RedBedSheets

Madeline Colter despises her country, Grandor, home to the most conservative and racist people to exist, the only country to reject people of other species while having a half-vampire prince. But when the prince comes of age and every woman in the country is forced to participate in a competition for the position of queen, Madeline is dragged into it. 

She expected to be failed immediately, not that she'd meet with the so-called feared prince and realize they may not be so different after all.

Alexei, known as the fearful war monger prince, feels little affection for anyone. Ostracised among nobility with his only protector now dead he has to pick a queen to ascend the throne. What he hadn't expected was to meet a girl that would make him realize how touch-starved he truly was. 


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I stared at the people below me, all their faces enamoured with awe as they beheld me. I was a commoner moments before, but here I sat- a crown atop my head.

I felt his fingers squeeze my hand and tried to stop my flinch. His red eyes boring into the side of my face. I knew he was grinning from ear to ear. I knew he had set all this up for me. Not to show me. But… to warn me.

Thousands of eyes leered at me and I knew what was to come would be much worse than what had already happened.

“Long Live the King and his Queen!” The chants began and I could feel a prickle in the corner of my eyes.

“Do not cry”.  His cold words were warmer than the finger that brushed my eyelid. My eye stilled and slid toward him. “This is all yours now. Just as much as it is mine. A country in the hands of those who hate it. Let’s ruin it all”. The fire burning in those eyes shook my core.

“Long… live the king” I said slowly and deliberately, watching his smile stretch further.

“Long live the queen”. 

———————-

I looked at the massacre around us. There was blood everywhere… why didn't he care for that?

"Why do you want mine?" I asked curiously, face turning pink when he lifted his intoxicated eyes towards me and his face was flushed, lips panting. It sent a strange thrill through me to see a man of such power on his knees, practically begging.


"I want all of you. Everything" he laid a kiss on my skin, breathing in the scent.

Warning: slow- burn R18

The Monsters First Love

The negotiations went without a hitch. A rare occasion for me and the person responsible had kept me at his side the whole time. Our arms interlinked like a lady and gentleman and unlike the business partners we truly were.


I thought little of it as I grinned at the material we returned with. 


"A monthly supply of about this much cost more than I thought… as I suspected this can only be handled by Sienna. She would know exactly how to present it best" i hummed softly as I tucked away the fabric.


Connor smiled in return, sitting beside me as the carriage made its shaky turns back to the store. We settled into a comfortable silence and I found myself shutting my eyes as I felt the warm sun on my skin. My mind catching a rare moment of peace.


"So when are you going to tell me?" I heard Connor say and shot him a questioning look. He let out a laugh at my face, "about why you have yet to fail the trials?"


I gave an awkward chuckle in reply and threw him a exasperated smile. This question had been thrown at me from every angle. From my staff, brothers and Randall. Not to mention the frequent letters from my father of which I haven't opened a single. 


How could I explain that I had the choice of two impossible options while also explaining that my only way out was challenging our future king. 


"I want to change Grandor" was all I said, finding the words true in a way that lacked ambition. I didn't care so much for Grandor. The way I saw it was that it was a dying nation. But somehow there was an occasional voice that asked me if I would truly give up this nation so easily?


"You want to change Grandor?" He looked intrigued, crossing his arms as his neck leaned towards me, "how so?"


"I'm not sure…" I lied, glancing away from his penetrating gaze. 


"You want to be queen…" I could see the revelation dawn in his eyes as he looked at me in disbelief and… betrayal.


"Maybe not as queen" I quickly denied and then found myself revealing my other option unwillingly, "maybe as… a royal advisor?"


"You're joking" he said in all seriousness. I could see his brows raise in frustration.


"I wish I was… keep this between us until I've settled my business" I sighed, hoping I could get out of this, "if all goes well I'll be neither".


Connor was quiet for a minute, before he let a loud exhale and turned to me.


"If you expect me to keep quiet then properly explain what it is that you are worrying about. I've seen how you've been acting these last few days, so don't think I don't know" I had never heard him speak as Anastasia had described him. This was the only moment I thought she may have been telling the truth.


The way his bright eyes stared resolutely at me, the way his brown hair fell over his shoulder in its wavy manner no matter how hard he tried to keep it tied away. There was genuineness in his demeanour that had me convinced he cared for me. For whatever was bothering me.


"Give me until the stores opening date, I promise I'll explain then".


Chapter 44