I Sold My Blood to Pay My Sister's Debt, and the Vampire King Who Bought Me Swore I'd Be His Queen or His Ruin novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: The River Gate

I ran down every stair in the keep with my hair still half down.

Corin ran behind me, swearing.

The front gate was a wall of black iron bars as tall as three men.

Emmeline was on the other side of it, on her knees in the dust of the road.

Her blue dress was torn at the shoulder.

There was a long cut down her forearm and another across her cheek, and the blood had run into her collar.

"Ella," she sobbed. "Ella, they came to the house."

"Open it," I told the gate guards.

Nobody moved.

Then Kaelen's voice came from behind me, quiet. "Open it."

The bars swung back.

I dropped onto my knees in the road and pulled her against me.

She smelled like smoke and the rose oil she always bought when she had money.

"Who did this?"

"Montcalm men." She was shaking. "They took the purse. They said the debt was paid, but I still owed interest, and if I didn't pay they'd take it out of you instead."

"Out of me? I belong to the crown."

"They don't care, Ella. They said you'll burn in five nights anyway."

Behind me, Kaelen was watching her.

His face showed nothing.

"She can sleep in the gatehouse," he said. "Thane, put a man on her door."

"She's my sister. She sleeps with me."

"She sleeps in the gatehouse."

Emmeline clutched my hand and shook her head at me, tiny and fast, so he couldn't see.

I wrapped a clean cloth around her arm in the gatehouse while a guard stood in the doorway pretending not to listen.

When he turned to light a lamp, she leaned close to my ear.

"He's going to burn you," she whispered. "Don't you see it? He's only keeping you warm until the new moon."

← Chapter 4 · All chapters · Chapter 6 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend