What was the first rule of escaping captivity? Don't wait. The longer you stayed, the more familiar the cage felt. It had worked for me over the years, and even though I didn't always get captured pretty often, I made sure to leave whenever I wasn't wanted, and if this scenario with the vampire king didn't fit that narrative, I had no idea what else would.

My plan was impromptu, and it meant I needed to act as soon as possible. So the moment the guards rotated,I made my move. Alaric had placed two by my door, and once it was time for their usual midnight rotation, I snuck out of the room.

Alaric had underestimated me, and when I thought about it, I fought the urge to laugh. He'd locked the doors, spelled the windows, but he hadn't accounted for the fact that I wasn't just an ordinary assassin. I was the one who never missed, and I didn't just get that name by chance. I worked hard to get it, even if it involved dabbling into things I didn't know too much about.

I found the sigils etched into the floor beneath the rug. From the way it pulsed, you could easily tell it was the power source. I wasn't skilled in vampire magic, but I knew the basics and how to disarm basic spells. The one that glowed beneath me didn't look too complex, and I couldn't help but feel like, all it was doing, was to simply keep me in here.

Vampires used magic all the time, even for the littlest things, and if I was right, then the spell was simply to keep me locked in here no matter what I did. If it was a heavy spell, it could be rigged to make me forget my plans of escaping, any time I thought about it.

I shook the thoughts out of my head immediately. The last thing I needed to focus on was how to escape here. I needed to disarm the spell as quickly as possible, before anyone would catch a whiff of what I was about to do.

“Here goes nothing, Rhea.” I muttered underneath my breath. I'd learned how to break spells from my mentor, and even though it's been a while since I used them, I could only pray to God that I didn't mess it up. “You can do this.”

I whispered the words underneath my breath, the ancient tongue tasting like ash on my lips. The signs and symbols etched into the floor glowed faintly, and I took that as a sign that I was doing the right thing. All I needed to do was keep it up for a little while, just long enough to break out of here. Maybe if I was lucky, it would even teleport me back to my house in the city and not some random rundown vampire ruins.

Everything seemed to be going well, but the moment I hit the last syllable, I felt a shift in the air. Invisible electricity crackled all around me, and the atmosphere felt hard and heavy, hungry even, like I'd awoken something that I wasn't supposed to.

The symbols didn't flicker out into darkness like they were supposed to. Instead, they flared all around me.

A circle of fire roared to life, entrapping me in the make shift circle of fire. A loud groan echoed throughout the room,like something ancient had been disturbed, and whatever it was, wasn't happy about it. Like that wasn't enough, a blast of wind knocked me straight to my knees.

“No-...” I wanted to scream, but I couldn't. My throat burned, like a wave of fire was clawing up my throat, before spreading through my body. It was too late. Whatever I'd done was already taking effect on me, and fast too.

My vision blurred, but only for a little while as another circle materialized from a corner of the room. Flames licked its edges, before giving way for some smoke. It cleared up in a second, and someone emerged from it.

Alaric. It was none other than the vampire bastard himself.

What the hell was he doing here?

His shirt was torn open in the centre, it's jagged edges hinting that he had rippled them apart in a hurry, and probably out of anger and hurt. His expression was bloody murder, and I couldn't fight back the shudder that raced down my spine the moment his eyes fell on me.

“What have you done?” He snarled, his voice echoing all over the place.

“I was only trying to escape!” I yelled. A strong wind had picked up, and it was a miracle how it hadn't thrown me across the room by now.

“You activated a binding circle.” His response flew straight into my face. “How could you….”

“ I didn't know what it was…”

The lights and flames circling us exploded in a blinding flash, and when it cleared, we were both on our knees, panting hard. The air was charged, and my body ached in ways I didn't know was possible. And then, like I hadn't already been through enough, something snapped into place. It was like an invisible thread from me had shot into him. I had no idea where it came from, but something echoed in my mind at how whatever had happened, was unbreakable as well.

My breath hitched in fear, and so did his.

“No” he whispered, genuine fear echoing in his eyes. They were turbulent, and even though we were probably in danger, I couldn't help but be drawn to them. “No, no, no.”

He reached for me, definitely not out of desire, but desperation. He didn't say anything else, and he didn't need to , because I could easily tell what he was thinking. He wanted to undo it. He was looking for a way to undo it. But the moment our fingers touched, a pulse of light burst through our skin, sealing it.

“I felt that.” I whispered.

“So did I.” His voice was hoarse, defeated almost. “You, you just bound us for life. “

“What does that mean?” My stomach dropped. “Say something.”

“It means..” he said coldy, as his eyes met mine. He was a mix of furious and devastated, and it snapped something in me. “that if I die, you die”

Wait, what?