The Vampire King’s Captive

BRAN

“Ariti doesn’t hesitate to torture her whenever I fail to carry out his orders and on that day before my birthday, he tortured her for a long time and made me watch, knowing that I was helpless to stop it.” Her voice broke and a small sob escaped her, but she swallowed it back down. Bran’s chest tightened. “Then came the day when he finally broke me-my birthday.”

“No way.” Bran couldn’t believe it, but she just shrugged.

“The previous day, all through when he tortured my mother, I threw up continuously. The next day when he told me that she was going to get the same treatment if I didn’t do what he wanted, I knew that I had to do it.” She shook her head, eyes downcast as she stared absently at a spot on her dress. “I couldn’t let him continue torturing my mother. I love her too much and I couldn’t stomach it. So I did what he wanted and that’s how it’s been ever since.”

How could a man do that to his own child? There were certain things that shouldn’t just be done and blackmailing one’s own child into doing their dirty work should be one of those things.

And her first kill on her birthday? How heartless could a person be?

Bran had never thought about being a father-he wasn’t sure that he wanted to be one-but he knew that he would never ask his child to kill for him. Not to mention how young she’d been.

“Why did you never leave?” He wondered. “I’m sure opportunities to run might have presented themselves several times, so why didn’t you grab one?”

“Don’t you understand?” She cried, still not looking at him. “If I leave, he’ll take it out on my mother. Whatever I do, my mother pays for it. I can’t let her suffer for me. I just can’t!”

“So you’d rather suffer for her?”

Her shoulders dropped and curved in, defeated. When she spoke, her voice was low. Withdrawn. “You just don’t get it.”

He shook his head and stood, storming over to the window and letting his fist fly into the wall beside it. She yelped and he saw her jump in his periphery.

He would probably have done it again had it not been her reaction.

Shit.

He needed an outlet.

He just needed to pour the anger off him. He was so bloody pissed at himself for not knowing better. For not seeing the truth that had been sitting right in front of him this entire time. For torturing an innocent woman who was still carrying so much pain in her heart from what she’d gone through-what she was still going through.

He was also mad at her for putting herself through everything. For being so goddamn selfless and putting her mother’s needs first before hers. For caring about the older person at such a young age when it should have been the other way round.

And he was so fucking mad at Ariti, he couldn’t see straight. The man had taken so much from him and he was pissing Bran the hell off by the minute. He was going to get what was coming for him.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Bran heard her soft voice call to him. “I know what I do is wrong, but I’m used to it now.”

That was exactly the problem. She shouldn’t be used to it.

She was doing the wrong thing for the right fucking reason and he hated it.

“Why did I find you in a cell when I came for you?” He asked, ignoring her earlier words.

She shrugged. “I’m still trying to figure that one out.”Original content from NôvelDrama.Org.

She shrugged. She fucking shrugged.

How could she act so non-chalant about it? About being locked up in a cell by her own father. How could she brush it off like it was no big deal when it was eating him up inside?

Just how much had she gone through that made these things bounce off her like they were nothing?

“Can I ask you a question?”

He turned to her with a frown and nodded, crossing his arms across his chest.

“Why did you come in here?”

He froze.

Hell, his decision of not telling her why he’d come in here initially was going to die a quick death.

It was his turn to shrug like it wasn’t important. “Just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

He decided to change the words at the last minute and not tell her that he’d actually been watching her sleep. It sounded creepy and strange to him and he hadn’t even said them out loud.

Shocked grey eyes flew up to his and he forced himself to maintain the blank expression on his face. But it got even harder when she rose from the couch and took one small step towards him.

“Can I ask you another question?”

Not if she was going to make him admit things he didn’t want to.

“You just asked me a question, Maria.”

“You ask me two,” she told him.

He frowned. After doing a quick rundown in his head, he realised that she was right. Scowling, he nodded for her to go ahead.

She took another small step towards him and Bran had to physically fight the urge to go to her by digging his hands into the windowpane behind him in what he hoped was a casual stance.

“Before, you said you came for me.” Bran’s heart quickened in his chest. He was so busted. “Is that true? Did you really come to the realm of Sorceri because of me?”

Bran had two options.

Lie to her and tell her that he’d come in search for his sister, or tell her the truth.

He decided to go with the former. Letting her know that he’d come to her realm because of her would be giving her too much power and he didn’t want that.

“I-” the word died on his lips as he met her eyes.

There she was, deliberately making herself vulnerable for him because she wanted to know the truth but he was too much of a coward to give it to her.

If this girl that had been through so much could take that bold step, then what reason did he have not to meet her halfway?

That was exactly why Bran shook his head, forgetting what he’d been about to say and instead, said, “Yes, princess. I came for you.”