Chapter 1

Humans aren't supposed to survive carrying a vampire's child. The immortal blood drains you dry. 

Valentine was a pureblood vampire Duke. I was just a mortal. But I was stupid enough to think love was stronger than biology. 

Four years ago, I tore myself apart on the birthing bed to bring a half-blood into this world, only to wake up staring at Valentine’s back.

His late father’s favorite concubine, Cecilia, had already snatched my baby from the cradle. And my husband acquiesced to it all.

"He looks just like me," Cecilia purred, tracing my newborn's cheek. "Thank you for giving birth to my son."

Then she tossed a blood jade onto my sheets, like I was some cheap baby-making machine.

I didn't take the payoff. I grabbed the heavy stone and hurled it straight at Valentine’s face.

For four agonizing years, I fought to get my baby back. I hired mercenaries, rogues, and shadow-smugglers, bleeding myself dry to breach the Duke’s estate. Every single attempt failed.

Until tonight. A terrified servant smuggled out a whisper that stopped my heart: Cecilia had fed my son "diluted holy water"—a twisted sacrament meant to literally burn the human half out of his organs.

I didn't hire anyone this time. I tore through the gates myself. I took a guard’s spear through the shoulder and let cursed brambles shred my arms to the bone, just to drag my dying boy out of a burning greenhouse.**

But when the agonizing pain of the holy water woke him, Luke looked at me with pure, unadulterated disgust.

"It’s your fault! It’s your filthy human blood!" My four-year-old son spat the words like venom. "Mother Cecilia says if we just burn out this curse, I can be the true heir! If it weren't for you, Father would have claimed me by now! I hate you!"

I froze.

When I finally spoke, my voice was a raw, inhuman scrape. "Call me Mom one last time, and I'll walk out of your life forever."

...

Luke stared at my mangled, bloody hands. For a fraction of a second, I saw a flicker of hesitation in his eyes. But then, the desperate hunger for power snuffed it out.

"If I say it..." he bargained, his voice tightening. "You promise you won't stop Mother Cecilia? You won't stop me from becoming the heir?"

My heart shattered, the pieces slicing open my chest from the inside out.

I gave a slow, hollow nod. "I swear. You'll never see me again."

"Mom." He forced the word through his teeth. "You swore!"

The echo of that vow was still ringing in my ears as I carried him through the doors of the Great Hall.

Valentine’s head snapped up from where he was barking orders at his guards. His crimson eyes were chips of ice.

The moment Luke saw Cecilia standing beside him, the boy thrashed out of my arms.

He stumbled across the floor, sobbing hysterically. "Mommy! Mommy, look, she tried to take me again!"

Cecilia dropped to her knees, playing the frantic mother perfectly. As her hands fluttered over him, the razor-sharp edge of her talon "accidentally" snagged his forearm, drawing a bead of blood.

Instinct kicked in. I lunged forward to shield him.

But Luke flinched, shrinking away from me like I was the monster.

My hand stopped in mid-air. I stood there, fingers trembling, before letting my arm fall dead at my side.

The commotion had drawn a crowd. Within seconds, a ring of pureblood aristocrats surrounded me, their eyes dripping with disdain.

Cecilia pulled Luke flush against her chest, her eyes shimmering with perfectly timed tears. "The Duke promised to give me a formal title, to let me be this child's rightful mother. But she..." Cecilia pointed a trembling finger at me. "She's just like all those other pathetic humans who tried to crawl into the old Duke's bed. Clinging to things that don't belong to her!"

"Trash will always be trash," one of the Vampire Elders sneered. "A fragile mortal trying to lay claim to the Valentine heir? You can't feed him pure blood. You can't teach him our ways. Your very existence tethers him to the shame of mud-blood."

The wave of mockery threatened to drown me, until a single, bored voice cut through the noise.

"Enough."

Valentine stepped forward, his towering frame casting a shadow over me. He didn't even look at my bleeding wounds. "She's my property. I'll handle her. Everyone out."

The moment the doors of the inner chambers slammed shut behind us, Valentine’s icy facade shattered into raw, explosive fury.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" he roared, stalking toward me. "You burned down the Forbidden Garden! You shattered the silver wards! You nearly left Cecilia to burn alive in that greenhouse! She's the last thing my father left me!"

I forced my head up, my vision swimming from the blood loss. "Luke was dying from holy water poisoning," I choked out. "I had to—"

"She was burning out his human weakness!" Valentine snarled, cutting me off. He turned his back on me, gripping the edge of his desk. "She was helping him! What the hell do you know about how we raise our own? Cecilia is his legal mother."

I collapsed against the wall, sliding down until I hit the floor.

I stared at his back. Four years ago, this was the male who had willingly taken three years of silver nails driven through his joints just to keep me by his side.

Now, looking at me was just a chore.

Using the wall for support, I dragged myself to my feet.

"You're right," I said.

"That's exactly why I'm breaking our Blood Pact."

Valentine whipped around so fast, his arm swept the inkwell off his desk. It shattered against the floor.