Two Centuries Wasted on a Lie

He didn't even try to hide the call from me.

Even without trying to listen, my vampiric hearing could still pick up Camilla's weak, breathless voice on the other end.

"Vincent, my chest hurts so much… Can you come see me?"

The smile on Vincent's lips hadn't fully faded.

He hung up and turned to throw on his black velvet coat.

"Camilla's condition is flaring up again. I have to go."

I lowered my head, my gaze sweeping over the advanced blood analysis report once more.

The date of the bonding was two weeks ago.

And on that night two weeks ago, he had disappeared for the entire night for the first time in two centuries.

He told me there was an uprising in a low-coven territory in Brooklyn that required the Prince's personal intervention.

But thinking back now, he had spent that entire night by Camilla's bedside.

He had sliced open his own veins, feeding his pure, princely blood drop by drop into that woman's body, forging a Mutual Blood Bond that fused their very life forces.

It turned out I had long been written out of his destiny.

He was just waiting for the right moment to "inform" me, and he never cared what I thought.

I had fantasized countless times about our wedding day.

I looked forward to taking his arm under the gaze of all the North American coven elders.

I looked forward to him seeing me in my wedding gown.

But now, all those delusional hopes had turned to dust in the sunlight.

A gust of wind, and they were gone.

After Vincent left, the vast castle fell into a dead silence. My phone suddenly vibrated.

It was an encrypted number from Florence, Italy. I answered.

"Elena, it's been a long time."

"I know your Union Ceremony is next month."

"But I have to ask you one last time. Are you absolutely sure you won't reconsider coming to Florence?"

"If you come, you'll be the sole director of this classified experiment, with the highest level of research authority."

My mentor had invited me to join this top-secret project six months ago.

But joining the project meant severing all contact with the outside world.

For months, or even years, not a whisper about my existence would get out.

At the time, believing I was about to be a bride, I refused without a second thought.

My research on the 'Daylight Serum' had always been for Vincent, to protect him from the sun's scorching rays and allow him to walk more freely in the daylight. I had no greater ambitions.

But looking back now, I saw what a complete and utter fool I'd been.

Since he never cherished our relationship and took my two centuries of companionship for granted…

Then everything I had done for him had lost its meaning.

"Mentor, I've made my decision."

I turned my head and looked at a framed photo from our engagement party on the vanity.

I raised my hand and swept the frame directly into the trash can beside it.

"I accept the invitation. I'll go directly to the secluded underground lab."

"I don't need any special leave privileges. We can proceed with the most rigorous experimental schedule."

My mentor's voice was filled with undisguised excitement and joy.

"A wise choice. A genius like you shouldn't be wasted in the political mire of New York."

He paused. "I heard you have a Union Ceremony next month. In that case, I'll send a private jet to pick you up the day after your ceremony?"

I looked out the window at the cold, endless night and replied softly,

"No. The day of the ceremony is fine."

My gaze slowly drifted to the parchment calendar on the antique desk.

On the tenth of next month, I had once joyfully circled the date in dark red ink.

Originally, I wanted to look at it every day, to count down the days until he placed the crown on my head and made me his rightful Princess Consort.

But now, this sacred date had become the countdown to my final escape from Vincent.

In two weeks, the high and mighty Prince and I…

We would never cross paths again.