Vampire Husband Chose My Sister, I Left Chapter 2

The saber nicked the side of my neck.

A single drop of blood slid down my skin.

Damian's breath visibly caught.

Blood held an instinctive allure for vampires, and mine had sustained him through three years of poison flare-ups. He knew its scent better than anyone.

But he quickly forced down the dark hunger surging in his eyes, leaving nothing but the fury of a man who had been defied.

"Evelyn, there's a limit to playing hard to get." He followed me to the door, teeth clenched. "You think anyone in Santvela would dare take in someone who's crossed a pureblood clan?"

I stopped walking but did not turn around.

"Move."

"You—"

Damian swung the saber to block my path again.

I grabbed the flat of the blade and shoved it aside with everything I had.

Metal slammed against the doorframe with a dull clang.

Damian froze.

He had probably forgotten that there were no maids in the North, and no cozy private clinic. Every day I had split firewood that had frozen solid, hauled iron crates packed with medicinal supplies, and dragged a full-grown vampire off the floor and back into the restraint chair whenever he lost control.

My strength was not something I had been born with. I had built it, one day at a time, in wind and snow and blood.

I ignored him and walked straight back to the old garage.

I hadn't left the estate yet, but it had nothing to do with not being able to leave Damian.

I was staying because the Moonfrost I had spent three years cultivating was still in the underground cellar, completing its final round of settling.

Moonfrost was a rare medicinal perfume that could calm a vampire's turbulent blood and ease silver poisoning and withdrawal. Once the formula was complete, it would be enough to open a blood perfume clinic that was truly my own in Santvela.

The perfume wasn't ready yet. I couldn't leave.

Behind me, Cecilia wept with the delicate air of someone deeply wronged.

"Damian, this is all my fault. I shouldn't have come back, and I shouldn't have given Evelyn the wrong idea. She must still love you. I can leave..."

"You're not going anywhere." Damian pulled her into his arms, but his gaze reached past her and fixed on my retreating back. "Let her go. Without Blackwood protection, she can't even get through the gates of the Night Market. Give it three days. She'll come crawling back."

Cold wind swept through the corridor.

I walked on, steady as ever.

Crawl back to him?

Damian thought far too highly of himself.

He had once taken a hunter's bullet for me in the North, and that was why I had been willing to stay by his side for three years, willing to repay that debt with my blood and my life.

Now he had taken back his trust and his respect with his own hands.

So I would take back everything I had given him.