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The woman in the doorway was perfect.
That was the first thing I noticed. Porcelain skin. Silver hair that caught the light like spun glass. A dress that probably cost more than my entire apartment back in the city. She looked like she'd been designed in a lab specifically to make me feel like trash.
"Seraphine Voss," she said again, stepping inside without asking. "Dorian's fiancée. His actual bride."
I was still standing in the middle of the room. My hand went to my stomach without thinking. "He didn't mention you."
"Of course he didn't." She smiled. It didn't reach her eyes. "Why would he? You're not his wife. You're just the incubator."
The word hit like a slap.
"I'm not—"
"You are." She walked a slow circle around me. I wanted to move. I didn't. "Five years. That's the contract, isn't it? You carry the child, you birth it, you stay until it's weaned. Then you disappear. That's the law."
My throat was tight. "He said I'd be protected."
"Protected." She laughed. Soft. Cold. "You'll be kept alive. That's not the same thing."
She stopped in front of me. Close enough that I could smell her perfume. Something expensive and floral. It made my stomach turn.
"I want to be very clear," Seraphine said. Her voice dropped. "You don't belong here. This is my court. My future. The only reason you're breathing right now is because of that thing inside you. The second it's born, you're nothing."
I met her eyes. They were pale gray. Empty.
"I didn't ask for this," I said.
"I don't care." She turned toward the door. Paused. "And neither does he."
Then she was gone.
I stood there for a long time. My hands were shaking.
I'd been in the court for less than an hour and I already had a target on my back.
---
The next morning, someone knocked on the door before sunrise.
I hadn't slept. The bed was too soft. The room was too quiet. Every time I closed my eyes I saw Seraphine's smile.
I opened the door. A woman in a gray uniform stood there. No fangs visible, but her eyes had that flat shine. Vampire.
"You're summoned," she said. "The physician needs to examine you."
"Now?"
"Now."
I didn't bother asking if I had a choice.
She led me through a maze of hallways. Everything was stone and shadow. Torches burned in iron sconces even though it was almost dawn. The air smelled like cold metal and something I couldn't name. Something old.
We stopped in front of a heavy wooden door. She knocked twice and left without a word.
The door opened.
The man on the other side was older. Gray hair. Tired eyes. Human, I thought, but I wasn't sure anymore.
"Miss Wren," he said. His voice was careful. Measured. "I'm Edwin Grey. Court physician. Please, come in."
The room looked like a library crossed with a morgue. Shelves lined with books and glass jars. A long table in the center. Medical instruments I didn't recognize laid out on a silver tray.
I stayed near the door. "What is this?"
"Standard procedure." He gestured to a chair. "All royal pregnancies must be verified and monitored. It's the law."
"I already told Dorian I'm pregnant. I have the test. I have the ultrasound—"
"Human medicine." He said it gently. Like he was talking to a child. "This is a vampire heir. We need to be certain."
I didn't move.
He sighed. "Miss Wren. I'm not your enemy. I'm here to make sure you and the child survive. That's all."
Something about the way he said it made me believe him. Or maybe I was just too tired to fight.
I sat down.
He pulled a small wooden box from one of the shelves. Inside was a stone. Round. Dark red. It looked like dried blood crystallized into glass.
"This is a bloodstone," Edwin said. He held it up to the light. "It reacts to vampire lineage. If there's a Thorne heir inside you, it will glow red."
"And if it doesn't?"
He didn't answer.
He placed the stone on the table in front of me. "Give me your hand."
I hesitated. Then I reached out.
He took my wrist. His fingers were cold. He pressed the pad of my thumb against the edge of the stone.
Nothing happened.
Then the stone started to hum.
It was a low sound. Barely audible. Like a tuning fork vibrating in the air. The surface of the stone began to glow.
But it wasn't red.
It was gold.
Bright. Burning. The light spilled out between my fingers and filled the room. I tried to pull my hand back but Edwin was holding on.
"What the hell—" I started.
The stone burst.
Not shattered. Burst. Like something inside it had exploded outward. Gold light flared so bright I had to close my eyes. I felt heat against my skin. The hum turned into a high-pitched whine.
Then it stopped.
I opened my eyes.
The stone was gone. Just ash on the table. My hand was still smoking.
Edwin was staring at me.
His face had gone gray. His hands were shaking.
"What," I said. My voice came out hoarse. "What just happened."
He took a step back. Then another.
"Edwin." I stood up. "What was that."
He looked at me like I was a ghost.
"The gold light," he said slowly. "That only happens with one bloodline."
"What bloodline."
He swallowed.
"Wren," he said. "The blood hunters. They were wiped out three hundred years ago. Every last one."
My heart was pounding.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I said. "I'm just—I'm nobody. I restore paintings. I don't—"
"Your name," Edwin interrupted. His voice was shaking now. "Wren. That's not a coincidence."
I stared at him.
"The Wren clan was the oldest blood hunter family in existence," he said. "They could kill vampires with a touch. They were slaughtered by the Thorne dynasty during the Purge. King Alaric—Dorian's great-grandfather—he made sure there were no survivors."
The room felt too small.
"That's impossible," I said. "I'm human. I've always been human."
"Human blood hunter," Edwin said. "The gold light doesn't lie."
He looked at the ash on the table. Then at me.
"A Wren," he whispered. "Still alive."
I couldn't breathe.
I was carrying the child of the family that murdered mine.
And now they knew what I was.